American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1851-1863, 1862-11-07
Horrors of the Battle of sharpsbnrg-

How appalling must be the scenes of bat
lie field No pen can do it iustiee-it beg
gars description. 4 correspondent of a North
ern paper, who had just rode over the blood,
field of sharpsburg, wrises thus of the har
rowing spectacle:
A vast number of the bodies of the falIel
foe still remain as they had met their death
There they lay in all conceivable positions
and in all stages of revolving decomposition
and TO fill the memory of the most thought
less heholder with impressions that mus
haunt the imagination
Iu ono part of the field a large cornfeld
Just at the edge of7he wood, where the rebels
appear to have suffered most, their dead lay
so thi OK that their dark forms could be plain
Iy distinguished for a long distance. rifle
pit. which was charged upon by Pennsylva-
3 MIA regiment contained heaps of dead LAYING
lust as they had fallen-one upon another
In rayine three rebels had met their death
apparently while eating their breakfast. A
plate Law before them, with food upon it. con
tanning a spoon, and around Them lay the
scattered fragments of shell which had
doubtless exploded in their midst. tearing of
the top of the head of one and giving death
wounds also to the others
i But to look upon the mangled bodies of the
dead was horrible still more terrible was the
spectacle which the wounded on this vast
blood stained battle field presented Many
of the wounded remained on the field for
twenty -four hours, or more, before their
wounds received any attention.
We met "a reverend gentleman from PhIla-
idelphia and agent of the " Commission = who
had spent much time night and day, in going
around among the wounded, as they lay on
the field, giving them refreshing beverages
and helping to move them to places of shelter
from the rain and the scorching rays of the
sun, which in turn succeeded the battle.
Wy II. nft ba TlGn
wounded fellows-water was almost their
only demand. Late at night our friend was
aroused from an effort to obtain rest, by the
sad cry coming to his ear. through the still
ness that succeeded the battle, water, water,
water-uttered in low, imploring tones. Dl-
rected by the sounds of the poor sufferers
voice he reached his side, raised his head
and gave him the. water he SO much craved,
commencing his soul to the Father of Spirits,
and received his murmured thanks. Soon he
passed away, and ere morning dawned, he
was released from his sufferings.
The ground, covered with dead and wound
ed, showed how determined and how obsti-
nate the ground had been contested, and yet
how they had been driven and pushed from
line to line away from their front, SO far in
the rear that we found, mingled with the
dead and wounded, COW, several hogs, a
sleep and dog-all on the battle field, fallen
by the same deadly missiles. They had all
been killed by our fire, while driving the reb
els back into the country. Here we found
an other rebel Colonel and four commissioned
officers a piece dismounted, and two caissons,
one filed with ammunition We also found
six dead horses within space not thirty feet /
square / noticed they had been shot down
by grape And here, in every direction, lay |
guns, bayonets, cartridge boxes, clothing,
blankets DC.
The fence posts and panels. and the trees
of the woods were shivered and scattered in |
every direction, covering the dead and the
wounded, who lay piled up, and scattered
over miles of the country. They were mostly /
shot through with mimic bullets, torn with
grape and shell, and mangled with. Common
balls Here lay Wisconsin, man with hand
and leg shot away by round shot; here lay
two Mississippi brothers, one with his head
against tree, MORALLY wounded,
and the other by his side, locked in the EN-
brace of death l 18th Massachusetts,
man propping the head of a wounded South
Carolinian, and filling his canteen by drain
ng his own; / saw our Union wounded
sharing water and food with the wounded
-ebels, andI saw, during Wednesday and
Thursday, hundreds of rebel wounded sue
,ored bylahe hands of our own soldiers as
hey lay on the field. {
In Sharpsburg the women and children of 6
he town suffered terribly from thirst and ,
lunger. For three days and nights they .
we're gathered together in the cellars of the l
tone houses of the town, while the rebel |
oldiers despoiled their homes. They carried I
IF everything in the stores, robbed the !,
women of their clothing, flour, meat. pre-
erves, frVit, vegetables, and everything they
ould use.
And here let me say that we found all Q
heir wounded as well as own wounded Z
hey captured in our possession, and they a
atisfed us that the rebel .army is just now
t their stage of discipline. courage, deter
lination, desperation, or call it by any other II
anne, that they cannot be routed. &
One of their wounded officers remarked to !,
s that he saw more stragglers and skulkers r.
lille being carried off the field to our hos
ital. than could he found in their whole p
-my, and that they had long since put an Ii
I'd to such conduct, and to fear and coward Efr
e, and several of their men confirmed this :,
Y saying they never failed 20 punish with
cath any man guilty of cowardiee-
Another correspondent, in describing the in
oppressive scene, says: al
OF all the spectacles that we have ever ;,
en-, nothing has eqnalled the one of. which :. :,
e wrote. The majority of our dead lad u
ready been removed from the field whe-e er
notSsnt the rebel bodies still remained in the 70
1871 they had fallen. On recently M
go so 80. in corn fields, and in little
lem horribly mutilated cannon shot "
hich, in their progress from Aeananss ],
outh, had carried away the entire ffeaa or :,
Some of then laid with their faces to the o
round. whittier they had turned in the agony o
death. and in which position they had Il
led, others were heafed IN piles of three and 4
ur together, with ther arms interlocked, !.
Id their faces turned towards the sky.
cores of them were lait out in rows, as ri
ough the death shot had penetrated their an
casts as they were advancing to attack us. -;
| vered wi h mud and dust, while their =
ces and clothes smeared with blood and %
IRE, there they rotted in the sun! yhey had hi
aid the penalty o. their treason, We fas, and th
It even the sanctity of death could mar US h,
Ell the least regret at their untimely end :.
Back to the hospitals we next turneds1
ere to witness sights shade less revolt ;.
e. There lay orr wounded in farm houses. &
erehards, aud in barns. The surgeons
re yet ps.. with their SIS and arms, o
,e amputating process All night Ions :
ave the ambuIanees been plying, carrying r
F our wounded to the neighboring villages, :.
It the work is still unfinished. In barn
ard. thickly strewn with hay and straw,
rere are fifty more wounded rebel soldiers, .