The Nashville daily union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, 1862-09-14

aid the suffering. We saw several IN
stances of almost alfeeti0nate attention
bestowed upon some poor sufferers; a
small cracker would be halved and The
canteen emptied Of its last drop 20 quench
The thirst Of the dying, or tenderly would
they change the positions Of some who
had been lying in thoir g0ro Ger flfGy or
sixty hours. Under such circumstances,
one would inroluntayily exclsim, ain the
name Of God and humanity, what is ell
this blood and sacrifice for2"
Officers and men conyersed freely upon
the points in issue. The ofllcers, how
ever, differed in this respect from the pri-
Yates; they denounced the North, were
bitter in their denunciations and de-
olared that they were going tn flghtuutil
the last man had fallen and the last drop
of blood had been shed. A number OF
| intelligent privates, when eonversing
with them alone, declared they would
much rather come under The old nag than
10 fight another battle 4 young man.
who was searching for missing brother,
said "thathe was born and lived in the
State that had begotten The trouble
(SOuth Carolina), but that he never yot cd
! for secession; that he had been forced 10
take arms, but that if he could vote his
State again into the Union he certainly
would do IT," lie said "thc war was
kept up by the wealthy; that the poor
did the lighting, and that even il the
South could gain its independence it
would be Of no possible advantage 60
them And such was substantially the
language Of many others with whom we
conversed.
With regard to the assertions that have
so frequently been made regarding the
treatment Of the dead and wounded by
the rebels, we are satisfied of their cor
rectness. Nearly all the dead were
stripped of their clothing, unless where
il was inferior; and where either the coat
or pants was left upon the body, the
watch fob and pockets were universally
turned inside out. The money and val
uables upon The wounded were also taken
from them, excepting in few instances,
where those things were carefully con-
cealed in some otherplace upon the body.
We did not see a body of a single enemy,
and the very few graves which appeared
upon the ground led us to suppose that
the enemy's loss in killed was really no.
thing in comparison with our own; but
we learned that they had corps attach
ed TO their army whose only business was
TO carry Off the dead and wounded, and
who never do service in the ranks; that
/ the deau had been removed 10 some point
from the field and buried. In this fact
we were confirmed by accidently finding
a number of rebels filling up a large hole
in a. neighboring field, where perhaps
fifty or sixty bodies were inferred, The
effect Of having men to perform this work
alone leaves the piivates totally in the
dark as TO the true numbers they lose in
battle. Every soldier that asked con
concerning the number they lost in those
two days. seemed TO think about fourth
or fifth part of the Union loss. ! was
well convinced that this mode Of deceive
! ing the soldiers was practised, as, in
! speaking Of several different battles
where there losses were nOtoriously far
1 beyond our own, the men talked about
the small numbers they lost
1 IL was a matter Of astOnishment TO all
! that so little complaint was made by the
wounded; and although they were LETT
upon the field for so many hours without
drink or nourishment vet not word OF
complaint escaped the lips of any one
They took il for granted that the govern
ment was doing everything iQ its poweJ
TO alleviate their suilerings.
cannot but thinl, that the commissary
supplies Of the enemy are very low, and
indeed, well nigh exhausted. When sup
plies from Washington failed TO reach IA,
upon Wednesday morning, we made tht
proposition TO their medical purveyOr, DR.
Gill, and others, that the government
would return promptly anything they
would let us have in the way Of meat
bread, &C.; but they informed us that
they had none themselves, and, although
/ willing 10 do it, il was out Of their pow
er-that their supply trains were very fs
back, and that they could not tell wheI
they would reach them. The men ais,
made cOToborative statements concerning
their rations, / cannot but think tha
the confident appearance with which tn
enemy now assumes the offensive is al
sham, for the purpose of gaining time
and that a prompt, rapid movement o
our forces would cause them 60 fly as th,
chal before the wind. The slow move
ments Of our own army have in ever
instance been Of immense advantage q
the enemy. But General Mcclellan mus
not now be interfered with by civilian,
or politicians.
On Tuesday, the whole of The day, th
road towards Leesburg was crossed will
the enemy's troops and baggage train
Al least forty thousand men must hay
passed during the day, and when we ar
rived at Centreyille, on Wednesday after
noon, the wagons were being loaded wit
the supplies captured from ms at Eairia,
Station, and with the forage our arm
had left at Centreville. These, we ais
observed were, heading for Leesburg.
One of the most impressive and sol
emn incidents that occurred while Ol
that field Of death was the Performance
of the funeral service at the burial O
private i. h. White, Of the Eighty thir
Pennsylvania, who was unfOrtunat
enough to be in McDowells division, ant
fell while charging Itho upon enemy
battery DIR. Williams, of Wattsburl
Erie county Pa, with whom y0un
White had resided the greater part Of hi
life, was in Washington the day Of th
! battle aud prohcred his services 10 m
government as a volunteer surgeon. o
arriving at the army he discovered Whit
was missing and was informed by
member Of his company that be wa
, killed, as he had seen him fall.
| Tuesday morning the Doctor made scare
for the body, and found him still alil
/ auT connexions IL sr..o al. A. ..s.,...a.-
D bat lived only an hour or two after n