The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1863-12-12
The Wounded after a Battle.

B. F. Taylo gives the following scenes
occurring after the battle Of Chickamauga
The surgeon laid off the green sash anC
tinseled coat, and rolled up his sleeves
and spread wide his case filed with the
terrible glitter of silver steel, and makes
ready for work. They begin to come in,
slowly at first. one man nursing . sha:ter-
ed arm, another borne by his comrades,
three in al ambulance, one on streteher;
then faster and faster, lying here, lying
there, waiting each his terrible turn. The
silver steel grows cloudy and lurid; true
right arms are looping like slips of golden
willow; feet that never turned from the
| foe, forever more without an owner, strew
tn, ground The knives are busy, the
saws play; it is bloody work. hh, the
surgeon with heart and head, with hand
and eye fit for sucE {. pace, Is a prince
! among men; cool and calm, quick and
! tender, he feels among the arteries and
! fingers the tendons as If they We're harp
| strings. But the cloud thundcrs and the
| spiteful rain patters louder and fercer, and
| the poor fellows come creeping away in
| broken ranks like corn beaten down with
| the fails of the storm.
Ny God !" cried surgeon, as looking
up an instant from his work, be saw the
mutilated crowds borne in my God are
all my boys cut down AID yet It thum-
dered and rained. poor fellow writhes.
and n smothered groan escapes him.
Be patient, JACK, says the surgeon,
cheerfuily; II make you all right in Il
minute" and what i meaning there was
in that "al! right II was a right arm
TO come off at the elbow, AMI "Jatk Il ps
off rirG that clasps oac of the poor, use
less fingers that were to blend with the
4 i -. H..
He was making ready for the " ali right
Docs Alabama mean here We rest
If 81, how sad, yet glorious have oar boys
made it, who sink to rest
With all their country : wishes blest?'
Another sits up wnila the surgeon fol-
lows the bull t that had buried itself
his ride; il Is the work Of an instant no
solemn council here, no lingering pause
the surgeon is bathed in patriot blUoi up
to his elbows, and the work goes on. Au
eye lies out upon n castly cheek. and
silently the sufferer biIts his time
Veil, Charley SAYS the do"tor, dress
ing a wound as lie talk-, what the mat
ter?' "Oh, not much, doctor, only = hand
off, Not unlike IS the answer made to
me by poor fellow at Bridgeport, shat
tered as ee is by lightning:
How are you now? sad "BaYV'
wos the reply. You shou;ld have heard
that word, as he said il; vulgar rs it used
10 seem it gre: manly and noble and :
never shall hcarit lcain, without athpu-ht .
for the boy that uttered it 81 the dusty
slope Of the Tennessee; the boy-nIu-t !
say it?-that sleeps the soldiers Sleep
within an hundred rods Of the =pJt where
found him. And so it Is evo:y"Lege; +
not a whinlprr nor y compliant Ou!y
once did / lelr either A Illinois lieu
tenant, as brave a fellow Is ever drew a J
sword, had been shot through and through F.
the thighs, fairly impalel by the bullet I.
the ug!iest wound but one ! ever saw.
Eight day. before he weighed one hun /
dred and sixty Then he could not have /
swung one hundred and :wenty clear Of /
the floor lie had Just been brou -ht over /
the mountain, his wounds we're angry with /
.~rn". I-:.-v r;ot:-. IVES l,sriIIra; rircr .
were lifting him as tenderly al they could /.
they le; him slip and he fell, perhaps six .
inches Bat it was like a dash from !
prccipice TO him, and he w.lkeI ont like I
little child. tears wet his pale. thin face, .
and he only said. d" my poor Child Low viii .
they tel her?' II was only fpran Instant; /.
his spirit and his fra ME s;iiieued up togeth
er. and with Il half smile he said, don't
tell anybody, boys, that | made A fool of
myself, ~ The lieutenant sleeps well, and
ala- for the poor chlld-how did they
tell her?