Dayton daily empire. [volume] (Dayton [Ohio]) 1850-1865, 1863-11-16
The wounded after "A Battle

The Wounded after a Battle.
b r. Taylor gives the following scenes, oc-
curing after the battle OF Chicamauga The
surgeon laid off the green sash and the tinsel-
ed coat, and rolled up his sleeves, and spread
wide his cases, filled with the terrible glitter OF
silver steel, and makes ready for work. They
begin TO come in, slowly at first, one man
nursing. q shattered arm, another borne by his
eomrades, three in an ambulance one on a
stretcheT then faster and faster, lying here,
lying there, waiting each his terrible turn
The silver steel grows cloudy and uried; true,
right arms are Topped like slips of golden will
low; feet that never turned from the foe, for.
ever more without an owner, strew the ground.
The, knives are busy, the saws play it is
bloody work All, the surgeon with heart and
headi with hand and eye fit for such place,
is prince among men; cool and calm, quick
and tender, he feels among the arteries and
fingers the tendons as ifthey were harp-strings.
But the cloud thunders nd the spiteful rain
patters louder and fercer, and the poor fel-
lows come creeping away in broken ranks like
corn beaten down with the halls OF the storm.
my God 7 cried a surgeon, as looking up
an instant from his work, he saw the mutilated
crowds borne in, "my God are all my boys
cat. down !" And yet 1t thundered and rained
| A poor fellow writhes, and smohered moan
escapes hm
"Be patient, Jack, says the surgeon, cheer.
| fully; "Il make youall right in n minute. =
And what a meaning there was in that call
lrightr' II was right arm TO come off at the
elbow, and "Jacls" slipped off ring that
lclasped one of the poor, useless fingers that
we're TO blend with the earth of Alabama, and
put it in his pocket He was making ready
for the "all right" Does alabama" mean
there we rsst2" If so, how sad, yet glorious,
have our boys made it, who sink to rest
"with all their eountry's wishes best I"
Another sits up while tho surgeon follows
the bullet that had buried itself in his side = it
is the work of an Instant no solemn council
here, no lingering pause; tbs surgeon is bath
cd in patriot blood to HIS elbows, and the work
| goes on. An eye lies out upon CHASTITY cheek,
and silently the sufferer bdes his time
"Well, Charley says the doctor, dressing
a wound as he talks, whats the matter ?"
"Oh, not much, doctor, only a hand off I"
Not unlike was the answer made to me by
poor fellow at bridgeport, shattered as a tree
is by lightning;
"How are you now p said "Bulh r.
was the reply. You should have heard that
word as he said it vulgar as it used to seem,
it grew manly and noble, and never shall
hear it again without thought for the boy
that uttered it, on the dusty slope of the Ten
nessee; the boy-must say it2-that sleeps
the soldiers sleep within hundred rods of
the spot where | found him. And so it is
everywhere; not a whimper nor paint.-
Only once did ] hear eithe. An Illinois
Lieutenant as brave fellow as ever drew
sword, had been shot through and through the
thighs, fairly impaled by the bullet--ths
uglest wound but one | ever saw Eight
days before he weighed one hundred and
sixty. Then he could not have swung one
hundred and twenty clear OF the floor. He
had just been brought over the mountain;
his wounds were angry with fever; every
motion was torture; they were lifting him as
tenderly as they could; they let him slip and
and he fell perhaps six inches. But it was
like dash from a precipice to him, and he
walked out like little child, tears wet his
pale, thin face, and he only said "my poor
child, how will they tell herY 1t was only
for an instant; his spirit and his frame stifien-
ed up together, aud with a half smile he said
don't tell anybody boys, that made fool of
myself" The Lieutenant sleeps well, and
alas, for the "poor chld'-how did they tell
her
A soldier fairly ridded with bullets, like
one Of those battle flags of Illinois, lay on
blanket gosping for breath Jimmy" said a
eomrade, and friend before this cruel war
began, with one arm swung up in sling, and
who was going home on furlough, Jimmy,
what shall tell them at home for you 2"-
"Tell them, said he, "that there isn't hardly
enough left of me to 4 but, hold down here,
a minute, tell Kate there is enough of me left
to love her till die Jimmy got his fur
Tough that night, aud left the ranks forever.