Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1864-01-21
HoRRID TREATMENT OF oUR
SLAIN AT CHICKAMAUGA.

One Thousand Bodies of Federal Sol
diers left Unbusied for two
months-The Civilization of our
Southern Brethren" .a ass
From the Mobile Abvertser. Nov. 9TH, 1863
MIssIoNARY RIDGE, NEAR CHATTANOOGA,
Sunday Night. Oct 25. 1868.
I have just returned from ride to the
battle 6cld with party of officers. 1t is
just FIVE weeks to day since the battle and
and your readers may wish to know how
the field looks now. The aspects of the
field have greatly changed. Where it was
dry and dusty, now it is wet and boggy.-
The changing season has changed the as
pect of the woods, but these arc the
slightest changes. The ploughed up
earth, the broken and captured cannon, the
piles of ammunition. the guns and ac-
countrements. and clothing, and most of
the dead have all disappeared. The only
memorials left to mark the scene OF martial
strife are the hasty entrenchments of logs
and rocks; the torn. SCARED and riven
trees, bear the marks which a century
will not efface, here and there knapsaeks
and scraps of torn clothing. broken and
peforated tins, few shells and round
shot; the graves of our Confedcrates. anil
most revolving of all, the heaps of yet un-
buried Yankee dead. All of our
dead, except tws,s , were buried
These were overlooked by our burying
parties or mistaken for Yankees One OF
these. who was killed on the hill, where
Graeies brigade fought late on Sunday
evening, was very handsomely dressed in
fine blue pants and dark grey cashmere
jacket. He was tall and apparently a
young man. His hand seemed a small
and handsome one, but he was almost a
skeleton, and his mother would not have
known him. The entire field is yet cum
bered with heaps of dead and unburied
Yankees. In some eases the flesh had fall
en- from the bones, and the mere skeleton
remained. The leg-bones, from the hip
to foot. held together, and SO of the
upper bones of the body. but the back
bones generally were disiointed from til e
hips. In some cases the flesh had shrunk
rather than deeomposed, and the muscles
of their legs were still distinct. In many
cases the skin was still whole and preserv-
ed, and parts OF the body had much flesh
on them. The heads were sometimes only
bald skulls, in others skin yet covered
them ami few hairs remained. Here and
there some cruel mocker had severed the
head from the body, and set the head upon
stump. whence it ''grinned horribly a
ghastly SMILE" Some of the heads con-
tained fine, beautiful teeth, and my unsen-
timental companion remarked that den
tist could make a fortune by getting those
teeth. Years hence, children sow unborn,
in their sports upon this field will find a
skull or bone, of these poor victims,
and wonder and ask what it IS And then
some grandfather will tell them OF the
great battle of Cbickamauga.
Our own dead are buried upon the very
spot they fell. In most cases their names,
company and regiment are written in pen
Gil upon headboard Thus is shown the
parts of the field where the various regi-
ments fought. ~ Heavy details were made
to bury the Yankee dead, but it was only
partially done. l suppose our men got
tired of the offensive and seemingly endless
task. a
hear that Hills corps alone buried L.
100 Yankees. but vast numbers yet lie un-
buried. The Yankees who were buried
were buried in shal low graves. and their
graves are thus distinguished from ours
Those who were unburied were generally
past the offensive stage of decomposition,
and we could ride among and over them,
with little or no pain to our olfaetories.--
But those buried in graves smelled horri-
bly,. Flies swarmed around these graves,
bloated and fattened upon the fonl odors
that reeked from the corpses through the
wet earth that thinly covered them. 1t
was very sickening. My stomach was
stirred with qualm, and my head grew diz-
zy and painful in sympathy with it. My
companion had insisted upon taking a
lunch with US, but on the field in the midst
of such scenes, hungry though was, /
could not have eaten the most delicate
morsal from an epicure's table.
| From what 1 saw to-day, am con-
vinesd that the Yankee loss in killed and
wounded was over 100000 Our own de-
tails buried 2. 800 dead on the field, and
more than 1000 lie yet unburied. This
tincludes only those that were killed. out
right. and died instantly. The badly
wounded in most cases were taken of,
and many of these died. swelling the dead
to 5000. The proportion of wounded to
killed was. Unusually large. about eight to
a L. Ii
deserted. The aggregate loss of the Yam
KEGS in the battle from all causes, must
have exceeded 10000. l do not believe
that our loss exceeded $4,000, certainly
not more than 1900.
AZ. From, tlaR Rostor, Traveller.