The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1866-05-22
The LiH aug Horrors Of the Bat
tie Field.

Raget A l'yey. ttt6s MsmrAs Afsus. has
taken rtle afgr ths se.l g SaHos. and Seatri
butts many usr~eus aua ,ems herr,bls facts
60 thai jauta'l lls as,
The shaig hee n the esanIry hstvssa Cor
iath and rlttarg landing Is scarr,l. scratched
anl wcuuasl with aln,as, indsibls traces 81 ruth
less var. Lines Of sAFlbworks and lnlrvaeh
mcuts aersss AL ,be thousand aad zoe" roadsl
lone ehimnsys, burnt anl hlaekcnod irees and
heaps q fatbish, vhsrv once stood ssiIing home
stcsis whole 6ress peeled er ''latkei'' and
dcadeuel - The eneamriug soldiery. TO make
themselves comfortable with bark beds. dwell.
ipfs. s,orcs, AMI cut-houso IN every stage Of d.
lap.iaton aai decay; fields, fcnotlcss and ua-
tcndcd, are rapidly growing villa Again-,hoss
ars s0ut cf the evidences ef the hsrce rtrug.
gle
"Tbe war during its progress presented nahy
horrible aspects, but none 80 horrible a. thisl
saw where hundreds q Confederate dead had
been rooted out of their shallow ooycrings-i
cannot o,ll them gFayes--thcir acsh eaten by tho
hogs, aud their bones lying scattered and broken
and tramPei upon in every dircction, |. lraa-
ccpis anything rcosrled In civilized history, Il
almosl ttansocnds belief | was told BY some Of
the pcoplc residing near, that the hogs fcd 20
long in this way, upon human carriSn, that the
pork became 30 offensive Il could not be eaten,
aud to this day, some Of the ladies infoFmed me.
they dare not touch any hogs meat kllei ia
that vicinity; they felt or were afraid tAaa
they would be gully Of eannibAlisu 70 do 90.
la one place, abou, 800 yards sou,h Of The
church, on the Rhea plaoc, saw where large
number l'upPoscl To be 100 at leastl Of 0onied-
crates had been tumbled into gully and covered
up with a thin layer Of dirt The washing rain
and the hogs together, have exposed the bones
here NEST sadly, Many OF the bones arc broken
and shattered to pieces. evidently since they
we're unearthcd al the other scattered graves
Of the Conteicrates, where they were covered up
by ones, twos, thrces, aud so on. up to dozens In
place, over the whole field, arc In the same
miserable condition In but one place did | see
a Confederate grave that had not been rooted up
by the hogs. That was on tho extreme ief.
where, as Mr.. iargraves informed me- there arc
nearly 800 Of each side buried in parallel trench
es.
Generally, the Federal dead, as at Corinth.
we're buried az the proper depth, with head and
foot boards, inscribed with names. companies,
regiments, NO Many Of these head aud foot
boards, however, have been destroyed or dcfaocd
by the annual fires which burn of the grass and
leaves Of these woods, ! saw but one Federal
bural trench where the hogs Ind upiurucd the
bones and that hut slightly. They are generally
buried too deep for that aud in some places their
graves are enclosed in fences made Of logs or
rails.
At the Confederate gully grave and At all the
Confederate graycs-or rather, places where the
Confederate dead were slightly covered up on Tho
ground whore they fell, skulls, thigh, hip. and
leg bones, ribs, vertebrm, &C.. &C., lie scattcred
roHnd in all directions. IN one place, saw
where two Conielerates had been covered up IN
thcimid,l Of the roal In another, where one
had been pitched into deep rut or hole, nalv
by wagon wheels at the roadside, and SO covered.
In still another, saw where two Confederatos
had been placed between standing trees and then
covered mp. And in still other plaors, they we're
thrown by the side Of logs (as at Cornth Jamf on
ly hafcoyercd up. In all these places tbs boses
were more or less exposed