Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1866-06-29
The dead of Shiloh.

The whole face of the country be-
tween Corinth and Pittsburg Land
ing is SCARED, scratched and wounded
with almost indelible traces of ruth
less war. Lines of earthworks and
intrenchments across all the "thou-
sand and one" roads; lone chimneys,
burnt and blackened trees and heaps
of rubbish, where once stood smiling
homesteads; whole forests peeled
or barked," and deadened by the
encamping soldiery, to make them
selves comfortable with bark beds i;
dwellings, stores and houses in every
stage of dilapidation and decay fields
fenceless and untended, are rapidly
growing wild again-these are some
of the evidences of the fierce struggle.
The war during its progress pre-
sented many horrible aspects, but
none so horrible as this saw
where hundreds of confederate dead
had been rooted out of their shallow
coverings-I cannot call them graves
their flesh eaten by the hogs, and their
bones lying scattered and broken and
trampled upon in every direction. 1t
transcends anything recorded in civil
.ized history; it almost transcends be-
lief. [ was told by some of the peo-
pie residing near, that the hogs fed so
long in this way, upon human carrion,
that the pork became so offensive it
could not be eaten; and to this day,
some of the ladies informed me, they
dare not touch any hogs meat killed
in that vicinity; they felt or were
afraid that they would be guilty OF
cannibalism to do so.
In one place, about 300 yards south
of the church, on the Rhea place, !
saw where a large number (supposed
to be $50 at least) of Confederates
had been tumbled into a gully and
covered up with a thin layer of dirt
The washing rains and the hogs, to-
gether, have exposed the bones here
most sadly. Many of the bones are
broken and shattered to pieces, evi
IDENTIFY since they were unearthed. All
the other scattered graves of the Con
federates, where they were covered
up by ones, twos, threes, and so on
up to dozens in place, over the field
are in the same miserable condition
In but one place did | see a Confed
crate grave that had not been rooted
| up by the hogs. That was on the ex
treme left, where as Mr.. Hargroves
informed me, there are nearly 36C
of each side buried in parable
trenches.
Generally, the Federal dead, as al
Corinth, were buried at the proper
depth, and generally with head anC
foot boards, inscribed with names
companies, regiments, &c Many O.
these head and foot boards however
have been destroyed or detaced by
the annual fires which burn OFT III,
grass and leaves of those woods.
saw but one Feneral trench wher,
the hogs had upturned the bones, an(
that but slightly. They are general,
buried too deep for that, and in some
places their graves are enclosed Will
fences made Of logs or rails.
At the Confederate gully-grave, ant
at all the Confederate graves-o
rather, places where the Confederat
dead were slightly covered up on tn
ground where they fell, skulls, thigt
hip, and leg bones, ribs, vertebrat
ETC., ETC., lie scattered around in al
directions. In one place, | saw wher
two Confederates had been covere
up in the middle of the road; in al
other, where one had been pitched il
to deep rut or hole, made by WACO
wheels at the roadside, and so CO,
cred. In still another, | saw wher
two Confederates had been place
between standing trees, and then COZ
cred up. And in still other place
they were thrown by the side of LOG
(as in Corihth) and only half covere
up. In all these places the bone
were more or less exposed"