New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1870-09-14

OFFICIAL J66aNAL OF THE UNITED STATES
OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF NEW ORLEANS
WAR SCENES.
The Slaughter at Woerth-How the Pru Sc
slams Treat their WOunded-Brnvery of


P,1lssians together The first cars were
filed with dangerously wounded French
men. and we were deputed there, whether
by accident or design, know not. In the
Qroup was one TurcO and several Zouaves; :
q CAPTAIN who had lost his epaulettes. and
was stretched despalrlngiy on the moor,
and a lieutenant who was shot three tunes,
and whose right arm was already swollen
TO twice its natural size.
The native courtesy of these unfortunate
fellows was admirably exemplified by their
feeble efforts to rise as we entered the car.
/ sat down by the captain, and after the
physician who was with us had attended
to his wounds wrote his letters, and then
we talked of the battle. DeliriOusly from
time to time he would grlmble concerning
the conduct of the French cavalry. us
mont fat qate du NAL" he said. "They did
us nothing but harm" Supposing us to be
German, they were silent as to the nature
and extent of their defeat; but when we
disclosed our nationality, they at once I'M
bosomed themselves. One officer said that
in all his campaigns he had never seen such
honorable treatment of prisoners. The Ger
man bravery Of spirit was amply exempli-
fed in his own case, for he was taken out
of his bloody bed and given new garments,
plenty of breakfast, and even clean linen,
by the very men who two days before would
gladly have heard Of the determination of
his race.
HOW THE BAvARIANs FOUGHT
We were divided into two corps as the
train came, and each corps had a certain
number of cars to visit. AS physicians
. were 60 few, all being at the front, we were
compelled to trust to ourselves for the bind
ing Of wounds. Nest of the prisoners were
wounded twice, generally in the arm or leg
Most of the Prissians once only, either in
the head, breast or lower limbs. The Bava-
rians, the very boys whom we had seen
leaving Speyer week before, were many OF
them savagely wounded, as they INDUCED
in so much hand-to-hand fighting. The Ba-
.varians are to the German race what the
Yankees are to the Americans, and have the
same whimsical, picturesque way OF talk
ing. One little fellow, scarcely tall enough
to be soldier, and with child's face, had
part of his right hand shot away.
He hailed me for cigars, and when
/ asked him where he was hurt,
Zach! nothing but little scratch in the
hand and another in the leg. But made
him cold, the red breeches! He won't do
it again" Nearly all the Bavarians in the
action-two brigades-were light haired,
blue-eyed boys fresh and pure from the
world, but, say the Frenchmen, ferocious
as tigers in battle. These boys had heard
before leaving Bavaria that the Turcos car
ried knives and despatched the partially
wounded with them. One whole regiment,
therefore, provided itself with the short,
fiat knives made in the mountains OF Upper
Bavaria, and announced this fact to their
comrades. Their Colonel heard of it and
commanded them to leave the cutlery be-
hind, whereupOn they refushed to march.
Knowing thefr temper, he was obliged to
submit, and many an Arab met his fate at
the point of those short blades.
In another place Mr.. King writes:
"ToucS v0us,- said one of the French O fl
GERS to me, ''these Prussians fire at very
short range. They keep advancing whenit
seems certain death, and they always aim
deliberately. They lost double the killed
we did; but there are NOT so many Germans
as French wounded. The Bavarians club
their muskets, the rascally infantry, and
they are as bad as Turcos to call Off They
won't hear the bugles. Down in the valley,
between those two murderous hills, CONNIE
ca land he drew little map of the scene in
the straw, down there the dead Of both
sides were piled up SO high that they served
the Prussians for barbados. This long,
ugly forest on the hill is full of dead and
wounded now. There are no chances to
bring them away, and some are so shot that
they fight rather than suffer themselves to
be moved"
TREATMENT OF THE FRENCH.
Further on Mr.. King writes;
Frenchlnen generally received, all along
the line, better care than the Prussians.
Some of them were affected to tears, others
to sarcasm, but all admitted that their enc
mics were highly noble. Even the excited
crowds were kept back. and when a wound
ed man was stripped and held down in his
agony to have the fostering or suppurated
wounds probed, he was cared for as though
he was q son of Germany. The field post
cards" were distributed through the train,
also, and gave more comfort than anything
else. They are pasteboard cards, with space
for an ordinary letter, and printed direc-
tiOns how to send them. All the wounded
on the field, or in far-away hospitals in hos
tile country, can send these field post cards
free to any part of their own country. The
Prussian post takes them to the army lines,
and they are passed through. The French
confessed great contempt for the needle
gun, but the highest admiration for the
Prussian and Bavarian cavalry. The n
fantry they did not think SO well Of al
though they confessed surprise at the elan
and daring Of which they were capable.
cAProR AND CAPTURED.
As to the good feeling among the captors
and the captured, Mr.. King says:
In the cars where Prussians and French
were crowded, the best Of feeling seemed to
prevail Prisoners and captOrs drank beer
from the same glass and helped to bandage
each others wounds. One stout Frenchman
was supporting a poor Bavarian lad, who
was shot through the face, and was evil
IDENTIFY fast sinking. could never have be-
ieved the Prussians SO eXcitable and emo
tional a people had not seen them weep
ing and sobbing at sight of the pain and
misery OF strong men. We had one French
MAJ who was shot three times and was bound
to die standing, for he would walk although
he could not live many hours. He was sur
rounded by twelve Prussians. who ran
hlther and yon to procure whatever he
needed, and cried like children when he was
put on the stretcher and probed They had
lain on the wet earth together all one dread
full night, with the voices of the wind and
rain, and the shrieks of dying men. pro-
claiming to them the necessity of peace and
good will, and were bound by strong chords
Of friendship then and there.
Sometimes there was dash of enmity
still visible. Prussian once stood up in
front of q car full of zouaves and showed
them the bullet holes in his oSercoat. they
looking on sternly. Again, laundering
Prussian sergeant cried ont against treating
the French SO WELL But these were excel,-
tions.
THE SLAUGHTER AT wOERTH.
On this point the correspondent says:
just outside the little burg the slaughter
had been so terrific that dead and wounded
We're piled together, and had TO be picked
out OF the CHASTITY heaps, while shells We're
making fresh victims close at hand. Sew
eral surgeons were killed on the field. One
prisoner told of being found at the bottom
OF heap of dead men and Prussian
Ofilcer. whom we saw in Frankfort, relates
with much gustO, the manner in which the
wounded rolled into a ditch in the valley,
to escape the bullets He, himself, rolled
IN. heavily wounded. Presently joined him
another. who died in few minutes. And
Il 4 IL 1...~t il,