The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1870-09-14

dead men III sight. Here. there, every
where. the poor fellows had been tumblcd
over. We came upon n Frenchman whose
head had been Knocked off by o cannon
shot. There remained of it two scraps of
skin, each as large rs your hand, and on one
was his moustache and the end of his nose,
and on the other u patch of the hair of his
head. Another had been struck In the
centre of his body and almost cut in two.
The shoulders and head were left, the hairy
knapSack and red cap still clineing to them,
and below the bloody mass his coarse shoes
and white CATERS were visible his face was
in the dust. Another French soldier had
been.
n~ISEMBowELED
by n fragment of she'll. and the fatal missile
had tornopen his pantaIoons pocket, show
ing a large piece Of hard bread and a bit Of
meat. A tall Prussian. dead, was at full
length on his back, his helmet half hiding
his swollen face-the eagle that adorn-
ed il with the legend "For King and Fa-
therland,' and the buckle OF his hilt show
ing in conspicuous letters "God with U.S."
ON the north side Of the road was a slender
little French s"!dler lying on his face. his
gun in his hands. He had been killed as he
was making ready IL fire, and had crouched
in the collapse of death like a pitiful little
animal. 4 triangular rent in the band Of
lAS JNN N'p vi" NLlSl L1 law DSStk OliOl
through the head.
II o THROUGH H HEAD.
At his side was Il larger MN, through
whose naked head Il gha~tly flrrow had
been ~ploughed. and from it the torn brains
issued. His chasScpot was clutched in his
stiAr hands. In the same ncighborhood
was 4 French colonel, not diStigured ut all
hv his death wound. | think he had not
met his death instantly, but had been struck
in the thigh and died from loss of blood.
He had, il seemed, attempted TO do some
thing TO Stallnch the flow of blood, and
finding it in vain, had composed himself for
death.
NEAT CORPSE.
He was as neat Il corpse as You ever saw.
His spurs were still on his heels; his KEPT
on his head: his hands by his side. His
clothes had been opened about his breast
by some one in search of ~valuables, | sup
nose and there were articles scattered
about showing that he had been careful in
camp to he neat. Among them were a
toothbrush and a box of tooth-powder.
The dust from the Paris road had powdered
him. His features were not swollen or dis
torted, but clear and colorless, and his
friends would have recognized him quickly
as in life.
BLACK AND SWOLLEN.
How it happened that in the same groups
of dead some were hideou>ly affected by the
sun. black and monstrous, with details of
horror in their appearance that l must not
mention, while others were pale and waXen,
every facial outline dcllcately preserved, l
do not understand.
THE DEAD HORSES.
Some ofthe most terrible of the pictures CT
death were among the fallen horses. There
o~,r,ssi,nx nf nnnItaruila faar onI
suffering in their dead faces. The wild
eyes. the expanded n~ostrils, the open lips
DISPLAYING the iull length of the teeth. In
Of the faces of these noble animals
every hair seemed TO tell Il tale of terror.
The attitudes of the horses in death were as
various and fascinating in their interest as
those of the men. oh, for an artist to have
maGc a study OF them. Here is Il grand
bay horse shot through hy IN uneNplodcd
Shelf, his left shoulder crushed and i hole
in his flank half is large as the head OF u
flour barrel. Stricken down with his legs
under him and his chin in the dirt, there
was in his
STARING EYES AMI STARTLING r
the suggestion of a horrible shrek. Here
was another, shot through the head and
pronc on his side. In his struggles he had
torn the clover sod with his feet, and the
bloody froth blown from his nostrlls spoke
of the desperate agony Of his dying breath.
\ beautiful Young mare, iii whose satin
skin, and handsome limos. and graceful
head, tipped with dainty airs, any horse
tancier would have detected the marks OF
Gentle blood, had clasped her legs, as if they
we're human arms. against her body, which
had been shot through. Many were Oh
their backs, their legs extended. So nu-
mcrous were they that, glancing over the
field, horses legs could be seen sticking up
on all sides. making a display that would
have been groteSque ii it had not been
LideOus.
A GROUP FOR A PHOTOGRAPHER.
In the Gravclotte letter | referred to the
seven horses and forty mel dead in a group.
There was q chance for Il photographer. II
the photographers of Europe had half the
ENTERPRISE they have in America some OF
them would have been on the spot, how
ever extreme the trouble of getting there.
That slaughtered heap contained soldiers
of both armies, and not a rag should have
been changed or shifted for the purpose OF
the artist. 1t WAS in its dreadful plcttl-
rcSuueucsS complete. The open calSSon,
the horses at the wheels.
pEATH-sMITTES BY THE SAM STROKE,
the red breeches Of France and the blue
coats of Prussia piled together, caps and
helmets, knapsacks, swords and bayonets,
mu,kets and SahrcS, the hammers for clean
iur cannon. one of them broken, chassepots
and needlc-guns literally lying across each
other. the ground pittcd with shells, Il do
zen marks OF them within Il Square roo,
black holes where they had burst, ndenta-
tons where they had bounced, deep abra-
sions where they struck and lay uneXplo-
dcd. | counted thirteen of these in Il clus-
Ter. and so small was the space you could
have concealed half Of them under a wagon
cover.
HEAPS OF C0RPsEs.
The little town Of Eionville was heaped
with corpscs. The garden walls were over
thrown, the houses shivered with shots,
and one that had been fired III the battle
still burning. Every house had been u
.launhtcr-house. The Prussians had re-
moved nearly all their dead, but the French
rorpscs were SO thick that one could u
think the battle had been for them ut this
point a massacre. Extending across the
Paris road from Eionville- SOUTHWARK Wasa
line on which the French had stood, thelf
faces toward Paris. HOW many HliieS Vi
corDScs there were here, in Il row revealing
the ground on which the French had made
their last stand on the second day, L 90 not
know, but / certainly saw two miles oi
them.
THE AWFUL STRUGGLE.
Traces of the tcrocious energy with when
the French had sought to htrl back inc
~oycrbearing legions of Germany were sun
to be seen in their dead faces. few NAG
the look of meckness and resignation, as II
death had not come before visions OF peace )
but the many had Il liked herceless quite
tiyer-likc. 1t was remarkable that THIS VIII
animal aspect was not Noticeable among the
ttilrn Germans. Their attitudes in death sell
dom expressed intensity of action, While