Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1870-10-14
The Horrors of Sedan.

In DR.. W. II. Russcll's account of the
battle of Sedan, sent to the London Times,
occurs the following fearful sketch
| The greatest event of our time has occurred
under the eyes of those who saw the battle of
Sedan stlftdk thU British public must have
had enough of battle. field horrors and hospi.
tai scenes. There will be plenty of letters
describing Kranken-tragors, burial parties,
wounded men, heaps of dead, the hidcous re-
verse of the medal on the other side of which
are the bright embiazonments of glory and
victory. will not dwell on the topic, but
ancc that no human eye evor rested on such
revolving objects as were presented by the
battle fields around Sedan. Let them fancy
masses mass, Of oolored rags glued together with
blood and brains, and pinned into strange
coive mems bodies without heads, legs with
out bodies, heaps of human cntrails attached
to red and blue cloth, and disembowelled
corpscs in uniform, bodies lying about in all
attitudes, with skulls shattered, faces blown
off, hips smashed, bones, flesh and gay cloth.
ing all pounded together as if braycd in
mortar, extending for miles, not very thick in
any one place, but recurring perpetually for
weary hours, and then they cannot, with the
most vivid Imagination, come up to tie sick.
ening reality of that butchcry. No nightmare
could be SO frightful Several times came
on spots where there were two horses lying
dead together in harness, killed by the same
fragment. Several times saw four, five and
six men, four five and six horses, all killed by
the explosion of one projectle, and in one
place there lay no less than eight French SOL
dicrs who must have been struck down by the
bursting of shell over company, for they
all lay round in circle with their feet inwardy,
each shattered in the head or chest by piece
Of shell, and no other dead being in hun
dred yards of them. A curious end to nc
unaccountablc phenomenon was the blackness
of most Of the faces Of the dead. Dcoompo-
sition had not set in, for they were killed only
the day before. Another circumstance which
H,r"ck 9.,.,.. me was the expression Of agony on
ing, and those who die by steel, open. eyed
pain on their features, with protruding tongue.
a muskct ball, which is at once vital, does
not seem to cause much pain, and the features
are composed and quiet, sometimes with
sweet smile on the lips. But tho prevailing
expression on this field of the faces which
were not mutilatcd was one Of terror and of
agony unuttcrable. There must have been
hell Of torture raging in that semi circle in
which the earth was torn asunder from all
sides with real tempest of iron Kissing, and
screeching, and bursting into the heavy masses
at tho hand of an unseen enemy. | cannot
imagine anything SO trying to the bravcst man
as to meet death almost ingloriousy in such
scene as that--nothing so maddcning to SOL
dicrs as to be annihilatcd without chance of
vengeance nothing so awful to the fugitive
as to see his comrades blown to fragments all
around him. 1t is we'll that wives and moth
ers and fond sisters we're spared the sight of
their beloved ones, and il is we'll that in
France it is only mothers and sisters who will
have to dcplore the slain. Whether the Prus
SLAMS buried their dead early-the night of
the battle itself-or not cannot tell, but
their losses were almost nothing if they we're
to be estimated by the number of bodies on
the field. Soldiers we'll know how deceptive
is the appearance Of ground viewed from an
elevated point and during the battle, which
ragged for fifteen milce before and around us,
there were outbursts of firing from valleys
and knols which seemed purposeless, but
which were at once explained whom tho posi-
tions we're gained X X X
There was a rain Of Prussian and Ba
varian bombs upon the town, filled with terri
fled citizens who had had no time to escape
The troops outside had been fighting without
food since the morning, and there were no re.
sources within the city to meet their wants
They wore in an angry and terrible mood, up
braiding their officers, mutinous, and every
shell that fell increased the evil Of their spirit
To cnc Of many missiles was now reserved a
! great mission. A shell fell into warehouse
or manufnctory in which was stored some in
nammable material. A vast volume of fame
rushed for a moment into the air, aud volume
Of thick white smoke which lowered aHd
spread out so as to overshadow halc the city
gavo rise to the apprehension on ono sido and
expectation on tho other that some central
magazine had goneup. But no noise ensued.
Still, ut tho moment the resolve was taken
| that Sedan and all that it contained should
Lc pinced in tho power Of the victor, in the
beief that it was impossible to resist with
any prospect but that of ruin compicto, how.
ever lingering.
The Emperor could not oppose counsels
dictated by obvious prudence, nor could he
encourage tho despair of brave men. A white
flag was called for, but none was Forthcoming.
A lancor's flag was raised aloft. General
Lauriston stood upon tho battlemcnts and
waived it, while trumpeter sounded, but in
that internal din neither sight nor sound at.
tracted tho boseigois, and it was only whom
tho gate was opened, after attempts in which
officers and mon were killed and wounded,
that the Prussians recognized the frat omen
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