The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1870-09-17
MisrclIanp.
GRAVEI.OTTE.
After she II attle--lsraphic Description Of
Shocking Scenes.

Murat Halstead editor Of the Cincinnati Com.
mercial who is with the Prussian headquarters,
by permission of Bismark, has written series
of very graphic letters of the scenes he has Wit
the day after the hard-fought battle Of Grave
lotte, he thus depicts what he saw on the gerry
scene Of strife and horrors. 1t is shocking in
the minutes of detail:
I'VE met separately two officers and two sol.
diers, and received from them four distinct and
inharmonious stories. Even the old soldier
could not see his way clearly, but according to
his best judgemnt there was burial truce.
But why have burial truce after the battle Of
Gravelotte when there had not been such . cere.
mcny after the battles of Vionville and Recon.
Vile? The evidence was ample that there had
not been truce to bury the dead. There wsre
for instance, three or four thousand dead men in
sight. Here, there, everywhere, the poor fel.
lows had been tumbled over. We came 70 =
trenchman whose head was knocked of by .
cannon shot. There remained of it two scraps
Of skin, each as large a. your hand, and on ono
was his moustache and the end Of biz nose, and
on the other a patch of the hair Of his head.
Another had been struck in the csntrs Of his
body and slmost cut into. The shoulders sna
head we're left, the hairy knspsask aad red cap
still clinging to them, and, below the bloody
mass, his coarse shoes were visible; biz face wss
in the dust. Another French soldier had been
disemboweled by the fragment Of Q ehell, and
the fatal missile had torn open his rantaloons
pocket, showing large piece of hard bread and
bit of meat. A tall Prussian, dead, wss at full
length on his back, his helmet half hiding his
swollen face-the eagle that adorned it with the
legend "For King and Fatherland," and tho
buckle Of his hilt showing in conspicuous letters
"God with u.s." On the north side Of tho road
was slender little French soldier, lying on HE
face, his gun in his hands. He had been killed
as he was making ready to fire, and had crouohed
in the collapse Of death like pitiful little ami.
NAL. A triangular rent in the band Of his red
cap told that he had been shot through tho head.
At his side was larger man, through whose
naked head ghastly furrow had been plowed,
and from it the torn brains issued. HE chase.
pot was clutched in his stiff hands. In the same
neighborhood was French Colonel, not dis.
figured at all by 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, it seemed, attempted TO do something
TO staunch the flow of blood, and finding it in
vain, had composed himself for death. He was
as neat q 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 valu-
ables, suppose, and there were articles scat.
tered about showing that he had been careful in
camp to be neat. Among them were a tooth.
brush and box of tooth-powder. The dust
from the Paris road had powdered him. His
features were not swollen or distorted, but clear
and colorless, and his friends would have recog.
nized him quickly as in life.
"How 1t happened that in the same groups Of
dead some were hideously affected by the sun,
black and monstrous. with details of horror in
their app earauce that l must not mention, while
others were p,le and waxen, every facial outline
delicately preserved do not understand.
Some of the most terrible of the pictures Of
death were among the fallen horses. There were
expressions o. unut,e.able fear and suffering in
their dead faces The wild eyes, the expanded
nostrils, the open lips displaying the full length
of the teeth. In some of the faces of these no.
BILE animals every hair seemed to tell tale of
terror, The attitudes of the horses in death
were as various and tasoin ating in their interest
as those of the men. Oh for an artist to have
made Il study Of them Here is grand bay
horse shot through by an exploded she'll his left
shoulder crushed, and hole in his flank half az
large as a flour barrel Struck down with his
legs under him and his chin in the dirt, there
was In his staring eyes and startling grin the
suggestion Of horrible shrek. Here was an
other, shot through the head, and prone on his
side. In his struggles be had torn the clover
sod with his foot, and the bloody froth blown
Aoi Aio''' ans JSIiA~s SI'hS VI ago.
ny of his dying breath A beautiful young mare,
in whose satin skin and handsome limbs, and
graceful head, tipped with dainty ears, any horse
fancier would have detected the marks of gentle
blood, had clasped her legs, as if they were hu.
man arms against her body, which had been shot
through. Many were on their backs, their legs
extended. So numerous were they that, glanc-
ing over the field, horses legs could be seen
sticking up on all sides, making di,play that
would have been grotesque if it had not been
Aideous.
seven horses and forty men in group. There
was a chance for photographer. II the photo.
graphers of Europe had half the enterprise they
have in America, some Of them would have been
on the spot, however extreme the trouble Of get
ting there That slaughtered heap contained
soldiers OF both armies and not q rag should
have been shifted for the purpose Of the artist.
1t was inets dreadful picturesqueneas, complete.
The open cai.son, tho horses at tho wheels death
smitten by the same stroke, the red breeches Of
France and the blue coats Of Prussia piled to-
gether, caps and hemlets, knapsscks, swords and
bayonets, muskets and sabers tho rammefs for
cleaning cannon, one Of them broken, ohssse-
pots and needle guns, literally lying across each
other; the ground pitted with shells, dosen
marks OF them in square rod, black holes whore
they had burst, indentations where they had
bounced, deep abraisons where they struck and
lay unexploded I counted thirteen OF these in
cluster and so small was the space that you
could have concealed half Of them under . VA.
gon-covsr.
The little town of Vionville was hsaped
with corpses The garden walls we're over.
thrown, the houses shivered with Shots and ono
that had been fred in battle still burning. Ev.
cry house had been slaughter house. The Prus.
SLAMS had removed nearly all of their dead, but
French corpses wore so thick that ona could hnt