Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1870-10-07
WARS RAVAGES.
Scenes About Sedan - villages
Harmed and Thousands oil In hsbl
aantS Homeless

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The Belgian frontier is about three miles
outside Sedan, and at that point striking
traces of the war began to be seen.
& Families who have fled from the French
Villages on the approach of the hostile
armies. and whose little homes have since
been blown and burned off toe face OF
the Garth, are living in open fields, with
out even a canvass over them. Here and
there they have placed rough wicker work
made of the branches of trees, and only
three or four feet in height, aud as many
in width, as screen TO keep the wind
from blowing away the wood fires with
which they warm themselves. Horses of
troopers who were killed in battle run
about wild. | saw hundreds of them
Many have wandered up to this town, and
from morning till night the peasants are
catching horses. Ga reaching La Chapelle
| found still more decided traces of the ter
rible conflict In the steeple of the church
there is a cannon ball Another has left
a great hole in the roof, through which it
fell to the nave. There are marks OF rifle
balls on the fronts of the houses, an pOr-
lions of the Announcements of soldiers are
scattered all over the place. Men lie
wounded in nearly every dwelling. Pass
ing from La Chapele and pursuing the
road to Bazeilles by a slight detour from
the road leading direct to Sedan, you see
lofty trees, which, smashed by cannon
balls, have their tops resting on the
ground. Dead horses, swollen to i'm
mense size, lie in the fields. Little
mounds of earth cover dead men, who
have been buried just under the surface
of tie ground On which they fell. On
some Of them Prussian helmets have
becn placcd. At either side of the road
are sleeves of coats legs Of trousers,
sbakoes. cartuuche boxes, and bottles in
Vulnerable. Hedges are broken at every
few vard5' distance, the trees of whole
orchards lie fiat on the earth, and here
and there are large gaps in the woods
where the timber was burnt or where
troops had cut passage through.
Bat it was at Bazeilles the greatest
havoc marked the final struggle between
she Prussiaus and McManOn's army.
The Prussians set fire to IT, A hand
somer or more prosperous village there
was not in the northeast of France. II
was small, but it contained an indus
trious population. Among the buildings
were a ma ynificent church and from
twenty to thirty houses of considerable
pretensiDus for village reSidences-hOuses
of Caen stone and having elaborate bronze
gs'es and doors B3zeilles is now as
complete a ruin as Pompeii. Indeed,
there are houses at POmpeii in better
state of preservation than any at Ba-
Zeilles. Not roof or floor remains in
any one of them The Prussian shells
did their work so well that even the
front walls of Caen stone have been
blown aud burnt to fragments, which
now block up the pavement and all but
cover the roadway. Even in the lanes
off the main street every habitatiOn was
utterly destroyed. No human being could
now find shelter in DaZeilles. When a
troop of Prussian laucers rode through it
Yesterday no sound was heard there but
The ramping of their own horses, and
there was not living soul, man, woman,
or child, of the happy population who
dyelt there little more than a week ago.
The Prussians say they destroyed Bazeii-
les because the inhabitants had fired upon
them from the houses. This is denied by
the French, who say thai the shots which
came from the house were fired by the
regular soldiers and the Garde Mobile.
Be this as it may, destruction was never
more com, lete than at Bazclllcs. Thence
TO Balsn, and also from La Chspelle to
Balan, the country is a complete waite.
Crops and orchards have disappeared,
and the farmbouses are Tiddled by bullets.
Rifles and cannon both played their part
at Balan, and thcuce Oh to Sedan, a
distance Of about an English mile. Dead
horses abound all along the route;
Chassep0ts lie about in hundreds,
there are shakoes, helmets, and cuiras8es
in heaps, and knapsacks and cartouche-
boxes enough for whole regiment. In
the vicinity of such spoil l observed
scores of men wearing the white badge
and cross. whose work was not admins
icring to the sick and wounded, but seek
iug for anything worth finding. Some of
them wore soldiers knapsacks. Numbers
of these men and other badgc-bearcrs
whom have met about the battlefield
are evidently mere tourists; while not a
few of them arc downright rasCals.
have been told that they have robbed the
dead. Some of them are villainous-look-
ing enough for anything. Certain ofthe 80
cicties engaged in the work OF charity do
not allow any person 10 act for them who
does not exhibit an official 6BlJrC on the
armIet as well as the red cross. If any of
them have not adopted that plau, or some
plan like it, the sooner they do so the
better. Although every wounded man
who can be rcmoSed from Sedan without
positive danger is being brought away as
quickly as possible, there are still alb ut
1900 Of thcm lying in town. The floor
of the large church which stands in the
centre of the Place dArmes is covered
with them. There are ladies' attending
10 their wants. II is the same thing in
several of the caSeqYleS. Every day for
ihe last eight days hundreds Of wounded
nave been sent ON but there are cases
too bad for removal, besides which, though
the Prussians press into the ambulance
service every carriage or cart they can
fad, q considerable period must yet elapse
before the whule of even those who may
he removed can be conveyed to Llbramont.
In the meantime, The breaking out of some
terrible epidemic at Sedan is much
e. be feared. The smell all over the
town is something dreadful 1t is Of
fensive beyond all imagination. Along
the streets you sometimes meet as many
A. dozen stretcheTs in procession, on
each of which is wounded man, Even
that movement seems to cause great suf-
feiing TO some of the patients, but what
is it to the jolting which they sustain
:. hen passing over the rugged payementf
al Bouillon in cars without springsg For
tanately, the roads between Sedan and
L;bramont except just here, arc as good
~ any to be found elsewhere, England
not excepted; but twenty. eight miles is Q
frightful journey by such conyeyances.
Some dozen or so of ambulance carts sci
out a time. They are for the most part
very long ones, and each is drawn by
tour horses, PIussian troops riding as
postillions. One or two PruSsian sur
g.ons and several persons wearing the red
crosses accompanied the sad coItegc. Sis
tiers of Charity sit in the carts attending
80 the worst cases.
The population of Charleston, 5. G., is
ls.43l. There is an excess Of blacks over
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