The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1870-09-14
Among the Wounded at Frankfort
German Chivalry.

A letter to the Boston journal says:
There Were fifty odd cars, mainly
freight wagons, on the floors Of which
bountiful quantities of straw had been
scattered. Here lay, in bloody and
sometimes hardly distinguishable
masses, the French and PrussiaDs to.
gether. The first few cars were filled
with dangerously wounded Frenchmen.
In the group was one Turco and several
Zouaves, and captain who had lost his
epaulettes, and was stretched despair
ingly on the floor, and lieutenant who
was shot three times and whose right arm
was already swollen to three times its
natural size The native courtesy OF
these unfortunate fellows was admirably
exemplified by their feeble efforts to
rise as we entered the car.
Most of the prisoners were wounded
twice, generally in the arm or leg; most
OF the Prussians once only, either in
the head, breast or lower limbs. The
Bavarians, the very boys whom we had
seen leaving Speyer week before, were
many of them strangely wounded, as
they had INDUCED in so much hand-to-
hand fighting. The Bavarians are to
the German race what the Yankees are
to the American, and have the same
whimsical, picturesque way OF talking.
One little fellow, scarcely tall enUu-.
to be soldier, and with a 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 a 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 1.-TWO brigades)
were light-haired, blue eyed boys, fresh
and pure from the world, but, say the
Frenchmen, ferocious as tigers in bat
tie. These boys had heard before leav-
ing Bavaria that the Turcos carried
knives, and despatched the partially
wounded with them. One whole regi-
ment, therefore, provided itself with the
short, flat knives made in the noun
tains of Upper Bavaria and announced
this fact to their comrades. Their
Colonel heard OF it, and commanded
them to leave the cutlery behind,
whereupon they refused to march.
Knowing their temper, he was obliged
to submit, and many an Arab met his
fate at the point OF those short blades.
Frenchmen generally received, all
along the line, better treatment than
the Prussians. Some of them were az
fected to tears, others to sarcasm, but
admitted that their enemies were high
" noble. Even the excited crowds were
kept back, and when wounded man
was stripped and held down in his ago
ny to have his fostering and suppurated
wounds probed, he was cared for as
though he were son of Germany.
"In the cars, where Prussans and
French were crowded, the best Of feeling
seemed to prevail. Prisoner and cap
tor drank beer from the same glass
and helped to bandage each others
wounds. One stout Frenchman was
supporting poor Bavarian lad, who
was shot through the face and was evil
IDENTITY fast sinking. lcould never have
believed the Prussians so eXcitable and
emotional a people had ! not seen them
weeping and sobbing at sight of the
pain and misery of strong men. We
had one Frenchman who was shot
three times and was hound to die
standing, for he would walk, al
though he could not live many
hours. lie was surrounded by twelve
Prussians, who ran hither and thither
to procure whatever he needed, and
cried like children when he was put on
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,
proclaiming to them the necessity of
peace and good will, and were bound
by strong chords OF friendship then and
there.
Toyez ooLs, said one French Off
Ger to me, these Prussians fire at very
short range. They keep advancing
when it seems certain death, and they
ALWAYS aim deliberately. They lost
double the killed we did, but there
are not so many Germans as French
badly wounded. The Bavarians club
their muskets, the rascally infants, and
they were as bad as the Turcos %
cali oil. They wouldn't hear the bu-
Giles. Down in the valley, between
those two murderous hills, CONNIE ca
(and he drew little map OF the scene
in the straw, down there the dead OF
both sides were piled so high that they
served the Prussians for barricades.
That 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
! .hnr, s,,fFnr themselves to be moved.