Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1870-09-23

From the Cincinnati Commercial.
| m1leS OF CcrpseD--GaxavolOtte After the
Battie-Acrss or Dead and DyInx-The
Slain OF Both Armies Piled In Bloody
| Heaps-A Scene OF Horror Described by
Arurat Halstead.
PoNT-A-MoUssoN, August 20.
| There were, for instance, four or five
thousand dead men in sight. Here, there,
everywhere, the poor fellows had been
tumbIed over. We came upon French
man whose head had been Knocked off by
cannon shot. There remained of it two
scraps OF skin. each as large as your hand,
| and on one was his moustache and the end
of his nose. and on the other patch cf
the hair OF his head. Another had been
| struck in the centre of his body and almost
! cut in two. The shoulders ana head were
cl1nglng 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
DIsEAIBowR1ED
by fragment of shell, and the fatal mis-
sile had torn open his pantoloons pocket,
showing a large piece of hard bread and a
| bit of meat. A tall Prussian, dead, was
| at full length on his back, his helmet hid
ing his swollen face-the eagle that adorn-
ed it 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 sic n
| der little French soldier lying on his face,
| his gun in his hand. He had been killed
| as he was making ready to fire, and had
crouched in the collapse of death like q
pitifol little animal. A triangular rent in
| the band of his red cap showed that he
had been shot through the head.
SHOT THROUGH THE HEAD.
| At his side was a large man, through
whose naked head a CHASTITY furrow had
been ploughed, and from it the torn brain
issued. His chassepot was clutchsd in his
stiff hands. In the same neighborhood
was q French Colonel, not disfgured 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 him
self for death.
A NEAT CORPSE.
He was as neat a corpse as you ever saw.
His spurs were still on his heels his kept
on bis head his hands by his side. His
clothes had been opened about his breast
by some one in search of valuables, / sup
pose ; and there were articles scattered
aboat, showing that he had been careful
tooth brush and box of tooth powder.
The dust from the Paris road had pow
dered him. His features were not swollen
or distorted, but clear and colorless, and
his friends would have recognized him
quickly as in life.
BLACK AND SWOLLEN.
How If haprnnnd that - tl1~ 1s"-. -
of dead some were hideOusly affected by |
the sun, black and monstrous, with details |
kIoir hat mn
not mention, while others were pale and
waxen, every facial outline delicately pre-
served, do not understand.
THE DEAD HORSES.
Some of the most terrible of the pictures
of death were among the fallen horses |
There were expressions of unutterable 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 noble ami
mails every hair seemed to tell tale OF
terror. The attitudes of the horses IN
death we're as various and fascinating IL
their interest as those of the men. Oh,
for an artist to have made study of them!
Here is grand bay horse shot through by
an unexploded shell, his left shoulder
crushed and q hole in his flank half as
large as the head of flour barrel Strick-
en- 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 another, shot through the head and
prone on his side. In his struggles he had
| torn the clover sod with his feet, and the
bloody froth blown from his nostrils spoke
| of the desperate agony of his dying breath.
A beautiful young mare, in whose satin
skin. and handsome limbs, and graceful
head, tipped with dainty airs. any horse
| fancier would have detected the marks of
gentle blood, had clasped her legs, as If
| they were human arms, against her body,
which had been shot through. Many were
on their backs, their legs extended. 80
numerous were they that, glanclng over
the field, horses legs could be seen sticking
up on all sides, making a display that
would have been grotesque if it had not
been hideous.
| GROUP FOR A PHOTOGRAPHER.
| In the Gravelotte letter referred to the
seven horses and forty man doad io ("
group. There was chance for photo
grapher. If the photographers of Europe
| had half the enterprise they have in
America some of them would have been
on the spot, however 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
| it's dreadful picturesqueness complete
The open caisson, the horses at the wheels
DEArH-sM1rrEN BY THE SAME STROKE.
the red breeches of France and the blue
coats of Prussia piled together, caps and
helmets, knapsacks, swords and bayonets'
muskets and sabres, the hammers for clean
ing cannon, one of them broken, chase
pots and needle guns literally. lying across
each other, the ground pitted with shells,
a dozen marks of them within square
rod, black holes where they had burst, In