The Conservative. (M'connelsville, Ohio) 1866-1871, 1870-10-07
MILES Or CORPSES.
GrnveIIotte After the BsttIe-Acres o.
Dead and Dying.
I-o.,, El,a lin-inpati Enuuirar

There remained of il two scraps of skin. |
each as large as your hand, and on one Vss |
his mustache and the end OF his nose, and |
on the other a patch of the hair of his |
head. Another had been struck IN the
center OF his body and almost cut In two.
The shoulders and head were left, the
hairy knapsack and red cap still clinging
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 disem-
boweled by a fragment of shell, and the
fatal missile had torn open his pantalOOns
pocket. showing large piece of hard
bread and a bit OF meat A tall PIussian.
f,1ead, Was at full length on his back, his
helmet half hiding his swollen face-the
eagle that adorned ID. with the legend,
For King and Fatherland," and the
buckle of his nilt showed in conspicuous
letters. God with u.s." On the north side
of the road was a slender little French sol.
dier living on his face. his gun in his hand.
He had been killed as he WAS making
ready to fire. and had crouched in the col
lapse of death like piti(ul little animal
A triangular rent in the band of his red
cap told that he had been shot through the
head.
At his side was a larger man, through
whose naked head a ghastly furrow had
been ploUghed, and from it the torn brains
issued. His chassepot Was elutched in his
stiff hands. In the same neighborhood
was q French colonel, not disigured at
all by his death wound. l think he had
not meet his death instantly. but had
been struck in the thigh and died from loss
ef blood. He had, it seemed, attempted
to do something to staunch the flow of
- vain hu1 uaI
himself for death
He WAS as neat n corpse as you ever saw.
His spurs were still on bis 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 valuables, L sup
pose, and there were articles scattered
about showing that he had been careful in
camp to be neat. Among them were a
toothbrush and a 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.
How it happened that in the same groups
of dead some were bideously affected by
the sun, black and T1onstrous, with details
of horror in their appearance that l must
not mention, while others were pale and
waxen, every facial outline delicately pre-
served, / do not understand.
Some of the most terrible of the pictures
of death were among the fallen horses.
| There were expressions ofunutterable 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 animals every
hair seemed to tell tale of terror The
attitudes of the horses in death were as
various aud fascinating in their interest as
those of the men. Oh for an artist TO have
made a study of them Here is n grand
bay horse shot through by an uneXplOded
i shell. his left shoulder crushed and a hole
in his flank half as large as the head of a
-four barrel Stricken down with bis legs
under him and his chin in the dust, there
was in his strange eyes and start
ling grin the suggestion of n
horrible shrek. Here wss another, shot
through the head and prone on his side.
In his struggles be had torn the clover sod
with his feet, and the bloody froth, blown
from his Rostrils, spoke of the desperate
agony of bis dying breath. beautiful
younc mare. in whose satin skin and hand
some limbs, and graceful head, tipped with
dainty airs, any horse fancier would have
detected the marks Of gentle blood, had
clasped her legs, as il they were human
larms, against her body, which bad been
scot through. Many we're on their backs
their legs extended. So numerous wer,
; they that, glapcing over the field, horses
legs could be seen sticking up on all sides
making a display that would have beer
= grotesque if it had not been hideous.
In the Grayellotte letter referred to th'
l seven horses and forty men dead IN group
There was a chance for a photographer
s If the photographers OF Europe had b
S the enterprise they have IN America
some of them would have been oI
the spot, however extreme the troubl
!, of oetting there That slaughtered 4eal
contained soldiers of both armies, an,
= not a rag should have been changed o
; shifted for the purpose of the artist
r IL was in its dreadful picturesquenes
/. complete. The open caisson, the horse a
a the wheels death-smitten by the sam
: stroke, the red breeches OF France and tn
/. blue coats of Prussia piled together, cap
and helmets, knapsacks, swords and bayOn
It cts. muskets and sabres, the hammers 70
: cleaning cannon, one of them broken
j chassepots and needle-guns literally lynn
across each other, the ground pitted wit
- shells a dozen marks of them within
square rod, black holes where they ha
:, barst. indentatious where they ha
bounced, deep abrasiOns where they ha
struck and lay unexploded. l counte
of thirteen of those in a cluster, and SO snla
II was the space, you could have conceale
y half of them under a wagon cover.
The little town of Thionyille was heape
q with corpses The garden walls were Ovel
4 thrown, the houses shiYsTed with shot
, and one thai had been fired in the battl
still burning. Every house had been
slaughter house. The Prussians had n
n moved nearly all their dead, but Frenc
: corpses were so thick that one could bu
's think the battle had been for them, at tn
point, a massacre. Extending across Il
s. Paris road from YionVille southvard, vi
10 line on which the French had stood, the
4 faces towards Paris. How many miles
corpses there we're here, in a row, ,revealin
the ground on which the French hs
/ made their last stand on the second day,
- DO not know, but certainly saw two mil
of them.
Traces of the ferocious energy vii
L which the French bad sought to hurl baC
re the overbearing legions of Germany we
n still to be seen in their dead faces. fe
at had the look OF meekness and resignatio
j. as if death had not come before visions
ae peace, but the many had fixed tiercene
=, quite tiger-hke. 1t was remarkable tn
~ this wild animal aspect wGs not noticea6
a. among the fallen Germans. Their attitud
ne in death seldom expressed intensity of 9
cd ton, while the French, in very many !
ID, stances, had evidently received their me
e- tai hurts whom every nerve and muscle W
lir |. strained with the excitement Of some I
n rous sndeaYor.
or The village of Grayellotte was filed wi
as the usual evidence of strife-broken wal
re, shattered roofs, trampled gardens, vOun
rs ed men, bloody straw.
he The chapel of the village WAS hospi
," filed with men too badly wounded for
moval The mangled French and Prussia
10 were huddled together on the straw, a
ne the weary surgeons were still at work 81
n them. Some, whose wounds were Ilresss
an lay tucked in their blankets Sit,n an air
n, comfortableness. The others were suff
ing intensely, their glass, stare, clench
teeth and heavy breath az were evidenc
va A young Prussian, a tall and gentleman
soldier, Was near 'ie door lying on his "a
rec and a civilian, Tho seemed to have q 8
I'D cial interest N the case was, with tren
:. ling hRgeTs removing his clothing to L
- at the Il Anfrn1 the Wll