The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1876-03-12

wounds. 40uton was son OF former Gov
ernor of Louisiana, and commander whose
abilities were highly. priced by the Confeder-
stes in the Southwest.
After the action at Sabine Cross Roads, our
Army withdrew fifteen miles to Pleasant Hill,
where . furious, but indecisive, battle was
fought April 8. Both armies passed the night
following on the Fl cid, expecting to renew the
conflict in the morning, SO that there was
neither opportunity nor ability to succor the
wounded. Both armies had now fought two
battles on two diff srent days. and had marched
the whole of the intervening night. and their
energies were thoroughly exhausted. They
were now lying on their arms, not musket-
shot apart, and any movement for the relief
OF the wounded, by either side, would GER
tainly have been interpreted as hostile
movement, and would have drawn q volley of
musketry, and precipitated night battle.
Hundreds of severely wounded men Of both
armies were lying helpless and suffering in
the interspace, and their means and cries for
assistance were truly heart-rending. The
whole dreadful story of war can furnish no
more hideous chapter than such situation
as this. quote again from the statement OF
the officer already referred to-:
"A picket was thrown forward. that OF our
regiment occupying portion of the ground
where the Sixteenth Corps had been posted,
and where the fighting had been severe. AS
were chilled, and the poor sufferers that were
lying wounded on the field were almost per-
ishing. / was charged with the duty of
establishing the picket line, and the memory
of the heart.rending scenes of the advanced
posts is fresh in my mind. Before us was an
extensive field, whore the line of the Six
teenth Corps had been broken by the enemy.
On this bloody ground were mingled together
both rebels and Unionists But few hours
since they were fighting in almost hand-to-
hand conflict for the mastery of the field;
now, side by side, they lay dying. The en-
Uttered feelings with which they had so re-
Gently commended had passed away, and ap-
preaching death Invested them of every re-
sentiment. Walls and cries of agony were
mingled by hundreds of these sufferers. The
following are some of the cries which were
most frequently repeated: y.
For Gods, sake bring US some water
where is the Twenty fourth Iowa?' Send
some one to get me- Fourth Texas, come
here! Twentieth Arkansas, come for me i
%, bring me some fre!' My God, I am
dying !-are any of the Fifteenth Illinois here?'
water, water and fire, 6re-O, I am
freezing!' were frequent calls.
There was one voice, apparently that OF
wounded officer in delirium, which kept re-
peating over and over words like these:
Forward, men, forward-there they are
fire on them-lie down-there they come-up
and after them-charge them-there they go
follow them
A sentinel on an advanced post called me
and said: Il have for some time heard some-
thing that made my heart ache. A short dis
lance in front lies q poor fellow who kept
crying, o. my wife, my wife ! But for few
minutes have not heard him speak, and I
fancy he may be dead
In this connection may be added par
agraph furnished by the same hand, and
quite germane to the subject:
"a singular coincidence befell the Missouri
troops. In the Sixteenth Corps we likewise
had several regiments from that State. In the
second days battle the Missouri Federal and
Confederate troops were pitted against each
other. A Colonel taken prisoner by our
forces said that in more than one Of the
charges he distinctly saw some of his old
friends and neighbors, and when the fortune
of war gave him into our hands, he recognized
nearly as many acquaintance in one of our
regiments as he had in his own. It turned
out that these two regiments had been re-
and one for the Confederate army. In one
case, two brothers met, fighting on opposite
sides"
Such is wsf-and civil war, which is the
worst of all armed conflicts. May our exper-
ience suffice us for thousand years to come
-Nep York Times.