Sharp County record., 1877-09-14

ridge over which its debris was now list
lessly uiling itself, three fine batta,'on'
strong,
A POOR PROTECTION.
At last The Jingle OF cavalry accouTe-
ment. was heard, and a squadron oI
dragons rode on To the heights, ana
extending in skirmisning order relieved
the Headquarters staff 1t was % poor
screen To- interpose between o victorious
and rcmorscIeSs army and % mass oi
wounded men: but nothing more was
available. The General had lost an
army, the fragments of an army had lost
their General. We turned the heads OF
our iaded horses, and silent and depresS-
ed rode down the slope across the valley
and up the slope beyond. Our pace was
a slow walk, for there were wounded
men everywhere, limpng along the mar
row path in front of Us, PROSTATE ON the
grass by the side of it, or asleep IN the
very dust. Occasionally we struck de-
tachments Of infantry who had scram-
bled back out of the fight, and were ly-
inc ON their arms in utter ignorance OF
the best direction in which to march
Or it might be a battery Of artillery,
halted in perpIeXing dubiety whether II
they went on they might march INTO the
bosom of the Turkish army. l believe
there existed some intention that we
should 90 for the night to village call
ed Bogot. But we got confused rs to
the road, and bewildered by the crack
line spurts Of musketrv fire that broke
out all around in the most uncomtorta-
bic fashion. Were the Turks then
wholly round us, that we heard, and oc-
casionally felt, fire as it seemed to north,
to south, to east, and to west? Once
such was the confusion that we were
fired upon by q detachment OF Russian
troops, halted in equal bewiIderment
with ourselves, and expecting
AN ENEMY FROM ANY OR EVERY SIDE.
We made halt after halt, but there never
was rest for us. A Spurt Of near firing
would stir us, or a COSsack would ride
in with intelligence that the Bashi-
Bazouks we're prowling near by, and
through all this harassment there yet
fingered with the most sangmne OF us
the idea that the battle would be resum-
ed next morning, we affordmg an artiI-
Ie1y support to the supposed fresh troops
Of Krudener. Where, asked myself,
is our artillery to take orders for such Il
purpose9 We did not know where we
we're ourselves, much less where the
army was, of which this cropping, for
lorn, detected band were the headquar-
ters. of Krudener's experiences or
whereabouts we knew simply nothing.
It was useless to dispatch aides-de-camp
or orderlies without being able to give
them direction in which to ride. All we
knew was that ever there were wounded
men about us, and that we and our
horses were dead-beaten.
A HORRID NIGHT.
Nature will assert herself, About 1
o'clock in the morning we turned aside
into a field where the barley had been
reaped AID piled into small stacks
These we tore down, shook some
sheaves out as fodder for our horses and
others as beds for ourselves, and, throw
inc ourselves down, fell into dead slum-
ber. But there was no long rest for us.
At O'Clock we were aroused by the IT,
dings that the Bashi-Bazouks were close
to us, and the near firing told of the ac-
curacy of the statement. We huddled
a number of wounded into and upon
some carts which cameup casually, and
started them off, whether in the right
direction or not we had no conception.
Ugh, how miserably raw and chill
struck the bleak morn just before the
dawn! But if the rawness of the air
struck to our marrow, hale and sound
men as we were, what must have been
the sutleringS of the poor wounded,
weakened by loss of blood, faint in the
prOstration which follows so inevitably
the gun-shot wound; foodless, without
water, lying on the damp grass by the
wayside in
THEIR BLOOD-CLOTTED CLOTHES!
Yet happy were they, pitiable as was
their plight, in comparison with their
fellows who had Uttered the battlefield,
and had been left behind in RadiSovO.
The fate of the former we knew from
what we had ourselves seen; of the lat
ter, it was told to us by scared messen-
gers that the Bashi-Bazouks had in the
dead of night worked round our left
flank, and had fallen upon them and
butchered them in their hel plessness.
Sending Plants to Sleep With Ether.