The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1877-10-11
IN THE RUSSIAN CAMPS.

Death 10 Transportaii iion-Their Rag
ged Uniforms and Splendid Arms.
Poradim, where General Lotof has his
headquarters before Plevna, is if possible,
still more wretched place than torni-
Studen, Hadi Koi, and the other villages
near by. When rain comes one feels
utterly wretched being obliged to huddle
into habtation which the bugs dispute
with him, and where the presence of the
easlIy-ni tiated scorpion quite probable.
The roads from Poradim towards the old
battlefield of Plevna..-it seems already as
ifthe affair occurred a century agO.-are in
an inde.cribably bad condition retreat
along them would be almost an impossi-
bility so that it seems az if the Russians
must 60 ahead in any case. Hundreds
of dead still lie unburied on this terrible
field, and, sad to relate, hut true, the
owneress dogs that inlest this country
have eaten the corpse of many brave
hero. This is one Of the most revolving
features Of the present campaign. There
has been no chance for the Russians to
give Christian burial to these uniortu-
mates they lay too near the entrench-
ments from which the Turks can at any
time pour forth a murderous fire. The
stencil from the field, in this terrible
climate, is rimply intolerable for human
beings; one is compelled to fly as rapidly
az possible even the horses scream with
disgust when they are compelled to ap-
proach this CHASTITY array of the results
of violent death. Here and there lie
multilated bodies, rotting in the sun and
rain. Such spectacles sometimes move
the Russian soldiers to terrible threats Of
vengeance, which their officers will not
allow them to fulfill The soldiers have
murmured few times at the very kind
treatment accorded by the Russian
authorities to their prisoners. But am
inclined to think that it Furnishes the
Turk worse to send him way into the
north of Russia than it would to kill him
on the "no quarter" principle. He
would take the death at the hands of his
enemy as a sure passport into Paradise !;
but he feels keenly the long journey
away from home, and especially from
Mussulman habits. Foreign countries
have no charm tor him; he detests and
despises them Il am, of course, speaking
of the rank and file now, and home
sickness frequently drives the Turk to
suicide. Cases of this kind happened
repeatedly when Suleiman Pasha's army
was operating in Herzegovina and in
Montenegro. | have seen great many
Turkish prisoners, and it must be ad.
mittpd that they looked pretty thoroughly
punished. The other day, while crossing
an immense sandy expanse, dotted here
and there only by friendly wells, rising
their long sweeps like skinny arms,
beckoning the traveller to approach and
be refreshed, came upon six hundred
prisoners, escorted yabout forty soldiers,
toiing along the wastes of this Oriental
desert. The procession was picturesque
enough, certainly, but it was full of
misery. There were three officers in an
OK cart-imagine jOurneying across the
desert in an ox-cart---who served 50 well
to illustrate some types cOmpOl in the
Turkish army that | will describe them
for YOU. One was the traditional ragged
captain, who has not been paid for two
or three years and whose European-like
uniform is a mass OF rags and patches.
To see such scarecrow sfllcer equipped
with eloquent side arms--a beautiful
Damascus blade and an American revOl-
ver-- can not but provoke a smile. But
the captains mien was a. proud as though
his pockets were loaded with gold, and
when he pulled his blue tattered coat
about him, and turned his bronze, cOlored
face toward the sky with grim dignity,
he seemed to be invoking the apprOba-
tion of Allah for his patience and self
denial. The second was an officer of
high rank.--evidently of Asiatic birth,
and one of the old-school Turks, who do
not believe that the infdel has any right
to live, and who has proud memories
about the grandeur of the Turkish empire
once on a time. He wore turban
gracefully folded around his head, but
pushed back from a broad and rather
impressive brow. He looked neither to
the right nor the left as the procession
passed; his arms were folded on his
breast, and his gaze was proudly fixed on
vacancy. He was made of the stuff
which prompts the fanatical Turk to
order the Wholesale slaughter of Chris
tians, as at Eski and Jeni .Saghra, at
Lovca and Plevna, at Phillipopols and
Adianople, at Kazanlik and Karabunar.
, His clothes were rich and his arms were
decorated with silver and gems. Why
the Russians allow these fellows to retain
their swords | have not yet been able to
discover. tits certain that if the emperor
had not made many express command:
concerning the exercise Of mercy and
courtesy towards the enemy, some o
hese superior Turkish officers would
have Jared very badly. The third
prisoner in the OK cart was a thorough
type Of the commander of irrpgulars, 8
brigand, if there was one. professional
murder, who weuld prefer to cut throat
rather than to spare life, whose hatred
for the Russian was only an excuse fol
the exercise of his villianOus trade. Thi,
man reminded me, while gazing at hi,
face, Of fox and tiger. lie had all
the slyness Of the one and the capricious
ferocity and blood thirstiness of the other
written on his mean, low brow, in the