The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1880-09-24
THE HIDEOUS FACE OF WAR.
SOME INSTANCES OF THE DEADLY woRE
DONE IN BATTLE

SOME INSTANCES OF THE DEADLY woR
DONE IN BATTLE
In the excitement of battle the fall of
comrade is scarcely needed, and half n CON
Pany might be wiped out and tie other hal
hght on without the knowledge of it. 1t
| only after the loud-mouthed cannon and TN
hlurderous musketry have ceased their worl
that the hideOus face of war shows itself +
make men shuGdeT and turn away. Soldier
VINO nave not gone over battlefield OF beel
| one o1 burial party have missed half TIN
| grmnesS and awfulness of war3
| After Gettysburg, one of the Union buria
parties buried eighty Federal soldiers in on,
trench They We're all from a New Yorl
regiment, and all seemingly fell dead at on,
volIey. They were almost in line, taking III
but little more room than live men. All wer,
shot above the hips, and not one of them had
lived ten minutes after being hit. Here Ia,
what was then full company of men. wiped
out by one single voliey as they advanced q
the charge. Some had their muskets so tight
~ grasped that It took the full strength of q
man to wreSt them away. Others died with
arms outstretched, and Others vet had their
hands clasped over their heads, and never
to-De-forgotten expression on their white
faces
At Fair Oaks, the Third Michigan had its
hrst real baptism of fire. The boys had been
held back on other occasions, and now when
gwen opportunity they went for the enemy
posted in the edge of the woods on the dou-
bie-quick, and with yels and cheers. A part
OF the regiment had to swing across a glade,
and while so doing lost fifty or sixty men in
the space of sixty seconds One company
lost twenty men who went down together in
one spot and scarcely moved limb after
falling, Details of five men were made from
each company to advance as sharpshooters.
and of these fifty men who plunged into the
woods as a skirmish line only six came out
alive, and every one of these was wounded
from one to three times.
At Cold lIarbor shell exploded i'm an Ohio
regiment advancing against battery, and
sixteen men were wiped out in an instant OF
these, nine were blown to fragments and the
others horribly mutilated. The battery was
firing thirty or forty shells per minute and
this was the work of single one. One dis
charge Of grape in this same fight killed four
teen men in a Michigan regiment. and a New
ork regiment which went in with 703 men
in line came out with only 800. On one acre
Of ground the burial party found over 700
dead men. IN bit of woods where the bat
tie lines mad clashed, more than ., 900 dead
were found in a space no wider than square
in a city and no more than three times as
long.
At the battle Of Savage Station, during Nc
Clellan'S change of base, a solid shot fired
from Federal field piece into the head of an
infantry column marching by fOurs, killed
-wenty-one men and a horse before its pro-
gress was checked. The first ten men were
reduced to bloody pulp, and the others crush
I'd and bruised to death. At this same bat
lie Confederate shell exploded under Fed
sral gun and killed four artillerymen, dis
mounted the gun, wounded two men, and the
'utt Of it flew off at tangent ana killed
second lieutenant Of infantry who was eighty
DDS away:
At fredericksburg a. the Union infantry
marched in solid masses up the valley beyond
he town, the Confederates opened fire from
behind stone wall. The fighting along the
Inc was over in ten minutes. and :, 600 rebels
ay dead within reach of each other In
many cases three or four men had fallen
each other. 4 shell from a gun on the
ill exploded in the midst of some New
Hampshire troops and killed sergeant, a
corporal and twelve pTivates and wounded
tx others. Before the Union troops crossed
he river, and while shclIing the town, a shell
truck house and exploded in a room where
here were five soldiers and citizen. All
we're blown to pieces, and three citizens in 4
DOM directly overhead were also killed.
Perhaps the most destructive work made
" a shell among troops occurred few miles
below Vicksburg. \ Federal gunboat was
ired upon by light artillery from the bank,
'ostcd in plain view. There we've two six
Founders working close together, and each
lad fired shot when the gunbOat opened
With a SiXty-fOuT pounler The shell struck
'etwcen the guns and exploded. The guns
we're thrown high in the air and came down
wreck. The eighteen men around them
we're killed outright, and fifteen others who 7
lad been lying under cover rushed up Just as
he ca iSson exploded. or the fifteen eleven
we're killed outright, three wounded, and one .
scaped unhurt, but so dazed that he sat .
own and waited to be captured by boat
which pulled ashore Two of the wounded
led the next day, leaving only two men alive
f the thirty-three who had composed the .
attalion. Nothing was left of the gun-car-
iages but splinters, and the guns themselves
rere terribly battered. The only remains of .
he caisSon that could be found was the hub
one wheel filled with broken spokes.-
lost of the dead had been blown to frag.
lents, and the bushes were covered with !
I,rpdS of kNhau tha e.,fs... az-r,Io.loI .
he head of one of the victims was blewn
Ugh in the air, and fell into the water within
few yards of the gunboat.-Detrod Free
'rcSS.
BRADY's- LEAP.-About the year 1880, a
arty of whites, under Captain Samuel Bra-