The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1880-10-14

THE HIDEOUS FACE OF WAR.

THE HIDEOUS FACE OF WAR.
Some Instances of he.Deadly Work Done
In Battle.
In the excitement of the battle the fall
of comrade is scarcely,heeded, and half
company might be wiped out and the
other half fight on without the knowl-
edge of it. 1t is only after the murder.
ous musketry have ceased their work that
the hideous face of war shows itself to
make men shudder and turn away. Sol
diers who have not gone over battlefield
or been one of a burial party have missed
half the grinness and awfulness of war.
After Gettysburg, one of the Union
burial parties buried eighty Federal SOL
diers in one trench. They were all from
a New York regiment, and all seemingly
fell dead at one volley. They were al
most in line taking up but little more
room than live men. All were shot
above the hips, and not one of them had
lived ten minutes after being hit. Here
lay what was a full company of men,
wiped out by one single volley as they
advanced to the charge. Some had their
muskets so tightly grasped that it took
the full strength of q man to wrcs. them
away. Others died with arms out
stretched, and others yet had their hands
clasped over their head, and q never-to-
be. forgotten expression on their white
faces.
At Fair Oaks, the Third Michigan
had its first real baptism of fire. The
boys had been held back on other occa-
sions, and now when given opportunity
they went for the enemy posted in the
edge of the woods on the double.quick,
and with yells 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 com.
pany 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
shirmish line only six came out alive,
and every one of these was wounded from
one of these was wounded from one to
three times.
At Cold Harbor shell exploded in an
Ohio regiment advancing against bat
terry, and sixteen men were wiped out in
an instant. OF these nine were blown to
fragments and the others horribly mutt
lated. The battery was firing thirty or
forty shells per minute, and this was the
work of single one. One discharge of
grape in this same fight killed fourteen
men in Michigan regiment, and New
York regiment, which went in with 7O3
men in line came out with only 1863. On
one acre of ground the burial party
found over 700 dead men. In bit of
woods where the battle lines had clashed
more than 1000 dead were found in q
space no wider than square in city
and no more than three times as long.
At The battle of Savage Station, during
McClellan's change of base, solid shot
fred from Federal feld-piece into the
head of an infantry column marching by
fours, killed twenty-one men and a horse
before its progress was checked: The
first ten men were reduced to bloody
pulp, and the Others crushed and bruised
to death. At this same battle Confed-
crate shell exploded under Federal gun
and killed four artillerymen, dismounted
the gun, wounded two men, and the butt
| of it few off at tangent and killed
second lieutenant of infantry who was
eighty rods away.
At Fredericksburg, as the Union infan-
try marched in solid masses up the valley
beyond the town, the Confederates opened
fire from behind stone wall. The fight
ing along this line was over ten minutes,
and 5000 Federals lay dead within reach
Of each other. In many cases fallen
across each other. A shell from a gun
on the hill exploded in the midst of some
New Hampshire troops and killed ser.
geant, corporal and twelve privates and
wounded six others. Before the Union
troops crossed the river, and while shell.
ling the town, shell struck house and
exploded in room where there we're FIVE
soldiers and q citizen. All were blown to
pieces, and three citizens in q room di-
rectly overhead were also killed.
Perhaps the most destructive work
made by shell among troops occurred
few miles below Vicksburg. A Feder'
al gunboat was fired upon by light artil-
lery from the bank, posted in plain view.
There were two six-pounders working
close together, and each had fred shot
when the gunboat opened with sixty
r.pounder. The shell struck between
the guns and exploded. The guns were
thrown high in the mir and came down
q wreck. The eighteen men around
them we're killed outright, and fifteen
others who had been lying under cover
rushed up just as the caisson exploded.
Of the fifteen eleven were killed outright,
three wounded, and one escaped unhurt
but so dazed that he sat down and waited
to be captured by boat which pulled
ashore. Two of the wounded died the
next day, leaving only two men alive OF
the thirty three who had composed the
battalion. Nothing was left of the gun
carriages but splinters, and the guns
themselves were terribly battered. The
only..remains of the caisson that could be
found was the hub of one wheel filled
with broken spokes. Most of the dead
had been blown to fragments, and bushes
we're covered with shreds of flesh. When
the caisson exploded the head of one OF
the victims was blown high in the air,
and fell into the water within q few
yards of the gunboat.-Detroi Free
Press.
A Mountain.Sheep's Head Embedded
in Pine Tree.
Quite curiosity was found few days
ago near the camp of the workmen on