The Douglas independent. [volume] (Roseburg, Or.) 187?-1885, 1880-09-11
Left on the Field.

Perhaps you know what it is to have q
bullet plow its way into your flesh, but
were you ever leftwounded on the field
| left to wear away hours of daylight
amidst groans and prayers and curses
| to wear away night which seemed years
long, while men shrieked in agony and
died-while wounded horses sighed and
groaned and dragged themselves along
while ghouls prowled over the blood-red
| grass and wet their fingers in warm blood
| as they searched the bodies of dead and
wounded for plumber?
Forward r came the order.
looked up and down the liLe as we
left the cover of the woods, and the regi-
ment was dressed as if on parade. We
were the battlefront of brigade, and
We're going to charge battery half q
mile away. No skirmishers out-no
firing. The battery was belching away
under cloud of blue smoke, and the
| ground was open and clear.
| Trampl Trampl Tramp No lagging-
no forging ahead. Common time
march! march! march! 1t was snail's
| pace, but we were to increase it. The
left of the line was swinging ahead lit
tie as the impatient men increased their
steps, when suddenly the enemy dlscov-
cred our maneuver. There was u lull
in the firing for fifteen seconds as the
battery changed front. and then a shell
tore through the center and battered six
or eight men into bloody pulp.
ble-qnick-charge !" and away
we went, each man shutting his teeth
hard as he entered the smoke-cloud,
from under which the red tongues of
death leaped forward to scorch dozens
and scores and hundreds.
A grim veteran on my left raised a
cheer. It was yet on his lips when a
grape-shot tore hole through his breast
and sent him Unto a dry ditch, dead be-
fore he struck the grass.
Two brothers on my right halted for an
instant as the grape and canister shrieked
around them. I looked back and they
were gone-dead under the feet of the
second line.
How far 1t was How long it took us
to pass over that quarter of q mile
Now we see shadows around the guns
now the powder fame burns our faces :
| now we are cheering and shouting and
using bayonet The guns are ours
Men fall to the ground as they step into
pools of blood. Every gun has its blood
stain-every wheel is covered with Grim
son spots. Men died before the guns
around them-behind them. We cheer
hip hip =! hui
Where am I? The afternoon sky is
| overhead-the roar of battle is in my
ears-I am lying on my back on the
| ground. What does it mean? How
came this? Heavens What burning,
blistering, gnawing sensation in my left
| leg above the knee. am wounded, and
| 1 am lying where I first went down.
The guns were here, but they are gone
now-part of them captured-part OF
| them here-part of them dragged by
hand. The tide of battle has shifted,
and on this meadow the dogs of war are
tearing at each others throats.
Is there any one else here lift my
| head Any one else? Great God ! but
the field is covered with dead and wound.
| ed with men writhing and groaning-
with fragments of bodies-with pale
| faced dead-with blood-stained dying
I can touch the dead on either side, and
close behind me a piteous voice call out
'.Comrade, for the love OF Heaven
give me drink r @
That pain again. Is my leg being
roasted over q slow fire Scream and
shrek and clutch grass and keep com.
| pany with thousands of others who are
being tortured to insensibility by pain OIL
driven to distraction by the still-con
tinued carnage.
Ali it is night The falling dew ha.
brought more than one soldier back tt
life and renewed suffering. The batter
les are silent. The muskets are resting
after their deadly work. There is 81
lence-no! From woods and meadow
and knoll and valley, from almost every
yard of ground on that long battle front
rise groans and cries and prayers ant
pleadings. A General prides himself OF
strategic movements Colonel will b,
promoted for bravery Major is fiat
tered by the cheers of the liying-a Cap
tain is proud thnt his men stood like
stone wall, and the result is five thou
sand dead and wounded men-fathers
brothers and sons.
This is glory. Scream and shrek, bu
some one has won fame. Pray and leat
and rave and curse, but the telegraph i
flashing the news of glorious victor,
over the country. The enemy has no
retired as yet. but is getting ready to fal
back when the night grows older.
Hark! is some one moving? Yes, it
a step. Is is some wounded man hob
bling away under cover of darkness
! Nearer some one looks i
my face 1t is the ghou1 of the battle
field-the hyena who drags his talon
through blood and gaping wounds to ro
dying mems pockets.
"Go away am not deadp I shrie
in his face as he bends closer, and b
leaps aside to growl and curse and scare
the body of one whose pale upturne
face is Just catching the silver rays c
the new moon. 1 hear more steps
Ghoul meets ghoul and holds whisper
ed conversation, and they separate wit
hands full of plunder. Now comes
heavier step. A troopers horse is drat
ging himself across the field, shattere
leg making him utter almost huma
, groans. He is more merciful than ,tll
ghouls. He weayes and turns to avoi
the bodies in his path-he even hall
and puts his nose against the faces of th
the dead as if he would speak to them.
So, and until midnight comes al
goes, and then lanterns fash, the ghou
. speed away, and strong men CAREFUL
' lift up the wounded and carry viii
faces as they find cid comrades lyin
stiff and stark in pools of clotted gore.
And all this for-what? Detroit FIR
!. Press.
: The Uses OF WATER Water -powt
: for household purposes has been brougl
; into use at Zurich Frewood, for q
= ample, is to be sawn into conveniel
: lengths for burning. A small saving
: machine, on wheels, is drawn by tN
! men to the front of the house. The
= connect it by flexible tube with Il
nearest hydrant; the water flows to tt
! machine; the saw dances and Gu
I up the wood with surprising T
pidity. The quantity OF watt
used is shown by an lndicat'
! affixed to the sawing-machino
portable turbine has also been inventet
and employed in many places IN the CIT
p n in driving q Gramme machine Tor tt
y purpose of electric light. Water is 80
q very cheap in Zurich; but there are pc
= haps other towns in which this, SO to CO
= it, domestic water-power could be adva
y tagsously introduced. A turbine !.
le about four inches in diameter has I
le some time been sold. Its Office is
!, work sewing machine. An ind
q rubber tube is attached to the ordina
'A water supply-a similar tube acting