Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1880-09-01

and of these fifty men who plunge,
into the woods rs Il skirmish lin,
only six came ont alive, aud ever,
one of these was wounded from
one to three times.
At Cold Harbor shell exploded
in an Ohio regiment advancing
against a battery, and sixteen mel
were wiped out in an instant. q
these, nine were blown TO frag-
ments and the others horribly mu-
tilated. 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 a Michigan regiment, and New
York regiment which went in with
1 T03 men in line came out with only
500. 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 a space
no wider than square in a city
aud no more than three times as
long.
At the battle of Savage Station,
during McClellan's change of base,
solid shot fired from a Federal
field piece into the head Of an in
fantry column marching by tours,
killed twenty-one men and a horse
before its progress was checked.
The first ten men were reduced TO
a bloody pulp, and the others
crushed aud bruised TO death. At
this same battle a rebel shell ex-
ploded under a Federal gun and
killed four artillerymen, dismount-
ed the gun, wounded two men, and
the butt of it flew off at targent
and killed a second-lieutenant of
infantry who was eighty rods
away.
At Fredericksburg, as the Tn
ion infantry marched in solid mass
Is up the valley beyond the town,
the Confederates opened fire from
behind a stone wall The fighting
along this line was over in ten
anl 5000 Federals lay
dead within reach Of each other.
\ shell from 4 gun on the hill eX-
ploded in the midst of some New
Hampshire troops and killed a
a corporal aud twelve I
privates aud wounded six others. .
Before the Union troops crossed /
the river, and while Smelling the
town, q shell struck a house and
exploded in a room where there
were FIVE soldiers and a citizen. |
All were blown to pieces, and three
citizens in a room directly over
head were also killed.
Perhaps the most destructive
work made by shell among troops
occurred few miles below Nicks-
burg. A Federal gunboat was
fired upon by light artillery from
the bank, posted in plain view.
There were two six-pounders work
ing closing close together, and |
each had fired a shot when the !
gunboat opened with a sixty-four
FOUNDER. The shell struck be-
tween the guns and exploded. The
guns were thrown high in the air
and came down a wreck. The
eighteen men around them were
all killed outright, and fifteen 9TH
ers who had been lying under cover
rushed up just as the caisson ex-
ploded. OF the fifteen, eleven
were killed outright, three wound
ed, and one escaped unhurt, but
SO dazed that he sat down and
waited to be captured by a boat
which pulled ashore. Two Of the
wounded died the next day, leav-
ing 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 the bushes were 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 few
yards Of the gunboat.-Detroit
Free Press.