Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1885-02-26
MiseeLlaueaus.
The Battle Field
AS AN OLD SOLDIER DESCRIBES IT IN His
DIARY.

DlAh1s
The 4th of July orator loves to talk
about the field of carnage. He says the
ground is red with blood, and that dead
| bodies lie so thickly that one cannot walk
without treading upon them. This is the
veriest bosh imaginable. How many men
battlefield OF Chaplin Hill, or how much
blood to paint it red? The ground fought
over was about nine miles in length. and
from one to four miles in width. This
does not include the cavalry operations.
| There were not men enough in both arm
les to "strew it thickly" if every one of
them had been killed and strewn around.
| The diary from which the sketch OF the
battle was taken contains the notes of
tour OF portion OF the field the next day,
which are more reliable than the senti-
mental gush of the orator, or the lurid
sketches of the war correspondent:
FIELD HOSPITAL, CHAPLIN HILLS, KY.
Oct 9.-Fighting is bad business. 1t is
cruel; it is damnable: but there is only
room enough in this country for one flag.
and that flag is the "stars and stripes"
Men may come and men may 60, but the
old flag shall stay forever
Bragg skipped off last night in the d.
rection of Harrodsburg. Our batteries
sent out feelers, but got no response, and
it was not long after daylight until it was
learned they had all gone, bag and bag
gage, leaving their dead for US to bury.
They sent in burial squads last night. but
instead of looking after their killed, they
went to killing our pickets, whereupon
the truce was declared off. and their
squads sent back. All day long ambu-
lances kept coming in with wounded that
had been picked up in odd places or over
looked last night.
The rebels were kind to our wounded,
always giving them attention, but not I'M
til after their own had been cared for.
AS they had possession of that portion of
the field where our regiment did most of
its fighting, number of our wounded fell
into their hands.
In company with two other slightly
wounded men, | went over that portion of
the field where our division fought. The
place looked natural enough, and save for
the number of twigs and small limbs COW
ering the ground. and the scars on the
trees, there was nothing to show that any
thing unusual had been going on. | looked
| in vain for the heaps of dead and pools of
| blood. so much talked about by stump
speakers and poets. Up on the knoll
where we received the first vOlley, we
found three or four bodies. Then follow
ing the direction of the regiment as it
changed front, we found several more.
Down in the hollow. where we hammered
the twenty second Mississippi hard, there
were good many dead rebs.
Icfn loc xryhn T you'll
ali around for considerable distance.
and could only count about dozen bod
les. AS near as we could estimate, our
regimen. fought over fifty acres of
ground. Our loss in killed on the field
was about thirty. Surprising the rebels
lost the same, that would make sixty, or
little more than one man to the acre.
That is not very thick strewing. Some
times there are two or three in a place.
but generally they are lying around, every
one to himself
There were details from each regiment
sent out to gather up their dead and bury
them. The four killed in my company
were buried under an oak tree on the
hillside near where they fell. Stout stakes
were driven in the ground at the head of
each grave. on which was carved the
name of the occupant. The names were
also carved on the oak tree, together with
the number of the grave. The best we
could do was to wrap the boys in their
blankets closely, cover them over with
leaves. and then tumble in the dirt 1t
was not much like a funeral-it was more
of business matter. The idea was to
keep the bodies in as good shape as pos
sible, so they may be recognized if their
friends ever come after them.
| suppose our folks at home would
think US hard lot if they could see how
indifferently we look on dead man.
While out in the cornfield, near where
Loomis' battery had such long, hard
tussle, saw them carry lot of dead
rebels up to where a long trench had been
dug There must have been fifty todies.
and when the trench was finished they
commenced putting them in. At first
they were dropped down carefully, but
the boys got tired, as it was very I'M
pleasant job. and began tumbling them
in with handspikes as they would log.
Sometimes one would tumble in face
downward, and the boys would sing out
About face" "Close up on the left, y
Cover your file leader" "If you get tired
turn over" and the like. 1t sounded d
little rough, but these are rough times
and this is rough business besides, these
are rough men. They are from Ken
lucky. and they hate rebel even after he
is dead
While coming back to the hospital we
found Ike Green, of company c hanging
across the fence dead. He gave out yes
terday while we were on the skirmisf
line. and he was not able to get into
wagon. After getting rested | suppose
he started to hunt us up, and while climb.
. ing over the fence he was struck with
bullet, and there he stopped. The bal
passed through his stomach and the
spine. He was no coward. else he woulC
have faced the other way when he haC
such good chance.
Several dead men have been found in
hollow logs or behind logs or rocks. az
though they had been wounded and
crawled in there to protect themselves
One poor fellow sat beside big tree with
a Bible in his hand. He had been passed
a dozen times and more during the day by
ambulance drivers and burial squads, but
they all thought that he was alive. He
had been shot in the thigh, and he hat
gone to this tree for protection. Taking
his Bible out. he thought no doubt, thai
no vould find consolation in raad;np II