Year: 1859




The correspondent of the London Times fur
nishes a stirring account of the battle of Mag
enta. He thus refers to the sufferings of the
wounded and the dying after the battle:


" ou never saw such a frightful scene of
carnage as Oh all this ground which the Aus
! trians defended inch by inch, but had to leave
at last. 1t is like the remains of great rag
fair; shakoes, knapsacks, muskets, Shoes cioaks
tunics. linen all stained with blood, all speak
ing of the obstinate resistance even now, when
the greater part of the wounded have been re
moved and the dead mostly buried.


AT the stations the surgeons were in atten-
dance to apply the first dressing, and the trains
from Milan went to and fro to carry them off.
The trains consisted of nothing but third class
carriages and goods wagons, partly covered.
partly open. Those who were only Slightly
wounded and could walk were put into the car
riages, while the others were laid into the goods
wagons, which had been made as soft as cir
cumstances admitted, by putting straw and
hay at the bottom. To these the unfortunate
wretches were carried, in agonies Of pain, caus-
ed by the movement. A large barrel of cool
ing drink, made Of water and syrup, was near,
as well as another filed with wine, with which
to assuage the fiery thirst caused by their
wounds. Boughs were cut to make an awning
over the open goods trunks, so as to protect
their miserable inmates from the rays of a real
Italian sun"


This station and the railway train itself
were certainly the most shocking scenes Of
misery which one can possibly conceive. 1t
was the darker side of brilliant victory
looking behind the scenes by daylight, wound
ed in all stages of agony and pain, only one
half clad, torn, dusty and muddy, in their own
blood. The p tests walking about with viati-
cum to adminfs er the hast sacrament to the
dying the glazed eye Of death in some, show
ing that they had ceased to suffer; the work
ing eyes of others and the kneeling priests be-
fore them, showing that they were on the point
Of signing their last; near them were Others
whom you would have thought dead had it not
been for the perceptible movement of the eye
or a convusive twist Of limb You became
inyoluntarily silent when you entered and took
of your cap at the sight of so much misery
Even the lively French soldiers who minister
ed 10 the wants of delaced specimens ofhuman-
ity became grave, and this dead silence was
only broken from time to time by the solemn
words of the priest, a faint sob, frantic shrek
of pain, or weak sigh. Y GU forget almost
that there was a victory to redeem this dark
sccne and these men, who would otherwise
have peacefully followed their domestic occu-
pations, We're summoned to expose themselves
to all this for cause which is not their own,
which they knew nothing about, nor care for
It was, indeed, hard lot"


But it was above all, when the wounded
had to be moved to the carriages that the
neighborhood became almost intOlcrable. Such
shrieks, such pale faces contracted by pain,
such torn limbs The soldiers ordered to trans
port them seemed to forget everything in their
anxiety to alleviate the pain of the sufferers
The philanthropist would have been touched
by so much care, and he cynic might have
speered at the idea that the very men who
made the wounds should now try to cure the
mischief, ready to begin again. Before start
ing a few distributions of drink took place, for
which there was a craving. At last the train
was off, and the noise of the train drowned all
others, while few turns of the wheels took us
| out of sight of the station. On our arrival at
Milan number of volunteer nurses were al
ready waiting, with glasses of lemonade to as
suage the burning thirst of passage of more
than an hour"