- Joined
- May 18, 2005
- Location
- Spring Hill, Tennessee
"The Battle-Field of Chaplin Hills—Dr. McMeens."
[This was written November 5, 1862 after observing the field less than a week after the battle.]
"… The field is still covered with the debris of the fight,--dead horses, broken artillery wagons, haversacks, cartridge boxes, hats, shoes, remnants of clothing, &c., &c. In every field—and there are many, for the line of battle covered miles of territory—fresh graves are abundant, and in places the clay soil assumes a darker hue, red with the blood of friend and foe. Since the fight, no rain has fallen, and these dark stains are still discernable.
To the honor of human nature our own dead are buried, mostly where they fell, sufficiently deep to cover them from our eye. To its dishonor the enemy are tumbled into graves, and in many cases parts of the blackened remains are visible above the earth. Riding by where the enemy fell in numbers, I saw a hand black with exposure, but still as delicate as that of a lady, resting on the top of the parched earth while the body to which it belonged had a thin covering of earth over it. The walnut colored cuff of the coat still around the wrist showed that it was a secession soldier, and a physician present with us, pronounced the hand that of a mere youth which had never been hardened with labor.
A few moments after, I saw another hand and part of the face protruding. In another field, an open one near by, a swarm of long backed and long snouted hogs, common to this part of Kentucky, had rooted into the thinly covered graves, and were making their horrid banquet upon human flesh. As we drove them away, they stood at a short distance impatiently waiting, and scarce had we turned the heads of our horses from this disgusting scene before they were again at the graves, furiously tearing limb from limb and devouring the half corrupted flesh of those who, but a few days before, stood in the pride of manhood battling for home and honor. Nearby these graves were the bodies of horses, yet these were scarce touched, the hogs preferring human flesh to that of animals. A sight more horribly disgusting, human eye never looked upon.
Occasionally we found a grave with a board at its head, giving the name, regiment and company of the dead occupant, and these were generally protected by a rail fence, or covered with stones, with which every field abounds, to protect them from the hogs, who, having tasted human flesh are more ravenous than the hyena in their taste for human gore. Around the graves thus covered, myriads of flies, smaller it is true, yet resembling the green bottle-fly swarmed on the tops of the graves, and particularly the stones were black with them.
In traversing the scene of the slaughter, men, women and children, on foot, on horseback and in carriages, are met, and to the honor of the womanhood be it said, that I saw a group of them, with boards, and with their own fair hands, diligently engaged in scooping up the dirt to cover the exposed parts of the victims of the great slaughter laid bare by shallow graves and by the rooting of hogs. The woods are full of acorns, walnuts and buckeye-nuts and corn is scattered over the fields, and yet, fond as the hog is of these, he scarce touches them, the human banquet being chosen above all vulgar and common food. The Bible teaches us that the hog is an unclean animal, unfit for the food of man, and after the sight I saw on the field of battle, so far as pork in this region is concerned, I adopted the Jewish faith in prohibiting the eating of hog."
[This was written November 5, 1862 after observing the field less than a week after the battle.]
"… The field is still covered with the debris of the fight,--dead horses, broken artillery wagons, haversacks, cartridge boxes, hats, shoes, remnants of clothing, &c., &c. In every field—and there are many, for the line of battle covered miles of territory—fresh graves are abundant, and in places the clay soil assumes a darker hue, red with the blood of friend and foe. Since the fight, no rain has fallen, and these dark stains are still discernable.
To the honor of human nature our own dead are buried, mostly where they fell, sufficiently deep to cover them from our eye. To its dishonor the enemy are tumbled into graves, and in many cases parts of the blackened remains are visible above the earth. Riding by where the enemy fell in numbers, I saw a hand black with exposure, but still as delicate as that of a lady, resting on the top of the parched earth while the body to which it belonged had a thin covering of earth over it. The walnut colored cuff of the coat still around the wrist showed that it was a secession soldier, and a physician present with us, pronounced the hand that of a mere youth which had never been hardened with labor.
A few moments after, I saw another hand and part of the face protruding. In another field, an open one near by, a swarm of long backed and long snouted hogs, common to this part of Kentucky, had rooted into the thinly covered graves, and were making their horrid banquet upon human flesh. As we drove them away, they stood at a short distance impatiently waiting, and scarce had we turned the heads of our horses from this disgusting scene before they were again at the graves, furiously tearing limb from limb and devouring the half corrupted flesh of those who, but a few days before, stood in the pride of manhood battling for home and honor. Nearby these graves were the bodies of horses, yet these were scarce touched, the hogs preferring human flesh to that of animals. A sight more horribly disgusting, human eye never looked upon.
Occasionally we found a grave with a board at its head, giving the name, regiment and company of the dead occupant, and these were generally protected by a rail fence, or covered with stones, with which every field abounds, to protect them from the hogs, who, having tasted human flesh are more ravenous than the hyena in their taste for human gore. Around the graves thus covered, myriads of flies, smaller it is true, yet resembling the green bottle-fly swarmed on the tops of the graves, and particularly the stones were black with them.
In traversing the scene of the slaughter, men, women and children, on foot, on horseback and in carriages, are met, and to the honor of the womanhood be it said, that I saw a group of them, with boards, and with their own fair hands, diligently engaged in scooping up the dirt to cover the exposed parts of the victims of the great slaughter laid bare by shallow graves and by the rooting of hogs. The woods are full of acorns, walnuts and buckeye-nuts and corn is scattered over the fields, and yet, fond as the hog is of these, he scarce touches them, the human banquet being chosen above all vulgar and common food. The Bible teaches us that the hog is an unclean animal, unfit for the food of man, and after the sight I saw on the field of battle, so far as pork in this region is concerned, I adopted the Jewish faith in prohibiting the eating of hog."
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