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I’ve been thinking about this slaughter of 300 mules and horses, etc.

Unless Everyone knew what they were doing with slitting the throats, there is no way this could have been done silently. The mules and horses aren’t stupid and they would have been braying and bugling and neighing, plus major thrashing once this operation got started. Then the wagons being burnt were a major smoke signal to the Confederates.

Where are all the bones? Even at this late date, there would be evidence of such a slaughter and huge piles of nuts, bolts, rims of wheels would be in evidence. Even if this order is in the official records, did it really happen?
 
I’ve been thinking about this slaughter of 300 mules and horses, etc.

Unless Everyone knew what they were doing with slitting the throats, there is no way this could have been done silently. The mules and horses aren’t stupid and they would have been braying and bugling and neighing, plus major thrashing once this operation got started. Then the wagons being burnt were a major smoke signal to the Confederates.

Where are all the bones? Even at this late date, there would be evidence of such a slaughter and huge piles of nuts, bolts, rims of wheels would be in evidence. Even if this order is in the official records, did it really happen?
Great question . Even after all these years there should be some evidence. Lydia Leister , whose farm served as Meade's headquarters at Gettysburg , found her property nearly destroyed after the battle . One thing that kept her going was selling the bones of the dead horses at .50 cents a hundred pounds . Even if the bones were collected later , 300 horses and mules should have left something behind . This brings up a question to the relic hunters . With so many horses and mules killed during the war , does anyone ever find horse or mule bones ?
 
The other thing about this, that seems impossible to me, is all the harness. There certainly would be bits of harness left - not much - but some and certainly buckles and bits. You cannot carry off 300 harnesses after you've burnt the wagons. The weight of the harness's alone make that impossible. Financially, killing 300 horses and mules AND leaving good, leather harnesses doesn't make sense for the Feds either.

Beyond the gruesome, horrible, distastefulness of it all, I just can't see 300 men, assigned each to an animal completing this task efficiently.
 
The other thing about this, that seems impossible to me, is all the harness. There certainly would be bits of harness left - not much - but some and certainly buckles and bits. You cannot carry off 300 harnesses after you've burnt the wagons. The weight of the harness's alone make that impossible. Financially, killing 300 horses and mules AND leaving good, leather harnesses doesn't make sense for the Feds either.

Beyond the gruesome, horrible, distastefulness of it all, I just can't see 300 men, assigned each to an animal completing this task efficiently.

I would imagine what the yanks didn't take the locals the next day did. I am sure there is stuff to be found. Will keep researching and looking till I find it.
 
I’ve been thinking about this slaughter of 300 mules and horses, etc.

Unless Everyone knew what they were doing with slitting the throats, there is no way this could have been done silently. The mules and horses aren’t stupid and they would have been braying and bugling and neighing, plus major thrashing once this operation got started. Then the wagons being burnt were a major smoke signal to the Confederates.

Where are all the bones? Even at this late date, there would be evidence of such a slaughter and huge piles of nuts, bolts, rims of wheels would be in evidence. Even if this order is in the official records, did it really happen?

I have read about it in several sources. The big picture is always the same , the details differ such as the number of mules killed. Some say 500 others say up to a thousand. There is even drawing of it in Harpers Weekly September 3rd of 1864 edition. Was also mentioned in two other pages of the same issue. I've done my homework on this event. Now all I have to do is find it. All are below.

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Great question . Even after all these years there should be some evidence. Lydia Leister , whose farm served as Meade's headquarters at Gettysburg , found her property nearly destroyed after the battle . One thing that kept her going was selling the bones of the dead horses at .50 cents a hundred pounds . Even if the bones were collected later , 300 horses and mules should have left something behind . This brings up a question to the relic hunters . With so many horses and mules killed during the war , does anyone ever find horse or mule bones ?
I don't think metal detectors will pick up bones. I know mine won't. I do occasionally see bones, but I think they are most likely from deer. The woods here are FULL of them. I have at least 10 a night in my yard alone. I doubt anyone back in those days anyone took the time to bury the carcasses. I guess other wildlife scattered them to who knows where. Still looking for the site. I know the general area, just have to prove it, along with many other projects working on.
 
I don't think metal detectors will pick up bones. I know mine won't. I do occasionally see bones, but I think they are most likely from deer. The woods here are FULL of them. I have at least 10 a night in my yard alone. I doubt anyone back in those days anyone took the time to bury the carcasses. I guess other wildlife scattered them to who knows where. Still looking for the site. I know the general area, just have to prove it, along with many other projects working on.
I know they won't pick up bones , but I figured there might be buckles or other metallic items associated with them .
 
I know they won't pick up bones , but I figured there might be buckles or other metallic items associated with them .
If there are, I haven't found them yet. I have looked through everywhere available to look and so far nothing. I am looking at the possibility that the road names may not have been the same back then as they are now. Trying to find maps of those days to compare.
 
Also, just found this from of all places, the New York Times....
https://www.nytimes.com/1864/08/12/...lroad-particulars-of-the-disaster-to-gen.html


Night fell rapidly, and a heavy rain set in. Noiselessly the long column of silent horsemen pursued their way through the drenching shower, over roads that never before resounded to the footfall of an armed Federal soldier. Nine miles from Palmetto, Whitewater Creek, a stream that deserves to be called a river, was crossed at several fords, and when the column pushed forward on the opposite side, the woods beside the road were found lined with the baggage trains of the rebel army. A scene set in that defies description. With admirable management our advance brigade kept straight on their way to Fayetteville, but five miles distant from the stream just crossed, maintaining a profound silence, and not deigning to reply to the drowsy queries of the few teamsters who were nearly enough awake to ask where in the d -- I they came from. Not until every avenue of escape from Fayetteville was guarded, did our troops commence their work of devastation. Up to the time they disclosed who they were, the rebel teamsters and those with the trains were utterly Ignorant of the presence of the Yankee. Words cannot picture their astonishment and abject terror when they gradually became conscious of the situation. Some, dragged ruthlessly from their slumbers, were disposed to show fight at what they considered a very unhappy practical joke. Others were altogether Incredulous, and nothing convinced them that they were really surprised until our men commenced destroying their trains.

I hear the number of wagons destroyed was estimated at nearly one thousand. They apparently contained all the baggage of the rebel army at Atlanta, and also the baggage of citizens who have fled at our approach. They stretched for nearly five miles. Swiftly our men ran through, rifling them of many a treasure. Hundreds upon hundreds of mules were slaughtered -- all, in fact, which were not in prime condition. They were run through the body, one after another, by our troopers, whose sabres, that night and early morning, dripped with more innocent blood than ever stained them before. The teamsters were collected together, and many Commissaries and Quartermasters with the with were also captured. The wagons, with their contents, were consigned to the torch, and utterly destroyed. Many curious things were fished out -- such as rich Odd Fellows and Masonic regalias -- and our boys fairly loaded themselves down with plunder. There was a discouraging contrast, however, between the things they were able to carry, and those they wanted to carry.

While the destruction of the train was going on our forces surrounded Fayetteville, and shortly after daybreak on Friday, the 29th, entered the town, still quietly asleep. Fayetteville is due south of Atlanta forty miles, and was thought entirely secure, as was evident from the collection of trains there. As our cavalrymen went from door to door on a tour of morning inspection, the manner of the inmates was ludicrous in the extreme. They were utterly unable to comprehend that they were face to face with the Yankee rampant. When they did comprehend, their consternation was both painful and funny. The women assumed the color of ashes -- the men turned pale and red by alternation. Several rebel officers, enjoying themselves with a brief furlough from duty, were gobbled and sent off to swell the gathering cloud of captives. All the commissary stores in the town were seized and appropriated by our men, who, without sleep or respite, resumed their march at 7 A.M., their column increased by the addition of a thousand prisoners, and their spirits buoyant, in spite of great fatigue, at their successes, rendered much greater than they had anticipated by the capture of the train.

By 9 A.M., Friday morning, the head of the column struck the railroad leading from Atlanta to Macon at a point 43 miles south of the former point. This road was the only one leading from Atlanta that remained intact. Several regiments went to work with great energy, and by 2 P.M. six miles had been thoroughly destroyed secundem artem. There are no bridges on this road near the point where our forces struck it, and beyond the burning of a depot building at Fayette Station, no other damage was possible.
 
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