s little blue eyes were straying
over the room, half wonderingly, half delightedly. I thought, with a
shudder, of babyhood thus surrounded, and how, in the long future, its
first recollections of existence should be of booming guns and dying
soldiers! The cow-shed contained seven corpses, scarcely yet cold, lying
upon their backs, in a row, and fast losing all resemblance to man. The
farthest removed, seemed to be a diminutive boy, and I thought if he had
a mother, that she might sometime like to speak with me. When I took
their names, I thought what terrible agencies I was fulfilling. Beyond
my record, falsely spelled, perhaps, they would have no history. And
people call such deaths glorious!

Upon a pile of lumber and some heaps of fence-rails, close by, sat some
dozens of wounded men, mainly Federals, with bandaged arms and faces,
and torn clothing. There was one, shot in the foot, who howled at every
effort to remove his boot; the blood leaked from a rent in the side, and
at last, the leather was cut, piecemeal from the flesh. These ate
voraciously, though in pain and fear; for a little soup and meat was
being doled out to them.

The most horrible of all these scenes--which I have described perhaps
too circumstantially--was presented in the stable or barn, on the
premises, where a bare dingy floor--the planks of which tilted and
shook, as one made his way over them--was strewn with suffering people.
Just at the entrance sat a boy, totally blind, both eyes having been
torn out by a minnie-ball, and the entire bridge of the nose shot away.
He crouched against the gable, in darkness and agony, tremulously
fingering his knees. Near at hand, sat another, who had been shot
through the middle of the forehead, but singular to relate, he still
lived, though lunatic, and evidently beyond hope. Death had drawn blue
and yellow circles beneath his eyes, and he muttered incomprehensibly,
wagging his head. Two men, perfectly naked, lay in the middle of the
place, wounded in bowels and loins; and at a niche in the
weather-boarding, where some pale light peeped in, four mutilated
wretches were gaming with cards. I was now led a little way down the
railroad, to see the Confederates. The rain began to fall at this time,
and the poor fellows shut their eyes to avoid the pelting of the drops.
There was no shelter for them within a mile, and the mud absolutely
reached half way up their bodies. Nearly one third had suffered
amputation a