| View single post by CleburneFan | |||||||||||||
| Posted: Mon Jan 15th, 2007 12:17 am |
|
||||||||||||
|
CleburneFan Member
|
Revisiting the original topic of this thread, an excellent book on the aftermath of the Battle of Gettysburg and its impact on the town and surrounding areas is titled "After the Smoke Cleared at Gettysburg" by George Sheldon, Cumberland House Publishing, 2003, $16.95. It also discusses the horrific experiences of the wounded including frying in the July sun, soaking in drowning rain, maggott-infected wounds (which actually helped some wounds"), attacks by insects, flies, lice and worms, and lack of water to quench thrist or clean wounds. Often infections would set in before the wounded were moved or before a surgeon could treat the wounds. The book I mention above does say the grotesque injury on one photo when studied by recent research,"...suggests that the corpse attracted wild hogs." I did read somewhere a discussion of whether the wounded in one of the famous after-battle photos show an actual battle injury or additional injury from hogs. I can also imagine that wounded who were left a day or two might have been attacked by crows and buzzards as well as hogs or even packs of dogs who were disoriented by the, noise, confusion and odor of battle. That is just my supposition. I have never read any researcher say that is a fact. Leafing through the book I mention above, I can't find the spot that mentions how many horses and mules were killed at Gettysburg, but the number is nothing short of astounding. Disposal of these poor animals was a major burden on the people of Gettysburg. Most of them were burned. The book says a pall of death and decaying animals and deceased soldiers hung over the town for days and days. A local, Nellie Auginbach, is quoted as saying, "We couldn't open our windows for weeks because of the stench." [Page 211.] Though Gettysburg had an incomprehensively terrible situation after the battle, other places certainly must have faced similarly daunting horrors such as Cold Harbor, Shiloh and Antietam.
|
||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||