What War Is

Strip it of its enchanling phantüm of glory ; - go into the battle scène and linger around among tho wounded and dend after the fight is over ; - talco up some of the details nnd you ifl'riy see one of its murderous To aid our readers in this, we clip a few proiniscious paragraphs pertnining to tlio late battles near llie Riu Gratïde. - Ober lui Evangelist. 'Ás wo ï-ase the crest of a srnall ridgè, the whoíe batteryof the enemy was fircd til tho head of our column. 1 thought foro moment that my company (the leading ono) was all cut down. Gapt, Pago, who bcing in command of the divisior was thru ori the right of the ljic, was struckdbwn with such force, astocarrv with hini tho thrce men no.t bchind him bis whole lower jaw waj shot awav, unc the ghastly hidcousness of lus visagc as he rearedupiq convulsivo agony fron thö gras as we pasïcd hini, will not soai vanish from my recollcction. Auollie man bout Ihn centro of my company had ln's head knocked olï ; the sargent 01 my right had bis musket driven from his hand by a ball whicli passed beiween mo and the man bclorc me. We ere thet ordered to retire out of range from the battery. The cannonading lasfed unti sunset, and tbr the last hour our batleries made fe:rful havock in thcir ranksj. We encainpcd for the night on their position ; in the morning advanced again supposing them still in front of us, bu soon found that they had made a rnpid re treat ; leaving the ground strewn witl their daad, und v.ith abandoncd anuini tion. Where one of their battcries hac been s-tationed, fifty-sevcn dcad bodies were counted in onö group, not so much wounded as torn to pieces by grapc and round shot; hcad and ümbs gonc, bowels torn out. No imagination can conceive the horrible eflectof such a fire directèd with the precisión and coolness witl which our batterico were servcd. "The woundsof tho men were ven severo ; most of them requiring amutation ofsomc linjb. The SurgconJs saw icus &oíí thr licc-long ni'rif, awl the groans nf the poor sufj'ercrs were hcarl-rcndins;loomuch praise caiinot be givcn to the dcvotion and prompt action of our ineji cal ofiïcers. It was a sad duty lor tliem I took advanlagc of' the hal to go ovor tho field of bnttlc. It was a truly shocking sight. Our artillcry hac litcrally mowcd them down. Therê toere icajrs od ad hfuig hilhcr and yon, with the most ghastly wounds Lever saw, whid make onc shuddcr. The number of killed could not be accurately r.secrtaincd, but of killed and woundcd there must have been at least 800. On the field was found a dog lying by the body oi his mastcr. No entreaties 'could prevai] upon him to leave the body of hiin who in life had caressed him." "At an occasional lull of ihe war, the shrieks of the wounded and dying could be hcard, while artillery and cavalry horses were rushing madly to and fro, somc wifh broken legs, and some in the last agonies ofdeath. War while raging'in all its fierecnéss on the field of battle is a soul-stiring and noble excitement ; but ufter that has passed away, it is sickening and horrible to think of, much more to be obliged to look upon its ghastly barbarities. I will not freeze yourblood by telling you the horrid sights I have scen, the shrieks I have heard, while at the same instant one might see a bacchanalian orgie, and hear tiie shouts of the ïevelers. I have read many accounts of battlcs, but ncver a dcscription of onc. Tho following is an extract of a private letter Oom an in ihe Anny, dated Matamoras, Mny 23. "I went over the field nfter :he battle of Resaca de la Palma, and the sight whieh met my eyes was onc which iniagination can scarcely depict. Budicsof Mexican soldiers were lying nbout !h everv direclion - some with their hcadsentircly or partly shot off - others without legs or arms - others with their entrails torn out. One man,n fine looking fellow, was lying on theground with a cartridge in his fingers, having evidently boen killed while in tho act óf priming his musket. 1 crept about on my hands and kn?cs through the chappara!, and nieve; ry few paces, I wou ld come across dead bodies; and at one spot I discovered the body of a beauliful Mexican girï slukzd through the hcart. It is impossible to conceivc who could have been guilty of this inhuman act. It is hardly necessary to say t is irnposefble that any American could have done t."One of the oflïcers of General Taylor'á army, wriling f.-oni Matamoros. May 14ih, to the Newark Advortiser, says: "There was liltle sense of a mere persona! discomfort, however, on a field coveréd wilh slaughter - a scène wlnch, 1 trust heaven, never to witness again. - Thcre lay around me fellow-men, comrades and antngonists, suffering the most horrid anguish ; some with an arm off, others with one and some with bolh legs shattered or severed from the body. - There was one poor fellow, a Mcxican, with his beJly tornopen and á part of his bowels protruding uj)on the ground; he wassüll alive and pointed to his mouth for water; but, alas! in vain, ftr we had none to give- not even a drop to cool his tungue. He soon after perished, of course." 'I went to vïsit the different hospitals. They are filled wilh the wounded and dying. The stench that arose from them, from the want of pólice, was disgust ing. You could teil at a glance the wounded of Palo Altoor Le Resaca de la Palma. The latter were mostly b'-illet wounds, whereas the amputated limbs told of ihe cannon's fearful execution in the former. Beside one poor fellow a benutiful girl of 17, was seated keeping off the flieö. She ivas his Wife. In another corner, a family jroup, the motherand her children, were .eated by their wounded father. One right-eyed little girl quite look my fan:y, and my heart bied to think that thus ; tor)y eheshouldbe iotraduced to so much vretchedntjgs. On one bed was a coróse; n another wtxa one uvin, holding in ]his hand the grnpe shot that had passed through his breast. He showed it to us with a sad countenance. I left the hospital shocked with the horrors of war. The arniy have left their wounded comrades with very lutle aitentioa to their wans." 4The condition of thö brave and esteeined Captain Page is melancholy indeed. The whole of hislöwer jaw, with a part of his tongue nnd palate, ís shot away by grape shot. Me however urvivos.though entirely incapable of speech. Me communicates his thoughts by writing on a slate, and receives the necessary nutriment for the support of lifo with much dilïïcully. He does nol desire ;o I live, but converses with much checrfuliiess and e.vultation upon the success of öur arms, and concludcd an answer to sonie queries concerning the battle of the Oih, bv writing, '-We gave the iMexicans h- 11." On tliis the ChrisWan Citizen rema rks, - "ilecouldnotspeak; hc could not wliisper; but lie brealhed out the spirit in liis heart by wriiing with his pendí, ' Wc gave Ihc. Mcxicans heil" Angols, it is said, hover around the dving sainl, and lisien to the vnicelcss whispersof hi.s üpparting soul. Tliey looked into Stephon's hc-art, wlien lie v;is stoned, aml saw its heaven unruflled by a tliought of hato. And they bore his spirit to is source and lilo. Now think of these saine angels hovering around tbis dying u-arrior, to soo if his spirit breathed ol' heaven too. [I.-irk! he whispeis, " We gave the Mexiccms At'"