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<\/a>\nConfederate burial trench<\/em><\/p>\n
It was grisly work to bury a number of men in a trench. Federal General Order Number 33 specified exactly how burial trenches were to be constructed: burial details were to pull the dead into a row, then begin the interment process by digging a long hole against the first man in line. Once he was laid in the hole, the ground was dug up where he had previously lain. This provided soil to cover the first body, while simultaneously digging a hole for the second.<\/p>\n
Theoretically, this assured an orderly burial of remains. In practice, burials were much less standard. Often natural depressions in the ground were used to begin a burial pit, and bodies were piled into these makeshift trenches. Severely decomposed corpses were pulled from the battlefield rather unceremoniously, using a system of metal hooks and stretchers intended to keep the remains as intact as possible and to avoid physically handling them.<\/p>\n
Private Lucius W. Barber, Company D, 15th Illinois, Veatch’s Brigade, wrote in his memoirs, “Now we turned our attention to the rebel dead. We noticed that the faces of all of them had turned black. [Ironic, is it not? – DeSpair<\/em>] On examination, we found that their canteens contained whisky and gunpowder which was, no doubt, the cause of it. It seems that this had been given to them just before going into battle to make them fight… It took two days to bury all of them.”<\/p>\n Author Ambrose Bierce was merely Pvt. Ambrose Bierce when he walked the battlefield, searching for bodies. In the caustic manner he would later become famous for, he described what he and his unit came upon:<\/p>\n Forbidding enough it was in every way… Death had put his sickle into this thicket and fire had gleaned the field. Along a line… lay the bodies… some in the unlovely looseness of attitude denoting sudden death by the bullet, but by far the greater number in postures of agony that told of the tormenting flame. Some were swollen to double girth; others shriveled to manikins… their faces were bloated and black or yellow and shrunken. The contraction of muscles which had given them claws for hands had cursed each countenance with a hideous grin. Faugh! I cannot catalogue the charms of these gallant gentlemen who had got what they enlisted for.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Culled from: \u00a0The Aftermath of Battle<\/a> by MFDJ-patron Meg Groeling<\/p>\n “NECKLACES” FOR NEVER-DO-WELLS AND SLACKERS IN CHURCH ATTENDANCE<\/strong><\/p>\n Instruments of public ridicule, the never-do-wells was reserved in some places for smokers and gamblers who, thus ornamented, were exposed in the market square, subject to the usual consequences \u2014 at least painful, often serious and even fatal.<\/p>\n Similar “necklaces” made of heavy wooden or stone “bottles” or equally onerous “balance weights” or of huge iron coins were hung around the necks of, respectively, drunkards and dishonest shopkeepers. Poachers were decked out with chains to which the cadavers of their ill-gotten prey were strung and left until they putrefied and fell apart, a particularly efficacious punishment in summertime.<\/p>\n The church-slacker’s piece was meted out in the mildest case of inconstancy in Sunday attendance, a kind of paternal warning before arrest for apostasy and torture in earnest.<\/p>\n Necklaces of this sort caused considerable torment after a few days and nights of infliction.<\/p>\n Culled from: Torture – Inquisition – Death Penalty<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n This is the continuation of the 1864 diary of Andersonville prisoner Private George A. Hitchcock (see the\u00a0archived version<\/a>\u00a0for all entries up until now).<\/p>\n Here\u2019s today\u2019s entry:<\/p>\n October 14th. <\/b>Cloudy and cool. Spent another night of suffering. Men at work fixing up their tents for winter. Quite a large number of sick were admitted to the sheds. Street sutlers are plenty, with an abundance of sweet potatoes and biscuit for sale.<\/p>\n<\/a>
\nBurying the dead at Shiloh<\/em><\/p>\n<\/h3>\n
Torture Instrument Du Jour!<\/h3>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\nAndersonville Prisoner Diary Entry Du Jour!<\/h3>\n