Sunday, August 4, 2013

Diary of Alexander G. Downing: Sunday, October 12, 1862

We started early this morning and marching thirty miles arrived at Corinth just at dark. The soldiers are all very tired and worn, having marched about sixty-five miles over a heavy road in two days. We came into Corinth over the ground we had fought over in the battle of October 3d and 4th. This battlefield is a terrible sight and gives one a horrible picture of war. Our men having hurriedly gone in pursuit of the fleeing rebels, the burial of the dead was left to the convalescents, together with such negroes as could be found to do the job. Many of the dead bodies had become so decomposed that they could not be moved and were simply covered over with a little earth just where they lay.

Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B., Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 76

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