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June 21st, 2018 | #1 |
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Newly Unearthed Civil War Bones Speak Silently to the Grim Aftermath of Battle
Newly Unearthed Civil War Bones Speak Silently to the Grim Aftermath of Battle What the amputated limbs and full skeletons of a Manassas burial pit tell us about wartime surgical practices Perhaps no feeling was more horrifying to a soldier in the Civil War than the realization deep into a charge against the enemy that the assault was doomed. Such was the case for the scores of Union men who surged toward Stonewall Jackson’s forces at the Second Battle of Bull Run in August of 1862. With Jackson’s men dug in along the Briscoe Station railroad grade, the Union foot soldiers were literally fighting an uphill battle. The distance they had to traverse proved too great, and the enemy’s rifle muskets too accurate, for success to be feasible. Chaotically and desperately, they turned tail as unrelenting gunfire continued to cut them down. When the shooting was over, dead and wounded Yankee troops littered the approach. Confederate losses were heavy as well, but Jackson’s men had held their ground. Read more: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smith...6mqIBkkd3d7.99 |
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