“The sights and smells that assailed us were simply indescribable,” wrote a southern soldier on burial detail, “corpses swollen to twice their original size, some of them actually burst asunder with the pressure of foul gases. … The odors were nauseating and so deadly that in a short time we all sickened and were lying with our mouths close to the ground, most of us vomiting profusely.” Writing home after another battle, a Yank described a field hospital established in farm buildings. “About the building you could see the Hogs belonging to the Farm eating [amputated] arms and other portions of
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