[laroque13]

An oldie but a goodie from Gettysburg. If you look closely or enlarge the pic, you'll notice that not only is he disemboweled, you can see part of his rib cage, as well as part of his arm that was torn from his body and is laying on the ground near the rifle.

I think the rifle was probably placed there by photographers who liked to "pose" the bodies for dramatic effect, as if being dead wasn't dramatic enough.

My guess would be that he was hit by artillery at an angle so that it tore out his midsection and took his arm too on the way through. Also, he must have been laying there a few days at least (remember this happened in July) because his face is bloated, his lips look like fish lips and the gases from decomposition inside his head are causing his eyes to bulge out.

People that visited the battlefield afterwards or lived in the area said that the smell was overpowering and lingered for a long time even after all the bodies of men and horses had been removed and buried.

There were 5,000 horses that died during the battle. I can't even imagine what 5000 dead horses would smell like in the July heat, let alone all the dead people.

[Natarella]

My father is a war fanatic, as old vets tend to be. He has a stack of Time Life Civil War books that have pictures like this in it. Tons and tons of pictures like this. We kept getting them for years when I was a kid. Every month he would get another one and I would leaf through it. Maybe that's why i'm so fucked up now. lmao lmao lmao Nah, that couldn't be it.

[xrave_reaperx]

"war...war never changes"