Embahning Establishments. 73 



cans, I prefer the manner in which they treat their soldiers, 

 who shed their blood for their country. 



It is true that in the American war it occurrM not rarely 

 that the wounded had to be left behind, that they perished 

 miserably, that the dead could not be buried at all or only in 

 haste, so that the bodies were dug out by pigs, as I have seen 

 happen here and there ; but such cases are not to be avoided, 

 and are exceptions ; wherever there was a possibility, the dead 

 were treated with respect and love. 



After a battle the dead were collected and their names 

 identified by their comrades, or from letters, &c., found upon 

 them. They did not wear badges with a number round their 

 neck like the Prussian soldiers, which is indeed a good means' 

 to recognise even much mutilated dead, but which was intended 

 only to keep the military lists correct. The American soldiers 

 were not thrown indiscriminately into one common pit ; they 

 were buried one beside the other, and a stick with a board was 

 fixed at the head end, on which was written the name. State, 

 and regiment of the soldier. These tablets were respected by 

 everybody, and I have seen them a year and longer after a 

 battle. They made it easy for the parents to find the bodies 

 of their beloved, and give them' at home a decent grave. Oh, 

 how many fathers have I met on such an errand ! 



Only the love of the Americans for their departed made 

 such institutions possible as were established in the neighbour- 

 hood of great camps. Whoever thought in the German army 

 of an embalming establishment? They were, however, not 

 exceptional in Arherica, and nobody seemed surprised on see- 

 ing near a large tent a signboard with the firm ' Messrs. Brown 

 and Alexander, Embalmers to the Government.' The business 

 they did was very extensive, they embalmed thousands — pri- 

 vates for thirty dollars, and officers for eighty. The embalmed 

 bodies were placed in long boxes lined with zinc, on the lid of 

 which was written the full name of the dead, and the address 

 of his parents. In the box, at the si.^e of the dead, were 

 placed the papers and other thmgs found upon him or known 

 to belong to him. Many of these boxes were to be seen on all 

 trains or transport ships. 



But not only private piety was at work. Those who had no 

 rich parents to pay for embalming, or relatives who cared to 

 have the body home, were not forgotten either. The noble 



