. Reminiscences of the war of the rebellion, 1861-1865 . cession-ville. having been discharged for disability. The First Brigade on our right, under General IsaacI. Stevens, 3,000 strong, had been ordered to make theattack upon the left of the enemys works, and the rattleof musketry could now l)e heard. The excitement grew with intensity, as the commandcame for our advance. Moving forward, w^e soon camein sight of the enemys works, and they had opened firefrom the guns of their fort, the shells exploding in gun boats in the river continued their fire, and beforethe gunners had the rang
. Reminiscences of the war of the rebellion, 1861-1865 . cession-ville. having been discharged for disability. The First Brigade on our right, under General IsaacI. Stevens, 3,000 strong, had been ordered to make theattack upon the left of the enemys works, and the rattleof musketry could now l)e heard. The excitement grew with intensity, as the commandcame for our advance. Moving forward, w^e soon camein sight of the enemys works, and they had opened firefrom the guns of their fort, the shells exploding in gun boats in the river continued their fire, and beforethe gunners had the range of the rebel works, many oftheir shells exploded among our own troops. As we came nearer, a charge of the Second Brigadewas made over an open field in front of the rebel fort. Wehad now reached a point 200 to 300 yards to the right ofthe rebel earthworks, where we halted. All fear wasnow^ gone ; we were only anxious to be ordered to sup-]>ort the charge of the First Brigade. l)ut the order didnot come. Thei-e we stood in fidl sight of the charging. THE BATTLE OF SECESSIONVILLE column, moving ra])i(lly forward, a wall of steel llasiimg-in the rays of the morning sun, the enemy sending a ter-rible fire of shell and grape and cannister into their ranks;the line is broken and ragged as the men are moweddown with a hail of lead and iron, but closing Up andmoving on into the very ditch of the fort, some of themon to the works in a hand to hand fight. Never before had we seen such a magnificent, fear-ful sight—it was the greatest of all dramas—a tragedyand a horror, indescribable. At the moment General Stevens men had reachedthe fort, an order came from the brigade commander toColonel Jackson, to move his regiment to the left, andmake a charge upon the enemys right. Very little at-tention had been paid to us by the enemy up to this point. My position being upon the left of the line, I wasnaturally at the very front, following closely the coloneland the major, as the regiment
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectuniteds, bookyear1911
