The boys of '61; or, Four years of fightingPersonal observation with the army and navy, from the first battle of Bull run to the fall of Richmond . not fifteen paces distant,were the Rebel pickets, lying behind a bank of sand. If their listening ears caught the sound of a movement inthe ravine, they gave no alarm, and the troops took their posi-tions undisturbed. The moon was full. Light clouds floatedin the sky. Not a sound, save the distant rumble of wagons,or an occasional shot from the pickets, broke the silence of thenight. The attacking column was composed of Griffins andCurtins brigades
The boys of '61; or, Four years of fightingPersonal observation with the army and navy, from the first battle of Bull run to the fall of Richmond . not fifteen paces distant,were the Rebel pickets, lying behind a bank of sand. If their listening ears caught the sound of a movement inthe ravine, they gave no alarm, and the troops took their posi-tions undisturbed. The moon was full. Light clouds floatedin the sky. Not a sound, save the distant rumble of wagons,or an occasional shot from the pickets, broke the silence of thenight. The attacking column was composed of Griffins andCurtins brigades, — Griffin on the right. He had the Seven-teenth Vermont and Eleventh New Hampshire in his frontline, and the Ninth New Hampshire and Thirty-Second Mainein the second. Curtin had six regiments, — the Thirty-SixthMassachusetts, and the Forty-Fifth and Forty-Eighth Pennsyl-vania, in his front line ; the Seventh Rhode IslanH tw~i^1-New York, and Fifty-Eighth Massachusetts in his The soldiers were worn with hard marchingfighting, and had but just arrived from City Pctook their positions without flinching. The offic 1864.] TO PETERSBUEG. 365. the hands of their watchesin the moonlight, and sawthem move on to the ap-pointed time,— fifteen min-utes past three. Twentypaces, — a spring up thesteep bank would carry themen to the Rebel pickets;fifty paces to the muzzlesof the enemys guns. All ready ! was whis-pered from man to rose from the grounderect. Not a gun-lockclicked. The bayonet was to do the work. Hurrah! The lines rise like waves of the sea. There arestraggling shots from the Rebel pickets, four flashes of lightfrom the Rebel cannon by the house, two more from the redan,one volley from the infantry, wildly aimed, doing little , — up to the breastworks ! Over them, seizing the guns! Aminute has passed. Four guns, six hundred and fifty prison-ers, fifteen hundred muskets, and four stands of colors are thetrophies. The Rebel line is broken. The great p
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Keywords: ., bookauthorcoffinch, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, bookyear1884
