. Army life : a private's reminiscences of the Civil War . eat to Richmondwithout a battle ? or had our men been drawn intoa fatal trap ? Had Lee reserved his bolts of thun-der, to hurl them upon our men in to-morrowsconflict ? A vague suspicion filled our minds as we looked;and as we thought of the fearful carnage, the veryair seemed tremulous with ominous sounds. There was but little sleep that night; the men sataround their camp-fires, and talked of the songs were sung, and hearts beat high inanticipation of a glorious victory. Perhaps after allit is well for us that we are
. Army life : a private's reminiscences of the Civil War . eat to Richmondwithout a battle ? or had our men been drawn intoa fatal trap ? Had Lee reserved his bolts of thun-der, to hurl them upon our men in to-morrowsconflict ? A vague suspicion filled our minds as we looked;and as we thought of the fearful carnage, the veryair seemed tremulous with ominous sounds. There was but little sleep that night; the men sataround their camp-fires, and talked of the songs were sung, and hearts beat high inanticipation of a glorious victory. Perhaps after allit is well for us that we are not able to discern thefuture. A knowledge of coming events might un-man our hearts, and disqualify us to perform ourduties. Saturday morning dawned. Many of our menate their last breakfast on that morning, little dream-ing what awaited them on that fatal day. As Ihave already intimated, the rebel army was wellposted and strongly intrenched. Their right wascommanded by Stonewall Jackson ; Longstreetcommanded the center, and General A. P. Hill BATTLE OF FREDEBICKSBUBGH. REMINISCENCES OF THE WAR. 75 The morning was quite warm, and a thick fogenfolded the contending hosts. Franklins men,who had crossed the river on pontoons, three milesbelow the city, on the previous day, were early inmotion, and the sounds of battle came rolling heav-ily up from our left, and the conflict soon opened inour front. The rebel artillery that crowned theheights and encircled the city poured a fearful stormupon our men who were within its streets, andour artillery thundered a terrible response. It wasan artillery duel, in which it seemed that the godswere the combatants, and were hurling those ironglobes with almighty power. It was soon apparentthat our tremendous cannonade had made but littleimpression upon the rebel works, and that if theyWere taken, it must be at the point of the what a fearful undertaking! It is not necessaryto search the pages of ancient history, or the mi
Size: 1226px × 2037px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, bookidarmylifepriv, bookyear1882
