Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1855-06-12
4 surgeons Life In the trenches.

rl.,rp RRroRI SEsAsToPo1, April l5.-ln my last
letter 1 told you that was cong 70 tne trsaSs
veil went and had enOu Of 1t. But SUPP
you would like TO hear size whole stVI5i y $50
begin at the beginning. wv
battery is much the more dangerous 30 Allet NJ NY
iIi6 what was wanted there, went 70 NO. Q. ~
found az itis composed of gravel and large STONES,
md Of course, the battery Is eonstructeu VI lls
same material, The consequence was that eSely
shot fred by the enemy. threw up d PerleSl sluSsL
of stones some of them very large ana as they
fred at us all daY, every one was hit more OF less
some very severely: fortunately, although tns
morning / am black and blue, and my back aches
from a large stone that fell upon 1t, was not hurt
TS kent me running between the two batteries all
day and most disagreeable work 1t was, as IN one
Mace there was no at ALL and IN getung ilto
No there was sort of channel Wnlen we hA1
to run through that was always getting Dalis
The escapes We had were most wonderful One
time it was almost miraculous. was leaning ON
the carriage of gun that was I0adeo anu run OuIi
sDaaknp TO the artillery officer who was polntlng II
h had bis face on the gun looking through the
sioht a shot came from the Russians mt our gun IN
the bore and knocked off two feet OF the nuzAle,
wounding by the splinters, every man OF the guns
crew except two and the artillery Onlcer anu my
self four out of nine-the literally fell around
me Most of them were Slightly woundedi now
nnv escaped particularly the officer who had his face
on the gun, cannot tell
OF course we have to dress the men, anu the WORST
cases where they lie and, the RuSsluns having got
YOUR range most likely send another shot nearly IN
The same place as the first. This Is so well known
that the rule is, in such cases, to run behlno u
verse or any shelter So does every one except the
non-combatant the doctor, who must go TO ms men,
no matter where. To give you an instance OF tins
"A man got his hand blown otfsin No. Z. They
sent for me at once, as the man was bleeding AT
this time there was perfect storm of shot coming
on the unfortunate battery. had to dart lnto II
the best way could. When got there the wound
ed man was lying where he was hit with announcer
beside him, and all the rest were snugy placed De
hehind trayerses and Parapets. had to go to the
unfortunate and it took inc nearly quarter oil an
hour IT. dress the wound, it was such Dad one
and | am sure if one shot came past me, twenty
did
This nice work lasted till about halEPast 6, when
as they bad nearly stopped firing, thought
might go back to the first parallel and when got
there found my relief had come; SO started nome
precious glad TO get away, and very nungryi as =
had nothing but some rum and olscut ior - @
cooking being quite out of the question III sucl. /"
target The advanced battery. 1t would Oe q quiz
impossible to tell all the narrow escapes we hGu
4 she'll fell into the middle OF u.s. but fortunately
did not burst; We screwed out the fuse ana loGhu
it was an English one probably shell OF ours that
had not burst and was returned by the enemy
The noise all the day terrific. The shells from
our batteries and the shot from theirs, about oO4
! yards distant never ceased. VIC were IN q capt."
! position for hearing everything.
! Their practice was much better than ours
used to climb up an Cmbrasure and watch our shot
which always went over their battery. IhIS wa
| quite safe, 4s they had Withdrawn their rlneheI
! and one could always jump into the battery ate
| they fired gun before the shot came. You saw tn
fash Our Shot went too high, because the embra
sures were too high, and the guns consequent
could not be sufficiently depressed
And now you have the experience of a non-con
Blatant of the trenches under fire. ] suppose yoj
| would like to know how felt yesterday Of cours
no one can see men knocked down all around hin
and getting wounds of which he best knows the fu
danger, and take it quite coolly at first but yol
very soon get accustomed to it. After bit the tou
of us (oIicers) collected in a corner that was We
covered, and made ourselves quite jolly 1t SCENE
to be ali habit and perhaps, if You would get oyd
it once or twice, you would get accustomed to b
ing killed.
see the Times talks about chatting They by
gan to chaf me in the batteries the other day, ant
talked of the luxury of getting legs and arms TO
nothing, after the manner of Ben Allen and Bo
Sawyer so gave them Christopher TadPoie, AM
offered to draw any of their teet considerably unde
cost price or cut off leg at great sacrifice, il
consideration of the late fire. This shut them NJ
though they could not shut Up the Russian bate
rios