The Abbeville banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1847-1869, 1858-01-07


''mn, which instantly formed behind him Ia,
the centre Of Deaths Alloy.
"The colorsl No hand but mine shall
hold them to-day"
They were instantly brought him. his
left hand shook them free in tho afternoon
sun.
A deep murmur Of joy from tho old
hands at the now unwonted sight. Out
flashed his sword like steel lightning. lie
waved it towards the battery.
Bang bang bang bang! went the
cannon, and the smoke rolled over the
trenches. At the same moment up wont
the colors waving, and the colonel's clarion
voice pealcd high above all
"Twenty-fourth demi. brigade-forward!"
They went so swiftly out of the trenches
that they were not seen through their own
smoke until they had run some sixty yards.
No sooner were they seen coming on like
devils through their own smoke, than two
thousand muskcts were leveled at them
from all the Prussian line. 1t was not q
rattle OF small arms-it was Il crash and
the men fell fast but in n moment they
were seen to spread out like a fan, and to
offer less mark. aud when the fan closed
closed again, it half cncirclcd the baslion
1t was French attack. Part swarmcd at
it in front like bees, part swept round the
s'acis and flankod it. They were seen to
fall in numbers, shot down from the EN-.
brasures. But the living took the place of
the dead; and the fight ragged evenly there
Where are the colors? Towards the rear.
There the colonel and Il hundred men are
fighting hand to hand with the Prussians.
who have charged out at the back doors
OF the bastlon. Success there, and the bas-
ton must fall-both sides know this.
All in moment the colors disappeared.
There was groan from the French line
No there they were again, and close I'M
der the bastion.
And now in front the attack was SO hot
that often the Pru sian gunncrs were seen
TO Jump down, driven from their posts and
the next moment fierce hurrah from the
rear told that the French had won some
great advantage there. Tile fire slackcninr
told similar tale, and presently down
came the prussian flag gstaif. That Nigh,
bc an accident. A few moments of thirst
ing expectation, and up wc,t the colors of
the 24th brigade upon the Basion St.
Andre
The whole French army raised shout
that rent the sky, and their cannon began
to play on the Prussian liues and between
the bastion and the nearest fort to prevent
a recapture.
Then shot from the earth cubic acre Of
ire where last the bastion was seen it car
r'ed up heavy mountain of rcd and black
smoke that looked solid us marble. There
was heavy, suIlcn, tremendous explosion.
that snullcd out the sound of the cannon,
and paralyzcd the French and Prussian
gnnners' hands, and checked the very beat
ing of their hearts. Thirty thousand
pounds of gunpowder were in the awful
explosion. War itself held its breath. and
both armies, like peaceful spectators, gazcd
wonder-struck, terror-s,rucls. Great hell
seemed to have burst through the car,h's
crust, and to be rushing at heaven. Huge
stones, cannon, corpses, and limbs Of SOL
d'ers, were seen driving or falling through
the smoke. Some of these last even came
quite clear Of the ruins, az, into the French
and Prussian lines, that even the veterans
put their hands to their eyes. RaynaI felt
something patter on linn from the sky; i,
was blood-a comrades, PERHAPS. Oh
war! war!
The smoke cleared. Where a moment
before the great bas:ion stood and FOUGHT.
was monstrous pile Of bIackened bloody
stones and timbers, with dismountcd can.
non sticking up here and there.
And rent and crushed to atoms beneath
the smoking mass, lay the relics of the cal.
liant brigade and their victorious colors
1Ae Wous'achc IN the English Pulpit-
~ London periodical states that nearly all
the English clergynen, living between two
and three hundred years ago, wore the
moustache. In his list of those who wore