Staunton vindicator and general advertiser. (Staunton, Augusta County, Va.) 1858-1860, 1859-12-23

'What! shall the colors of another brig
ade and not ours fly from that bastion,
this afternoon p
"No! now in roar of thunder.
"Ah' you are Of my mind Attention!
attack is fzed for five O'clock. Suppose you
and | were to carry the bastion ten minutes
before the Colonel from Egypt can bring
his men upon the ground p
"A fierce roar Of Joy and laughter-the
strange laughter Of veterans and born in
vincibles.
"Tbat was question I put to your hearts
your answer 7"
The answer was yell of exulting assent,
but the answer was half drowned by anoth-
Ter response, and thunder of the imperial
drums, and the rattle of fixing bayonets.
The Colonel told off party to the bat
terry,
Level the guns at the top ties. Fire,
lat my signal, and keep firing over our
heads till you see our colors OF the place"
He then darted to the head of the col
umn, which instantly formed behind him
in the centre Of Death's Alley
1.-THE colors No hand but mine shall
hold them to-day"
They were instantly brought to him i; his
left hand shook them free in the afternoon
|sun.
A deep murmur ofioy from the old hands
at the unwonted sight. Out flashed the
sword like steel lightning. He waved ii
toward the battery.
Bang, bang, bang, went the cannon land
the smoke rolled over the trenches. At the
same moment up went the colors waving,
and the Colonel's clarion voice pealed above
i all: -su
''Twenty-fourth demi-brigads m tor
ward !"
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 than two thousand muskets were lev
eled at them from all the Prussiafi line. 1t
was not rattle Of small arms-it was a
crash, and the men fell fast; but in mo-
merit they were seen to spread out like fan,
and when the fan closed again it half encir-
cled the bastion. 1t was French attack
Part swarmed at it in front like bees, part
swept round the glacis and fanked it. They
we're seen to fall in numbers, shot down from
tie embrasurss But the living took the
place Of the dead, and the fight ranged even
Fly there. Where are the co!ors? Toward
the rear. There the Colonel and hundred
men are fighting hand to hand with the
Prussians, who have charged out at the back
doors cf the bastion Success there, and the
basticn must fall-botb sides know this.
All in moment the colors disappeared.
There was groan from the French line =
No. there they were again. and close under
the bastion.
And now in front the attack was so hot
that often the Prussian gunners 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 ad-
vantage there. The fire slackening told a
similar tale, and presently down came the
Prussian flagstaff. That might be accident.
A few moments Of thirsty expectation, and
up went the colors of the oath brigade upon
the Bastion St.. Andre.
The whole French army raised shout
that rent the SKY, and their cannon began to
play on the Prussian lines and between the
bastlon and the nearest fort to prevent re-
capture.
Then shot from the earth crbiS aore of
fire where last the bastion was seen it car
ried up heavy mountains of red and black
smoke, that looked solid as marble There
was heavy, sullen, tre;,-ulous explosion,
shat snuifed Oft the sound Of the cannon,
and paralyzed the French and Prussian gun
ners' hands, and checked the very beating
Of their hearts. Thirty thousand pounds Of
gunpowder were in that awful explosion.
War itself held its breath, and both ar
mics, like peaceful spectators, gazed won
der-struck, terror struck. Great hell SEEM
ed to have burnt through the earth's crust,
and to be rushing at heaven. Huge stones,
cannon, corpses, and limbs Of soldiers were
seen driven or falling in the smoke. Some
of these last came quite clear of the ruins,
ave, into the Frenoh and Prussian lines, that
even the veterans put their hands to their
eyes. Raynal felt something spatter On hifn
from the sky. It was blood-a comrades,
perhaps. Oh war! war!
The smoke cleared. Where q moment be-
fore the great bastion stood and fought, was
a m onstrous pile Of blackcned, bloody stones
and timhers, with dismounted cannon stick
ing up here and there.
And rent and crushed to atoms beneath
the smoking mass lay the relics Of the gal
liant brigade and their victorious colors
HOLD ON BOYS Hold on to your torgae
when. YOU are lust ready to swear. lie. or