The Abbeville banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1847-1869, 1859-12-01

lhe answer was yell of exul,inr as
sent' but it was half drowned by anothe
response, tho thunder of the imna,;en
drums, and the rattle of fixing bovo
nets.
Tho colonel told off a party to til,
battery.
Level the guns at the top ties. Fire Al
my signal, and keep firing over ou,
heads till you SEQ our coiors on the
place.
lie then darted to the head of the
column, which instantly formed behind
him in the centre of Deaths Alley.
The colors No hand but mino shall
hold them to-day
They were instantly brought to him, his
lett hand shook them free in the afternoon
sun.
a deep murmur Of JOY from the old
hands at the now unwonted sigLt. Out
flashed the 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 went the
coiors waving, and the coloncl's clarion
voice pealed high above all.
Twenty-fourth ,!cmi brigade. iorward!' y
They went SO quickly out of the
trenches that they were not sren 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 levelleI at them from all ilc
PrussiaE line. 1t was not rattle of small
arms-it WAS a crash, and the men fell fast ::
but in moment they were seen to spread
out like a fan, and when the fan closed
again it half enci,cled the bas,on. TWAS
French attack. Part swarmcL at it in
front Ike bees, part swept round the glacis
and hankcd it. They were seen to fall in
numbers, shot down from the cmJrasures
But the living took the place of the dead,
and the fight ranged evenly there. Where
are the coors Towards the rear. There
the colonel and n hundred men are fighting
hand to hand with the Prussaus who have
charged out at the back doors of the has
ton. Success there, and the bastion must
tall-both sides know ills.
All in moment the colors disappeared.
There was groan from the French line.
No! there they were again, and close un
der the basiion.
And now in front the attack was so hot,
that often the Prussian 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. The fire slackening
told a similar tale, and presently down
came the Prussian flagstaff That might
be an accident. A few moments of thirst
ing expectations and up went the colors
OF the Gath brigade upon the Bas,ion St.
Andre.
The whole French army raised a shout
that rent the sky, and their cannon began
to play on the Prussian lines, and between
the bastion and the nearest fort to prevent
recapture.
Then shot from the earth cubic acre
of fire where last the bastion was seen ::
it carried up heavy mountain of red
and black smoke, that looked solid as
marble. There was heavy, sullen, trem.
ulous explosion, that snuffed out the sound
of the cannon, and paralyzed the French
and Prussian gunners' 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
armies like peaceful spectators, gazed won
dcrstruck, terror struck. Great hell seemed
to have burned through the eartll's crust, and
to 'e rushing heaven. Huge stones
cannon, corpes, and limbs of soldiers, were
seen driven or falling through the smoke.
Some OF these last came quite clear of the
ruins, aye, into the French and Prussian
lines, that even the veterans put their hands
to their eyes. RaynaI felt something spat.
ter on him from the sky it was blood
comrades pearhaps. Oh war! war!
The smoke cleared. Where a moment
before the great bastion stood and fought,
was monstrous pile of blackened bloody
stones and timbers, with dismounted cannon
sticking up here and there.
And rent and crushed to atoms be.
meath the smoking mass, lay the relics
Of the gallant brigade and their victorious
colors. -,
a man never appreciates the importance
Of" thinking twice before speaking once