Lamoille newsdealer. [volume] (Hyde Park, Vt.) 1860-1877, 1862-06-20
A N. Y. Battery at the Battle of Po;, n,
AN ARTILLERYMAN's ACCOUNT

N. Y. Battery at the Battle of Fair osI,
AN ARTILLERYMAN's ACCOUNT.
The pickets soon began to fire randi,
and came running in while the infant.
posted behind fence to support tbsn
was blazing away in the woods. The =,
tillery on our right opened fire and min
gled their thunder with the sharp rol, =,
musketry. Soon our Napoleon guns(tb,..
of which were posted is an unfinished '.
doubt, opened with case shot which Won,
whizzing through the air, over the head.
of our own men, right into the midst a.
the enemy, and there exploding, scattered
death through their ranks. On the lsA
the rebels were seen coming through II.
woods to flank us, and wheeling three Of
our guns so as to bear upon them ".
poured case shot among them with uDs,
ampled rapidity and terrible effect
The destruction was horrible On,
spherical case shot are awful missiles
each Of them consisting of clotted mas,
of seventy-six musket balls, with cbarcp
of powder in the centre, that is fired bv,
fuse the same as shell. The missile first
acts as a solid shot, ploughing its vu
through masses of men, and then explod
ing hurls forward shower of musket
balls, that NOW down the foe in heaw
Our battery threw twenty-four of thesea
minute, and as we had the exact range Of
every part of the field, every shot told
with frightful effect But the enemy were
not at all daunted.
They marched steadily on, and hailed
a perfect tempest Of balls upon us. Why
we, as we'll as our horses, were not every
one of us shot down, will forever remain
mystery to me. We did not mind the
leaden hail, however but kept pouring
out case shot into the dense masses of the
foe, who came on in prodigious and over.
whelming force. Aud they fought speed.
lily, too. Our shot tore their ranks wide
open, and shattered them asunder in a
manner that was frightful to witness; but
they closed up again at once and came on
as steadily as English veterans.
When they got within four hundred
yards, we closed our case shot and opened
on them with canister, and such destruc.
ton | never elsewhere witnessed. At
each discharge great gaps were made in
their ranks-indeed, whole companies
went down before that murderous fire;
but they closed up with an order and dis
ciplinc that was awe-inspiring. They
seemed to be animated with the courage
of despair blended with the hope of a
speedy victory if they could by an over
whelming rush drive us from our position
1t was awful to see their ranks torn and
shattered by every discharge of canister
that we poured right into their faces, and
while their dead and dying lay in piles
close up, and still kept advancing right
in the face of that fire. At one time
three lines, one behind another, were
steadily advancing, and three Of their
flags were brought in range of one of our
guns shotted with canister.
NreP shouted the gunner and down
went the three flags, and gap was open
ed through those three lines as if a thun-
derbolt had torn through them, and the
dead Ian IN s,cathS. But they at once
closed up and came steadily on, never
hating or wavering right through thu
woods, over the fence, through the field
right up to our guns, and sweeping every
thing before them captured every piece
When we delivered our last fire, they
were within Is or 20 PAGES of us, and al
all our horses had been killed or wounded
we could not carry off gun.
ey Hubbard Taft, of Townshend, dice