The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1863-09-19

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1NTEREsTrHa DEscRIrTIoN oFlTHE TAX
ING OF THE RIFLE PITS OF FoRTfW AGNER,
BY THE MAssAcH usETTs FoURTHg
REaIMENT.7 The FOL lowing diary Of the in-9
cidents connected with the capture of, the
rifle pits Of Fort Wagner is Eom a letter
written by q memberOf the Twenty-fOurthl
to his relatives. The letter isolated Mor-s
Yesterday afternoon, about 4 O'Clock,
the Oath were ordered to- fall in on the
beach as quickly as possible. We formed
a line; extra cartridges were given OUT,
The officers were called to the front, and
General Stevenson gave them their orders.
An alteration was then made in the regi-
mental line; six men from Co. A, and our
orderly, another sergeant and myself, were
put with Go. ], Captain Amory. We were
then formed in the advance-Co. g men
then formed q little way behind US, then
the rest of the regiment. LieutenantSweet
was put in command of Co. A. Then we
were told where we were going. Co. I,
and those of Co. A who were in it, were to
go forward to our outer works--on the left
Of the rebel works--and atthe order, charge
on the pits. 80 es.F "a e5a o2 Sa.l III II
Then company A was to come up-each
man armed with his gun and two shovels
and were to commence shoveling imme-
musket when necessary, and were to be
supported by the rest Of the regiment
Well, we reached our outer works, our
regiment moved off to the right, and COM
pany l, in which was, to the left. We lay
behind our intrenchments,,a awaiting the or
ders to charge. Capt. .Amory and Capt.
Redding Of company Az We're with u.s.
The former told us to be sure and keep to-
gether-to rush forward at top Speed -each
man to yell at the top of his voice-that it
was death to stand still land that the
surest way was to keep .on-and, # any
man dropped, to let him lie where he
fell, until the thing was over that
no doubt 1t might be taken without
the loss of "A single man. did we advance
boldly and quickly-that the enemy, being
taken SO suddenly by SURPRISE would no
doubt run-to remember and keep up the
honor of the company and regiment. I'VE
reconnoitered, and found out the direction
Of the pits from where we were, Soon
came the order to fix bayonets, and to do it
noiselessly. We did so, and awaited the
final word. When the order came, "Charge!
charger I fsprang over the parapet rand
came into view Of the enemy's rife pits. i
made within myself q short, earnest prayer
to God to forgive my sins commended my
soul to Him, and rushed forward, yelling
at the top of my voice. Whiz-whiz-whiz
-Whiz-WhiZ-whiz- the balls all
above us. We reached the pits;g there sure
enough were the rebels some rushing tos1
ward Wagner Others rushing into. our
lines, willing prisoners others shot Oh the
ground. ah We fired after them. A moment
after up rushed the remainder Of our regi-
ment. esser
The shovelers threw down their pieces,
and fell to work, shoveling like mad. We
all then formed to support them in line of
battle. Then came grape and canister from
Wagner all about us. Capt, Perkins, Of
49, - L. :
company, were instantly killed, and, as
near as l can learn, three, more in Co. E
and some other company were killed and
six wounded. Capts. Redd3ng and Amory
headed the charge of our little detachment,
and did nobly; in fact, so did all our off,
GERS and men. The oath has done a big
thing. Col, Osborne headed the regiment,
sword in hand. I can tell you, such SHOW
cling as these men did would astonish you.
In less than twenty minutes, a breastwork
fifteen feet in hight was thrown up. Then
we sat down, gun in hand, keeping men at
the top, on the watch for shells, and any
force seen approaching. About 9 p. M. a
continued our ditch to our works. The
engineers then came out and fell to work.
Soon it commenced to rain. We had been
wet through with perspiration, and now
chilled and soaked completely by the
drenching storm, We We're in miserable
plight. 10 crown all, SfOfte wagner,
johnson and Gregg sent solid shot, shell,
balls into us, and some of our own bate
ries fell short of the mark, and sent their
shot and shell about us. 1t was terrible
scene. A regiment of men sitting in a long
ditch at night, a thunderstorm raging, rain
ing in torrents, and the continual roar of
the thunder, and explosion of shells, the
whistling of solid shot, the horrible shrek
of grape and canister all about US, and no
one hit-truly it was wonderful. But God
has been merciful. ! am uninjured and
not man in Co. A has been struck After
sitting in the parallels until IL o'clock the
s7th Ohio relieved u.s.. and glad were we to
get back to camp.
DRY GoODS.-Buslness continues excit-
ingly active, and with increasing buoyan-
cy ofprices. Western merchants are nu-
merons, and city and nearby dealers are