The Carolina Spartan. [volume] (Spartanburg, S.C.) 1852-1896, 1863-11-19

| to be supposed. without disturbing their
tender coDsciepces
Sundays fire WINS not as iiaess......ctise- sy
saturdays, chiefly because it was divided
between batteries Wagner anI Gregg, AMI
Fort johnson, instead Of being moDopoli..
cd by u.s. That Saturday! no man, On
our side at least, who was concerned in IL.
will ever forget it-least of all those W ose
places were, as mine was, in the hospital.
Men brought in killed instant y-men who
ought to have died instantly, but could not
die for long hours Of ghastly anguish
Men mutiilatcd. dcfacc,l, stunned, sicken.
cd: men bruken hearted for brothers kill.
ed by their SHE. Fortitude and patience
eloriously illustrated on every hand; Only
here and .here aspo9r fellow, frenziei by
unendurahle agony, or uDnurved by previ
Gus exhaustion, broke the eloquent SILENCE
with his groans. One thing that 90 ,ins
trivial enough in the telling, added not u
little to their sutfering-thc endless drip,
drip, drip, from the caveruous roof Some
OF the men tried to drink it, but it had
perculatcd through salt sand, and r,sher
hanced their thirst. The wounded we're
abundan,ly supplied with cis,crn water
from Charleston.
Ivy dark, or little later, Of Saturday
night, the hospital was full the dead de,
GENTLY disposed ut one end OF the room
and the wounded occupying the res, as
we thought. Ah, we little realized what
was before rs! Tho cnemy's Gre had be.
come 80 accurate that they dropped their
shells into every open place, and struck
the very sills over the doors Of the cover
cd ways BY the coordination of their
batteries with their monitors and gunboats,
they obtained such c.,sss fire ;hat there
was literally no place, out of the bomb
prv-::!sss. that offered any shelter.
AID now, out OF garr,-..;:, .:::: :.::: Scri-g
say eight hundred men. and subjected to
this cluster OF crucial tests, how many he
roes were there (! How, many to stand up,
faint but uod,smn ed for their bleeding
country, while huugeriny, thirsting, sicep
less, bcgirt with this internal fire! l will
tel! you the literal truth on. at The whole
mass, | hear> of but three or four that
shrunk even for a moment from obeyinr
any command
In one case, squad Of six men was or
dered to repair parapet which the enemy
had cut down, aud were still at work up
on. They started out, and almost instant
ly shell burst among them, killing ono
and wound'ng four; The remaining man
picked up his sand bag and walked up to
tile breach without u moments hesitation.
The next squad was called. and went up
to the work in just the same manner.
y ten inch columbiad, loaded, was dis
mounted by the enemy's shot, tell over.
ana ,.c, nom dir"nflv At a magazine its
Z I'.~ ,ibe.rs l,, ram
carnage took rre Xuu .. .''noe'S No ra'
up tU 1t tried in .iin TO eItinguiss. tho Dire
hy shove ing sand upon IT, They called
Tor volunteers, but the cannonade was too
furious Many shrank II was not :, com
mand, but an Invitation. AT last one gal
unt fellow rushed up Joined the officers in
their work, got the tre under, aud came
down, thank God, in perfect safety
That Saturday night, body of Georgi-
ans, so many privates from each oompany
of the 18th Georgia the only officer with
them captain, were collected, and had
just marched out oi tho battery GA som,
expedition to Battery Gregg, wh:n they
were halted to receive fuai orders The
captain and our lamented Lieutenant
Blum, who was passing by, entered INTO
conversation, when a shell burst just there
and killed them DO H. An officer wh,.
went out shortly after to see how things
were going on, lound these fellows sitting
quietly III the sand, conversing as calml,
as though !here were no such things ~
shot and shell, and as though rhut were
not notoriously one of the most dangerous
spots about the Tort. Uu teiug ASK.
what they were doing there, they answer
ed that they had no oihcr 10 coumand
them, that they had sent for one, and wer,
waiting till he came There were ,hus,.
who thought this the finest exhibition OF
courage in the whole period for tie usp
al support OF soldiers, tho command of one
whom they must obey, was wanting. II
they had taken retnge IN some saitr plac,
until their officer arrived, they r0tlh hard
ly have been blamed but at the very poinr
where their leader tell, ;hey sat down aud
waited orders.
To Illustrate tho dangers Of that fearful
night, | may mention that a commissioned
and non commiss,o ,oned officer with six pri
Yates were sent to certain point as u
guard They had but just reached it when
n shell fell among them, killing ouc and
wounding all the rest OF the soldiers-on
ly-the officers escaped uninjured.
But the strength OF the garrison was no
longer adequate to the maintenance of the
post the cncny's works turn d the ex
trcihe point of one of our outer works
the more important guns were either dis
mounted or seriously injured And IN
truth, the object ot his long aud otztinat,
defence was now 1T hast gained. Ii hai
| been held until the Interior line of ieirnc,
e. had become too formidable To fear au
assault This being sccure6, such an out
lay OF precious blood became too costly f.,v
any benefit it coull purchase, aud the evnc
uation was decided upon alter - careful
survey Of the battery, by IA leading cnyi,
\ n,nr .apt Inyn fcr ,Ln ,,,,r,n.,