The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1864-08-20

4 TrAtA q Cars Aemolished-9Oo
4en killed An4 weunaeA.
Cry PoINT, Va. Aug. 9, 1864,
Your humble correspondent, with many
others, has just come very near being blot
ted out. In fact he is not sure that he has
not been. and that this 10 now his spirit.
from ferce of habit and sense of duty.
feels of his head physical, and thinks be
still has one (though . little shaky, per-
hsps, and that he Is unscathed from head
to foot, except little torn raiment; and he
devoutly-as Christian or Mohammedan
ever did-thanks God for his deliverance.
He accepts the awful call, 50 nearly and
% loudly made, as q terrible warning of
the uncertainty of human life, and that in
the midst Of life we are in death.
/ / will endeavor to give some idea Of the
terrible scene tnat am about to record by
nrst relating my own sensati0ns. win
hrsts however, endeNvor to describe the
relative locality Of things, so that you NAV
more clearly understand what undertake
to relate. In the first, place, then, at the
main steamboat landing here, where the
mail boat lands, there 10 whats left Of i'll
mile or 20 in length, along the river.
Back on this, ten or twelve feet from the
edge Of 1t, ran mammoth new pine Gov
ernment warehouse, nearly the length OF
the wharf, along the river, built in the
most substantial manner, and which had
jusv made note Of as being over quar-
ter Of mile in length, sixty feet wide, and
twenty-five feet high from floor to apex,
and capable of standing the wear and tear
of war for at least . quarter of ! century.
Back Of this warehouse, from the river.
runs the railroad track along the platform
Of the warehouse, making the transition of
freight from the boats to the railroad trains
simply through the warehouse. Beyond
the railroad track, from the warehouse, at
the foot Of the hill upon which the town is
situated, was new pinerow, In which the
Quartermaster's Office were kept, and q
few old buildings, occupied as suffers es-
adjustments, 6c., while upon the hill, be-
aide the city Of tents, there were scattered
about dozen or more substantial frame
residences, occupied now mostly for vari.
ous military purposes.
The mail boat has been landing about
the middle Of this wharf and warehouse,
one Of the middle secti0ns of the ware
house being fitted up into ofiices and de-
voted to fine commissary stores and such
freight - II usually carried by tho mail
boats, while adjoining this section OF the
warehouse above il another section left as
an open court for the passage of horses.
passengers, &C., to and from the boats.
just above this open section, and above
where the mail boats landed, opposite an
ammunition section OF the warehouse, this
morning, lay, next to the wharf, the barge
Major General Meade, loaded with con-
demued stores (including condemned am.
munitiOn, } outside Of her the ammunition
barge J. E. Kendrick, loaded with fixed
ammunition for distribution, and outside
Of or near her, the J. C. Campbell, load
ed with commissary stores, with other
nd r1r>
AID below.
ing on the 10 o'clock mail boat, and look.
ing around the town an hour or so, took
the 1850 freight train, as is now my work,
for the front, where my headquarters and
horse are. We first went into the only
open car Immediately opposite the ammu-
milton section Of the warehouse, but along
came one Of the freight agents, and said he
was ordered 70 close that car (which had
barrels Of whisky in it) ~ we'll as the rest.
We consequently had to get on top Of the
train, which we frequently do.
! walked back on the train (up river
wards) so As to avoid the cinders and
smoke of the locomotive in going out Il
precaution which experience had taught
mel and set down on the walk board
along. the top Of the car, and commenced
perusing letter Ihad Just received from .
fraternal youngster in tho Prairie State
had gotten about half through this when.
the first thing I knew did not know much
Of anything. A stunning and dealening
shock, as II Of the terrific explosion of Z
menster shell near me, and the concussion
OF the air were bending me involuntarily
over on the deck of the car, ~ = plant
that the concussion would never cease ring
ing and swaying until it bred more and
more danger.
My first thought was that an ammuni-
ton car had exploded just ahead Of the
one was on, and that it would be or little
use to try to escape the storm that had gone
up and would come downfall one was
about as safe in one place a. another. But
the dread storm did commence c0miuk
down, and oh! how 1t did rain and hail all
the terrible instruments Of war. We felt
that We were in the hands Of merciful
Providence, and that II our time had
come, 1t had come, and there was no
help for It. We could only shelter our
heads with our hats and our hands as We
walked ait.
twas not railroad car. but the ammu-
milton barge J. E. Kendrick, that had ex-
cussion shells, or some other kind of am
munition, It il supposed. No one that was
aboard Of the boat remains to tell the tale
of her destruction. The spliuters that
atrew the river maybe hers or theymaynot.
The section Of the twisted ribs Of . keel
that lie In the most frequented part Of the
town, on tho hill, two hundred yards dis
tant, may b. hers, or they may belong to
one Of her disappeared consorts.
You have Ee6d Of eruptions Of vesuvius,
such a buried Herculaneum and Pompeii.
You have seen illustrations Of them in the
books, This must have been such an ex-
plosion . one of these, except that instead
Of lava and dust and ashes, it rained over
the circle Of mile, in whole packages and
by piece-meal, everything you can imag-
inc ct : military depot. Entire boxes 81
fixed ammunition came down among the
tents in the town quarter Of . mile dis
tant. and scarcely : tent or house or boat
can be found within the circle Of . mile
that Il not riddled by shell, solid shot, or
ANAL ammunition. s4
The massive pine wharfin front Of where
these boats lay, which was belted down up-
on piles and slsepen Of pine trees is
brushed aside for about . third Of its length
as If it had been made Of the paper write
on, while the substantial plank warehouse,