Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1878-10-17

Lieutcnant Willard Hill, Company Il, and
Sergeant Greer, Company A, Eighteenth
South Caroltnn Volunteers, having been
relieved from duty an hour before, wore
seeping. Tho first thoy roalizcd Of it was
tho shock, then Geep darkness, and then u
consciousness that the n,ino had bcon
sprung, and that they had been buried,
how deep they could not imagine. Thoit
iirst impulse was dccp, indisoribablo de-
spalr--heartsickening, heart rending, hopo.
less, that left them almost powerless for q
timo. But what could they do2 They
bad nothing to dig gout with but on old
ha9cnct tbat SsAkeat CFocr had in lis holt tand
aud there but oanteou of water in the cell.
But what was going on about them? Grant
hnd consummatcd tha. most diabolical of
all tho deeds Of terrible war. | was
within l80 yards of it on my morning visit
to my regiment, and it was just at
that time of day-twiight-tbat even
trees can look like ghosts, and that added
to the weird soenc of death.
Simultaneous with the deep, dead sound,
and tho quivcr of the earth, there arose ia
the air cloud of dust and smoke aud
timbers, men und muskets, and all manner
of shapes and fragments, wcro flying in
every direction, and then for moment
stillncss; and it seemed as if every cannon
on the whoio Federal line was turned loose
upon our lines. Shells shrcked through
tho air-musket balls and frag-
ments OF shells fell in every direction, plow-
ing up the earth and cutting of limbs from
the few trees thut the relentless hand Of
war had spared. Then camc tho charge.
Negro troops in front with splcndidy Gu
parisoned troopsof tho Federal army behind,
driving them, as it were, to tho front, like
sheep to slaughter, with the battle ory Of
Remember Tort Pillow" and tue few
the very few-tlat survived no doubt re-
member the crater of Grant fnll as we'll.
| High above all the confusion and smoke
and dust and groans Of the wounded, could
be hoard the battlo cry of
tho Fcdcrals, aud tho words
of encouragement of gallant cilicers-tho
few that arc left of the Eighteenth and
Twenty South Carolina Volunteers,
and those bravo Virgininns whose battery
was buried in a common grave with noarly
every soldier who manned it. But the
Confederate lines were broken in twain.
Fcdcrals and negroes had made brcaetworks
Of the bouLers that were blown sp by the
explosion. But they were not to stay there
Soon came General Malone, with reinforce
mcnts, aud after QUO Of tho most galluut
fights of all the IYar, ho carried the works
and the crater turned grave for its captors.
had heard of pools of blood-it was thero
that | saw them. Tho silence rcigncd, that
painful silence which always follows on
the battlefield after death has held high
carnival.
Then came the sad duty Of counting up
the cost. My brigade had suffered severely.
The Twcnty-sccond South Carolina had
lost its gallant Colonel Fleming, and mauy
a brave soldier. My regiment had lost one
handrcd and sixty three men. Two whole
companies, A and G., Eighteenth South
Carolina, had not uan left, vino was on
duty, to tell the tale. Que hundred and
one Of my men, including Captains McCor-
mick and Birdgis, were dcad-bnricd in
the crater or scattcrcI along the works
aud sixty-two missing.
Among tho missing were Lieutenant
Hill and Sergeant Greer. We left them in
their almost living grave; Greer digging
with his bayonc!, whilo Hill passed back
the dirt with all tho desperation of
despair. They hear not, heed not tho
battle that is raging above them, but toll on
Often hope would spring up in their hearts
to give way only to despair. Hill has often
told me how, when he awoke to conscious.
ncss Of his condition, tho thought flashed
through his brain like lightning; how he
thought if he could only SEQ one ray of
light, or breathe the fresh air once again;
that if ho could only let his wife know bow
and where he died. that death would be u
relief to him. Almost suffocatcd for want
of fresh air, they worked on. at last it
seemed to them that something had crushed
them; they had dug through tho loose
boulders, and tho light burst upon
them. Then both, overcome with the
sudden transition from their suffocaton
and despair to light and hope, tainted
How long they remained there they know
not
When they awokc from their swoon, the
first sound that broke on thoir cars was tho
clash of arms, and tho quick rolling roar
of tho battle as it ragged around and above.
Almost in stupor, trying to realize that they
could again SOC tho light of heaven and
hear tho voice Of living creature, they lay
still until they recovered their minds
enough to know what vas going on. Hill
has ofton told me that whom ho knew and
realized that it was battle, the sound was
the sweetest music that had over greeted his
ears. At last tho cry of victory rose high
above everything else. They knew that
somebody had boon vanquished, and TINT
somebody was victor; who, they knew not.
They emerged from thoir awful retreat,
weak, worn in BODY, and with miuds crazed