The Saline County journal. [volume] (Salina, Kan.) 1871-1893, 1878-11-14
A TERRIBLE STORY.


Turned from jet BLACK To W mite IN tnAt
Single Day.
Correspondence jacksonville (Ala) Republican.
In your issue of the 18th inst, noticed
an article, the first sentence of which
asks the question. ''Can a persons hair
turn white within a short time?" Hav-
ing seen such an instance. and one that
can be authenticated beyond all cavil
by persons now living, will give you and
your readers the circumstances as they Oc-
CURED, when, where, and whom they are.
When Grant sprang the mime, or
.'blow-up." as many call it, in front of
Petersburg, Va, at twilight on the morn
ing of the eOth Of July, 1864, the point
Immediately over it was occupied 10y a
Virginia battery. The bitches on the
right Immediately next to the battery
were occupied by the Twenty-Second
South Carolina volunteers. Colonel Flem-
ing On the left of the battery, the
bitches were occupied by the Eighteenth
South Carolina. Colonel W. H. Wallace
fnow Judge Wallace, of South Carolinal !:
of which regiment | was surgeon. All
along our lines our soldiers mad dug out
bomb-proofs, as they called them. These
bomb-proOfs were generally about four
feet broad, three feet high, and seven feet
long--large enough for two or three men
to crawl int0Gnd sleep with comparative
comfort and safe4y, which they did when
OF duty, during the ever-to-be-fo forgotten
siege, by every man who participated
therein.
In one of the bomb-proofs on the ex-
IRENE right of the Eighteenth South Car
DINA Volunteers, and just to the left of
the mine, Lieutenant Willard Hill, Com
pany f. and Sergeant Greer, Company A..
Eighteenth South Carolina Volunteers.
having been relieved from duty an hour
before, were sleeping. The first they re-
allied of it was the shock. then deep
darkness, and then CONSCIOUSNESS that
the mine had been sprung. ana that they
had been buried, how deep they could
not imagine. Their first impulse was IA
deep, indescribable despair-heart-sicken-
ing. beart-rending hopelessness. that left
them almost powerless for time. But
what could they do? They had nothing
to dig out with but bayOnet that Ser
geant Greer had in his belt. and there
was but a canteen of water IN the cell.
But what was going on above them
Grant had contaminated that most dlabol-
ical of all the deeds of terrible war.
was within $50 yards of it on my morning
visit to my regiment, and 1t was just
at this time of Observation-Disclosures even
trees can look like ghosts, and that added
to the weird scene of death. Simulta.
neously with the deep, dead sound, and
CULVER of the earth. there arose in the All
cloud of dust and smoke, and timbers,
men, and muskets, and all manner OF
shapes, and fragments were flying IN ev.
cry direction, blowing up the earth and
cutting off limbs from the few trees that
the relentless hand of war had spared
Then came the charge. Negro troops IN
front, with splendidly caparisoned troops
of the Federal army behind, driving them,
as it were, to the battle cry of ''Remem'
Der Fort Pillow" and the few, the very
few, that survived no doubt remember the
crater of Grant full as well.
High above all the confusion and smoke,
and dust and groans of the wounded,
could be heard the battle-cry of the Fed.
eral, and the words of encouragement OF
gallant officers-the few that are left OF
the Eighteenth and Twenty-second South
Carolina Volunteers, and of those brave
Virginians whose battery was buried in
common grave, with nearly every sol
der who manned it. But the Confeder
ate lines were broken in twain. Federal,
and negroes had made breastworks of the
pIosion. But they were not to stay there
Soon came General Malone with REIN
forcements: and. after one of the most
gallant fights of all the war, he carried
the works. and the crater turned to q
grave for its captors. | had heard Ol
pools of blood-it was there ! saw them
Then silence reigned. that painful 81
lence which always follows on the battle
field after death has held high carnival.
Then came the sad duty of counting NJ
the cost. My brigade had suffered Sc
verely-the Twenty-second South Carolina
had lost its gallant Colonel Fleming and
many brave soldier. Nv regiment had
lost l6} men, Two whole companies. A
and c, Eighteenth South Carolina, had
not man left, who was on duty. to tell
/ the tale. One hundred and one of my
men. including Captains M"Somich and
Birdgis. were dead-indced in the crater
or scattered along the works-and sixty
two missing.
Amo W the Kissing are Lieutenant Hill
and =. ireer. We left them In
their a. mg grave: Greer digging
with ci while Hill passed back
the din. IL all the desperation of de-
spair. They hear not. need not, the bat
tie 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 IA consciousness of his con-
dition. tine thoughts that flashed through
his brain like lightning: how he thought
if he could only see one ray of light. or
breathe the fresh sir once again: that II
he could only let his wife know how and
where he died. that death would be re-
lief to him. Almost suffoca.ed for want
of fresh air, they worked on: at hast IT
seemed to them that something and
crashed them; they had dug through the
loose powders. and the light burst upon
them. They both. overcome with the sud
den transition from their suffocation and
despair to light and hope. tainted. How
long they renamed there they knew not.
When they awoke from their swoon.
the first sound that broke on their ears
was the clash of arms and the quick roll
ing roar of the battle rs II ragged around
and above. Almost in stupor, trying to
realize that they could again see the light
of hea zen. and hear the voice of living
creature. they lay still until they recovered
their minds enough TO know what was go
ing on Hill has often told me that when
he knew and realized that II WAS battle.
the sound was the sweetest music that had
ever greeted his ears. AT last the err OF
victory rose high above everything else
They knew that somebody was vanqmsh-
ed and that somebody was victor, who
they knew not. They emerged from their
awful retreat, weak. worn in body. and
with minds almost orazed. They knew
not how long they had been there: they
did no; even know their old comrades; nor
could they realize that II was the same
day that they were buried.
They were brought back to me at the
field hospital more dead than alive. for