The Hillsborough recorder., 1878-10-09
A TERRIBLE STORY OF THE cRA-
.,,,s =, '' t,.. TER. se',.' sa, ' 's''...' IN. 7
,.lI..JlaeksonyllIelAIa RepuI,lIeanl q

ana 81. t5t 20 TER. .,..,. ,.i,,,,g IN. IL
u T.. Jackson tAlal Repul'lieahl II,
Tin your issue of the 18th inst notice an
article. the first septence of which ASKS
the question, '.can . i.erso.,,s hair turn
while withinl . short time ~ Having
seen such ~ INSTANCE. and oie That 'aii
he authenticated beyond MI icayil. ty prr-
sos,s nsw living; ! will give Yen and your
readers the circunisia ianc-s ~ they occurred,
when, whrre and who they are. w.. s,lu
ssH When Graut tlsprarg il the 'mine"a or
"biow-up," rs many .;all Ii. In frontof
Petersburg, Va al twiiighton the Morn.
ing ~ the yHh of July, lS6l. tl,e p"iat
in,,nrdiately over u Was occu!'sed by q
Virginia lbatiery. fire di'clies oB the
right Immediately anext. ID the battery
we're ocril,ied by Tie Twenty.second
Souih t,aroiina volunteers, CoI. fie ning.
On tile left % the battery the ,iitclirs were
occupied hy the Eigiheentl S.ath caro-
lima, C.,l. W. II. waliac1 tnow Judge
waIIaer Of JSopth Carolinal, OF wiiicl, re-
gir,ent WINS surgeon. AL aiming our
lines our soldiers had dug out small bomb.
prsnis, xs itry called tl,en,. Thesetsn,i,.
proaf,e we're generally about fur .eet
broad, three feet l,igbaisi seven feet iong
-iarg. enough fa two or three men"
crawl into aud sleep with comparative
cs,n,iort and safety, whicls they did when
off duty, during that neverto-be.f"rgotten
siege by every man who participated
,t,.,.iu. .saeu #*@Ei rt .]"fr4 gjg r~
Iu one Of the bomb proofs on therx-
tryn,se right of The Eigireenth south
Carolina voIunterrs. aud just 10 the left
Of the mine, Lieut.. willard Hill, com-
pany 4. aud Sergl. Greer, Company A,
Eighteenth south Carolina Volunteers,
having been relieved from duty an hour
before. were sieerIpg. The first they re-
alizsrI of II was the sinck, then deep
darkness, then . consciousness that the
mine lad l%en sprung. aud thar they had
heen hurled. how deep they couid nat
Imagine. Their first imimlse Was deep.
indrscril,ab.e drslair--hrart-rickeiiing.
heart. ren,iing l,"peiessi,ess. that lrft them
almost powerl.ss for atime. But what
could they do? They had nothing io,iig
cut with hut Dayonet that r,ergt. Greer
had in his belt, and t.,rre was but CALI
teen Of wafer IN the cell. But what vas
going on alaye them Grant had cs'''-
sun,niaiei the nis~l diabaiicai ofail dre'ls
of terrible war. I ~as ~ithih lsO yanls
of IL ON my morning visit to my regiment
ani II sas just III that time of day y--twi'
lIght--ths: even trees can look like
GLASS, aud that M,i.led 60 the wsinl sccnt
% death. Simultaneous with tire deep
dead sound aud quiverof the earth. ther,
aro.e Ia the air cloud ~ dust aud s'n"ks
aud timbrrs, inen aud nnuskets, aud al
Iuannrr of shapes and fragments ~er,
flying in every ,lirrciIon-and then foI
a moment n Stiffness II seemed NJ I
every rAnnan on the wllnle fe,ieial liz,
was turned luO-e upon uur lines Shells
shrirked tIIrm,gh the air. mtlsket bali'
aud fragments 81 shell In every dire'fion
! ! l,ioughIng ~ :he earth an'i cutting of
limits flo,n tile few trees that 'l,e relent
lr.s haud ~ war hal spared. Then came
! the charge. N-gro iroul,- IN front will
splrudidly caparirnnr,l Troops 81 tue Fe'
dpral army LchInd. driving them, m !
were, to the trout like sheep To slaughter
With tie hHttis.cry Of "RrnIember For
Pillow and the fsw-the very few--il,a
survived no doubt remember The crater o
Cart fulI - we'll. 's''" ..5'h'~ 49, s..
High above all the confusion and smoke
aud dust and gioaiis Of the wounded
couId lie heard the batile.cry % the fe
der.l. aud the words Of encouragement" /"
laallant oflieers--.uls Few that srrleft ofih'
liEiuhteenth aud Txentyrs<cpnd souil
Carolina volunteers, sndof thoee brrv'
vlrgInians whU-e battery was buried In
common grave with nearly every scldie
whu manned IL. but the Confssierai
Lines we're br,ken 10 twsiu.t Feslerals an'
negrss lad made breast~orks Of tb
youiirn< that wsfe bI.wu lipNpy the rr
piosionS But they were not % stay thers
soou came General Mahone with rsin
for,smsnts; aud and af.sr one Of ih
most gallant fights of all The war. he cat
4 Ilrieiibe werks. and Abe i;ssisr. ,urnsd 10
grave Coz its captons. I had heard ofpocl
of blood-it was there thai saw them
Then silence relgnr,l, thai painful silenr
which always folIo~s on tile battlehel
afier deata las l,el,i hlkhcsrnivsl'
Then came tile sad duty of cDunting %
tie cot. NY brigade had suffered n
ssrsiy. the T~snty-sscnud south Gar,
l,ua had lost ils gallant Col. Fleming an
many q brave soldief. My regiment ha
lost one. huulrsl .Hsd sixty.three msr
Two ~i,ole compAnieA, A, aud g. Eigt
iesnth ssou,h lcsfolisa. had not n'a
len WHO was Oh duty 10 trll the tale. ou
hundred aid me ofmy men, includin
Captain McComiuh and Blrdgis, vet
desd--burisd IN tbe crater or scsttsfs
along the works-snd sixty.two missinl
Among the missing are Lieuiens,
Hill aDc ssrvvapt Greer. We LEFT ths'
. an thelr aiu,tst living grave; Greer dir