The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1878-10-10
Terrible Story Of the Crater.

hair turn white within short time W
Having 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
M they occurred, when, where and
whom they were.
When Grant sprang the " mime" Or
bow.up," ~ many call IL in front Of
Petersburg, Virginia, at twilight on the
morning Of the Both Of July, 1864, the
point Immediately over it was occupied
by Virginia battery, The bitches on
the right Immediately next to the bat
terry were occupied by the Twenty-sec-
ond South Carolina Volunteers, Colonel
Fleming, On the left Of the battery,
the bitches were occupied by the
Eighteenth South Carolina, Colonel
w, II. Wallace (now Judge Wallace, of
South Carolina), Of which regiment was
surgeon. All along our lines our sol
dicrs had dug out small bomb-proofs, ~
they called them. These bomb-proois
were generally about four feet broad
three feet high and seven feet long
large enough for two or three men to
crawl into and sleep with comparative
safety, which they did when off duty,
during that neyer.to-be.forgotten siege
by every man who participated therein.
In one Of the bomb.proofs ON the ex-
treme right of the Eighteenth South
Carolina Volunteers, and just to the
left Of the mine, Lieutenant Willard
Hill, Company +, and Sergeant Greer,
( A N, 4 I;,u
Volunteers, having been relieved from
duty an hour before, were sleeping
The first they realized of it was the
shock, then deep darkness, and then a
consciousness that the mine had been
-prung and that they had been buried
how deep they could not imagine. Their
first impulse was a deep, indescribable
dcspair-heart-sickcning, hcart-rending
hopelessncss, that left them almost pow
orIess for time. But what could they
do? They had nothing TO dig out with
but bayOnet that Sergeant Greer had
in hiB belt, and there was but cantecn
Of water in the cell. But what was 90
ing on above them2 Grant had con
summated that most dabOlical Of all the
deeds of u terrible war. ] was within
one hundred and eighty yards of it on
my morning visit to my regiment, and
II WA just at that time of day--twi-
light-that even trees can look like
ghosts, and that added to the weird
scene of death, simultaneously with
the deep, dead sound and culver Of the
earth, there arose in the air cloud of
dust and smoke, and timbers, men and
muskets, and all manner Of shapes and
fragments were flying in every dircc-
ti0n-and then for moment stiffness
and it seemed as if every cannon on
the whole Federal line was turned loose
upon our lines. Shells shrickcd through
the air, musket-balls and fragments Of
shell fell in every direction, blowing up
the earth and cutting of limbs from the
few trees that the relentless hand of war
had spared, Then came the charge.
Negro troops in front with splendidly
caparisOncd troops of the Federal
army behind, driving them, az it were,
10 the front, like sheep to slaughter,
with the battle.cry Of " Remember Fort
Pillow" and the fcw-the very few
that survived no doubt remember the
crater Of Grant full AZ we'll
High above all the confusion and
smoke and dust and groans of the
wounded, could be heard the battle-cry
of the Federals and the words of encour-
agcment of gallant oflcers-thc few that
are left Of the Eighteenth and Twenty
second South Carolina Volunteers and
ol those brave Virginians whose battery
was buried IN Il common grave with
nearly every soldier who manned il.
But the Confederate lines we're broken
IN twain. FCderals and negroes had
made breastworks of the powders that
we're blown up by the explosion. But
they were not to stay there. Soon came
General Malone with rcinforcements;
mud, after one Of the most gallant fights
Of all the war, he carried the works, and
the crater turned to grave for its cap
tors had heard of pools of bloOd--it
wa tn re- that ! saw them Then vi
leucr rcigned, that painful silence which
always follows on the battlefield after
death has held high carnival.
Then came the sad duty Of counting
mp the cost, My brigade had suffered
sevcrely-the Twenty-second South Car
Dina had lost its gallant Colonel, Elem
ing, and many brave soldier. Ny reg
iment had lost one hundred and sixty
three men. Two whole companies, A
and e, Eighteenth South Carolina, had
not II man left who was on duty to tell
the tale One hundred and one of my
men, including Captains McComich and
Birdgis, were dcad-bured in the crater
or scattered along the works-and sixty
two missing,
Among the missing are Lieutenant
Hill and Sergeant Greer. We left them
IN their almost living grave, Greer dig
glng with the bayonet, while Hill passed |
back the dirt, with all the desperation
of despair. They hear not, heed not,
the battle that is raging above them,
but toll on. Often hope would spring
ny IN their hearts, to give way only to
despair Hill has often told me how,
when nc awOke to Il consciousness of his |
condition, the thoughts then flashed
through his brain like lightning; how
he thought if he could only zee one ray
of light, or breathe the fresh air once
again that ii he could only let his wife
know how and where he died, that death
would be relief to him. Almost suffo-
Gated for want of fresh air, they worked
on; at last il seemed to them that some
thing had crushed them; they had dug
through the loose powders, and the
light burst upon them. They both,
overcome with the sudden transition
from their sufocation and despair to
light and hope, tainted. How long they
remained there they know not. When
they awoke from their swoon the first
sound that broke on their ears was the
clash OF arms, and the quick rolling
roar of the battle IA it ragged around and
above. Almost in stupOr, trying to