Mexico weekly ledger., 1878-10-17
A TERRIBLE STORY.

In your issue of the 18th ult., ]
notice an article, the first sentence of
which asks the question, "Can a per-
Sons hair turn white within a short
Rime?" Having seen such an in
stance, and one that can be authenti-
Gated beyond all cavil by persons
nov living, I will give you and your
readers the circumstances as they
occurred, when, where, and whom
they are.
II When Grant sprang the ''mine' or
"blow-up," as many call it, in front
of Petersburg, Va, at twilight on
the morning of the 30th of July,
1864, the point Immediately over it
was occupied by a Virginia battery.
4 The bitches on the right Immediately
next to the battery we're occupied by
the Twenty-second South Carolina
volunteers, Col. Fleming On the
left of the battery the bitches were
occupied by the Eighteenth South
4 Carolina, Col. w. H.. Wallace, (now
Judge Wallace, of South Carolina),
of which regiment l was surgeon.
All along our lines our soldiers had
dug out small 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 into and sleep with compare
tive comfort and safety, which they
did when off duty, during that never
tc-be forgotten siege, by every man
who participated therein.
In one of the bomb proofs on the
extreme right of the Eighteenth
South Ca,o'ina volunteers, ana just
to the lett of the mine, Lieut.. Will
lard Hill, Company f, and Sergeant
Greer, Company A, Eighteenth South
Carolina volunteers, having been re-
lieved from duty an hour before,
were sleeping. The first they real
lied of it was the shock, then q deep
darkness, and then a consciousness
that the mine had been sprung and
that they had been buried, how deep
they could not imugine. Their first
impulse was a deep, indescrlbable
Notwithstanding hopelessness,
that left them almost powerless for a
time. But what could they do?
They had nothing to dig out with but
a bayonet that Sergeant Greer had in
Lis belt, and there was but a canteen
of water in the cell. But what was
going on above them? Grant had
consummated that most dibolical OF
all The deeds of a terrible war. l was
within $50 yards of it on my morning
visit to my regiment, and it was just
at that time of day-twilight-that
even trees can look like ghosts, and
that added to the wericd scene OF
death. Simultaneous with the deep,
dead sound, and culver of the earth,
there arose in the air a cloud of dust
and smoke, and timbers, men and
muskets, and all mannc of shapes
and fragments were flying in every
direction-and then for a moment. a
stillness-and it seemed as If cannon
on the whole federal line was turned
loose upon our lines. Shells 9hrieked
through the air, musket balls and
fragments of shells fell in every di.
rectior, ploughing up the earth and
cutting off limbs from the few trees
that the relentless hand of war had
spared. Then came the charge. Ne
gro troops in front, with splendidly
caparisoned troops of the federal
army behind, driving them, as i
were, to the front like sheep to thu
slaughter, with the battle cry o "Re
member Fort Pillow" and the few
the very few, that survived no doub
remember the crater of Grant full a
well.
High above all the confusion ant
smoke and dust and groans of thu
wounded, could be heard the battle
cry of the federal, and the words O
encouragement of gallant officers
the few that are left of the Eighteenth
and Twenty-second South CAROLYN,
volunteers, and of those brave Vlr
ginians whose battery was buried il
a common grave with nearly ever,
soldier who manned it. But the con
federate lines were broken in twain
Federals and negroes had mad'
breastworks of the boulders that wer,
blown up by the explosion. Blu
they were not TO stay there. Sool
came Gen. Malone with reinforce
ments and, after one of the mos
gallant fights of all the war, he car
ried the works, and the crater turned
to q grave for its captors. l hat
heard of pools of blood-it was there
that I saw them. Then silence reign.
ed, that psinful silence which Away.
follows on the battlefield after dealt
has held high carnival.
Then came the sad duty of count
ing up the cost. My brigade had
suffered severely-the Twenty-second
South Carolina had lost its gallant
Col. Fleming and many a brave sol.
dier. My regiment had lost 16z
men. Two whole companies, A an6
C., Eighteenth South Carolina, had
not a man left, who was on duty, tc
tell the tale. One hundred and on.