Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1880-08-05


2flngias glsla Eastery gnss AsglsA. =
----A---- en i.
Reader. dad yoa ever see batkely
lake positionS ssss ban
Il hasa't the slhfiIf Of - eafsafy
charge. nor the gfimness 81 3 line %
6af 8nesb moving slowly and deter
minedly On, but there i ! peculiar sx-
eilement ab0bt Il that makes old aves-s
efans rise In their saddles and cheer.
Ne have been fighting at the edge
of the woods. Every cartridge box
bus been emptied once and more. and
! fourth Of the brigade has melted away
in dead. wounded and missing. Not :
cheer i heard IN The brigade We
knows thst We are being driven foot by
saf whea ms bscak back
once more the line viii 90 TO pieces and
the enemy will pour through the gap.
Here comes heipl
Down The crowded highway gsllops
battery, Withdrawn from some other
position to save ours. The field fence
rs scattered while you could count thir-
~, aud the guns rush for the bill behind
US. Six horses TO a piece-three riders
TO each gun. Over dry bitches where
farmer would not drive q wagon,
through clumps of bushes, over logs a
loot thick, every horse on the galloP.
every rider lashes his team and yelling
the sight behind us makes US forget
the foe in front. The guns jump two
feet high IS the heavy wheels strike
rock or log, but not horse slaekens
his pace, not cannonier loses his seat.
Six guns, SIX caissons, sixty horses.
eighty men race for the brow OF the
hill as u ne who reached u hTst would
be knighted.
A moment ago the battery was
confused mob. We look again, and
the SIX guns are IN position, the de-
tached horses hurrying away to shelter
from the merciless bullets. the ammu-
milton chests open, and along our line
runs the command, give them one
more volley and fall back to support
the gunsp y We have scarcely obeyed
when boom boom J boom opens the
battery, and jets OF fire jump down and
scorch the green trees under which we
fought and despaired.
The shattered old brigade has a
chance TO breathe for the first time in
three hours as we form a line of battle
behind the guns and lie down. What
grim. cool fellows those cannoniers
are Every man is perfect machine.
Bullets splash dust into their faces, but
they do not vince. Bullets sing over
and around them, but they do not
dodge. There goes one TO The earth.
shot through the head as he sponged
his gun. The machinery loses Just one
beat--mIsses Just one cog in the wheel
and the work goes on as before.
Every gun is using short fuse shell.
The ground shakes and trembles-the
roar shuts out all sounds from battle
line that is miles long, and the shell 60
shrieking into the swamp to cut trees
of--to NOW great gaps in the bushes
to hunt out -and -mangle men aaaiL-theiF
corpse connot berecognized as human.
You would think tornado was bowl
ing through the forest. followed by bll-
lows of FIRE, and yet men live through
it-aye! press forward to capture the
battery We-ean- hear thesF-sheueS-eS
they form for rnsh-asss,ar.s.zR
Now the shells are changed Tor grape
and canister, and the guns are served SO
fast that all reports blend 10 one mighty
roar. The shrek Of q shell Is the
wickedest sound in war, but nothing
makes the flesh crawl like the demonI-
cal singing, purrlng, whistling grape
shot and the seFpent-like hiss OF CAMS
ter. Mems legs and arms are not shot
through but torn on heaas are sorn
from bodies, and bodies cut IN two. A
round shot or shell takes two men out
of the ranks as.it cTushes through
Grape and canister NOW swain and
pile the dead upon each other.
Through the smoke we see a.-swarm
Of men. 1t is not battle hnei but
mob of men desperate enough to bathe
their bayonets IN the flame OF the guns.
The guns leap from the ground almost
as they are depressed on she foe. and
shTieks and screams, and shouts btend
into one awful and steady cry. Twenty
men out Of the battery are, down, and
the firing Is interrupted. The rioe ac-
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