Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1881-09-22
TO THE CRATER % CTS. AHED.

yards from the sign, saw a large, roundish
hank of red earth topped by shrubs and
small trees. Near by is two'story frame
house in which lives r. R. Griffith, the own
er of the farm and a guardian of the historic
hole. Mr.. Griffith led me up to the side ot
the Crater, explaining as he brushed the weeds
from the path, that for self protection he was
obliged to charge fee, as otherwise his visit
ors after the reckless manner of Sunday
sight.seers. would trample down his cotton
and kill his corn.
The land within half mile in every di-
rection is clear of woods, and at this time is
checkered by fields of corn, cotton, and pea.
nuts, and patches of ground that are fallow.
Looking to the North the fields slope down
ward, and so with the strip to the East,
but passing ravine the slope is upward to
the Federal line. To the West and South
is rising ground, with the city cemetery on
the ridge and the city itself beyond. The
Crater now looks like an abandoned reservoir,
of uneven banks and irregular bottom, over,
grown with cumps of briers and bushes. 1t
is one hundred and sixty feet long, sixty feet
wide and twenty-five feet deep. The earth is
brown, with red blotches, being clay sub
SOIL The parapet of the fort remains and
serves as a rim or border Of the pit. Pine,
peach, apple and alianthus trees, together
with grape vines, blackberry bushes and fruit
less briers, grow thckly on the hollows,
which look as if herd of wild boars with
hundred horse power snouts had rooted them
out dozen years ago. Extending from the
Northeastern corner the Crater in straight
line down the hill to the ravine, two hundred
yards away, is sunken, narrow, ditch-llke
sink in the earth. This is the surface line
of the earth dug by Schuylkill county SOL
diels, who had been brought up in the mines
and who wormed their way from the ravine
until they stored thousands of pounds pow
der just under this spot AS | sit in the
crotch of peach tree and look at the points
of the field, now little changed from the day
when it was the scene of wonderful episode
in war, the picture comes vividly up.
1t is not yet sunrise and the defenders are
asleep among the traverses and under the
guns of the fort A match, touch his
sing fuse and what thing of mould and
force Internal is now let loose. 1t is as though
young volcano, held in natures mystery
underground, has burst its bonds. The crust
is rent by the up coming bolt and fire flashes
through the broken clods of earth that fly to
mid-air two hundred yards above Sand,
stones, guns, men, everything within reach of
the blast, are blown skyward. A brass piece
that weighs ton is sent whirling over the
parapet for hundred yards. Young Chan
dler, who an instant before slept beneath the
gun, is hurled so high and so far that his
bruised body falls within the Union lines
Men die in the air never knowing in what un.
wonted sulphurous guisc death has enwrapcd
ITSELF Answering to the quake that is felt as
far as Richmond and that shakes the steeples
at Norfolk hundred miles away, come the
roar and roll of Grants artillery. The redan
and redoubt of Lees men are benumbed and
shrink lest the old mole has toothed his blind
path under other forts, and lest instantly now
other death-bolts shall start us from the
depths. Lees batteries to the right and left
are deserted the outburst has broken his
line and into it a wedge that may end the war
in week can now be driven. The mine
itself is wonder. 1t does its work with the
swift flight of an electric streak that ri ig. .zags
across bank Of clouds in the Summer time
rendering the thuuderous acclaim of its own
! success.
But it is in the driving of the wedge that
! the gain becomes loss. What thus far has
been an immense success now turns to that
which is worse than failure. What is
needed is that the wedge shall be driven with
, Grants best sledge hammer promptly home
A mass of boasting black men, whose battle
cry of "No quarter !" comes as an echo from
Fort Pillow, are sent under leader unworthy
of his uniform, to accomplish what only the
pick of the army could hope to do. whole
hour is given Malone in which to throw him
self into the breach. Lees artillery is again
manned and hotly begins to work: Poor
devils of black men from shouting "No quar-
ter !' now shrek wild prayers for pity
Boosting becomes beseeching. The miserable
wretches are bayoneted by friends and sho
down by the foe. Without head or order the
entrapped victims huddle close about the gal
in the ground, seeking shelter behind heaps
of uptorn earth and even shedding themselves
vainly, with the bodies of dead comrades
The crater is a deathtrap. From many bat
teries, where lurid CLEANS come through
shrouds Of smoke shot and shell are hallet