Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1881-12-08

with wild hurrahs, for the enemy fire
is answered!
Now ensues an artillery duel that
keeps the air all quivering and shaking
about our ears for an hour and q half,
and it is all the more exciting that We
can see the drill of the batteries beside
us, with that steady swabbing and ram
ming, running and sighting and bang!
hangl bangl The mystery is how in the
world they can load and FIRE SO fast.
Boys, what are you trying to do?"
1t is the general commanding the divi-
sion, who reins in his horse and asks
the question, and he is ono of the finest
artilIerists in the service, they say.
"Why, General. we are trying to pat a
shell through that stone barn over there I;
it's full of sharp-shooters."
HOLD a momenti"-and the general
dismounts and sights the gun. Try
that elevation once, Sergeant" he says
ard the shell gnes crashing through the
barn a mile and a half away, and the
sharp-shooters come pouring out of
like bees out of hive. Let them have
it so, boys" And the general has mount
ed, and rides, laughing. away along the
line.
Meanwhile, something is transpiring
Immediately before our eyes that anus.
es Us immensely. Not more than TWEEN
ty yards away from us in another high
bank, corresponding exactly with the
one we are occupying, and running par
allel with it, the two hills inclosing a
little ravine some twenty or thirty yards
in width.
This second high bank,-the nearer
One,-yOu must remember, faces the Ell
Iemy's fire. The water has worn cut OF
| the soft sand-rock q sort of cave, In
which Darky Bill. our company cook,
took refuge at the crack of the first
she'll. And there. crouching in the mar.
row recess OF the rock, we can see him
shiyering with alright. Every now and
then, when there is q lull in the firing
he comes to the wide-open door of his
house, intent upon flight. and, rolling up
the whites of his eyes, is about to step
out ard run, when Hur-r-r-bang-
crack goes the shell, and poor scared
Darky Bill dives into his cave again
head first, like frog into pond.
After repeated attempts to run and
repeated frog-leaps back ward, the poor
fellow takes heart and cuts for the
woods, pursued by the laughter and
shouts of the regiment-fOr which he
cares far less, however, than for that
terrible shrek in the air, which he af-
terward told us. "was a-sayin' all de
time, Where's dat Niger! Where's dat
niggerl Where's dat niggerl'"
As night-fall comes on. the firing
ceases. Word is passed around that un-
der cover of night we are to cross the
pontoons and charge the enemy's works
but we sleep soundly all night, and
awake only at the first streaks of morn
ing.
We have orders to move. A staff-of-
iicer is delivering orders to our colonel,
who is surrounded by his staff. They
press in toward the messenger. stand
ing Immediately below me as | sit on
the bank, when the enemy gives as a
morning salute, and the shell comes RI
cochetting over thehill and tumbles in
to a mud-puddle about which the group
is gathered; the mounted officers crouch
in their saddles and spur hastily away,
the foot officers throw themselves fat
on their faces into the mud; the drum
mer-boy is bespattered with mud and
dirt; but fortunately the shell does not
explode, or the readers Of st. Nicholas
would never have heard how We got
our first shelling.
And now, Fall in men" and we are
off on double-quick in a cloud OF dust,
amid the rattle Of centeens and tin cups,
and the regular flop, flop of cartridge
boxes and bayonet-scabbards, pursued
for two miles by the hot fire Of the enc
my's batteries, for a long, hot, weary
days march to the extreme right of the
army at Chancellorsville.-
st. Nicholas, December, 1881.