The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1881-12-23

The men are in good spirits and all
ready for the fray, but, IS the day
wears on without further developments,
arms are stacked, and we begin to roam
about the hills !; some are writing letters
home, some sleeping, some even fishing
in little rivulet that runs by us. when
toward 8 o'clock in the afternoon, and
all of sudden, the enemy opens fire
on us with salute of three shells fired
in rapid succession. not quite into our
ranks, but little to the left of us and
see over where the Forty-third lies, to
our left, come three stretchers, going
by on lively trot to the rear fog "the
ball is opening, boys" and we are under
fire for the first time.
I wish I could convey to the reader
some faint idea of the noise made by q
shell rs it flies shrieking and screaming
through the air, and of that peculiar
whirring sound made by the pieces after
the shell has burst overhead or by your
side. So loud, high-pitched, shrill and
terrible is the sound, chat one unaccus-
toned to it would think at first that the
very heavens were being torn down
about his ears
How often have laughed and laughed
at myself when thinking of that first
Smelling we got there by the river For,
up to that time, I had had very poor,
old-fashioned idea of what a shell was
like, having derived it probably from
accounts of sieges in the Mexican war.
I had thought shell was hollow
ball of iron, filed with powder and fur
nished with fuse, and that they threw
it over into your ranks, and there it lay,
kissing and splitting. till the fire reached
the powder, and the shell burst and
killed dozen men or so-that is, if
some venturesome fellow didn't run up
and stamp the fire off the fuse before
the miserable thing went off OF a con-
ical shell, shaped like a mimic ball, with
ridges on the outside to fit the grooves
of rided cannon, and exploding by a
percussion cap at the pointed end, [ had
no idea in the world. But that was the
sort of thing they were firing at us now
bur r-r--bang Hur-r-r--bang
Throwing myself fiat on my face
while that terrible shrek is in the air, I
OAA1AEe NlOSCA ~ S1OlltINk nulIO L IlCdI
that low, whirring sound near by, which
1 foolishly imagine to be the sound of q
burning fuse. but which, on raising my
head and looking up and around, I find
is the sound of pieces of exploded shells
flying through the air about our heads
The enemy has excellent range of us,
and gives it to us hot and fast, and we
fall in line and take it as best we may.
and without the pleasure of replying, for
the enemy's batteries are full mile and a
half away, and no Enfield rifle can reach
half so far.
"Colonel, move your regiment little
to the right, so as to get under cover of
yonder bank Itissoon done; and there,
seated on bank about twenty feet high,
with our backs to the enemy, we let
them blaze away.
And now, see! Just to the rear Of us,
and therefore in full view as we are sit
ting is battery of our own, coming up
into position at full gallop-a grand sight
indeed! The officers with swords flash
ing in the evening sunlight, the bugles
Changing out the orders, the carriages
unlimbered, and the guns run up into
position and now, that ever-beautiful
dill of the artillery in action, steady
and regular as the stroke of machinery |!
How swiftly the man that handles the
swab has prepared his piece. while the
runners have meanwhile brought up the
little red bag of powder and the long,
conical she'll from the caisson in the
rear ! How swiftly they are rammed
home The Lieutenant sights his piece,
the man with the lanyard with sudden
jerk fire the cap, the gun leaps five feet
to the rear with the recoil, and out of
the lannon's throat, in a cloud of smoke,
rushes the shell, shrieking out its mes
sage of death into the lines mile and q
half away, while our boys rend the air
with wild hurrahs, for the enemy's fire
is answered
Now ensues an artillery duel that
keeps the air all quivering and quaking
about our ears for an hour and 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
bang! bang! The mystery is how in
the world they can load and fire so
fast.
"Boys, what are you trying to do2"
1t is the General commanding the divis-
ion, who relns in his horse and asks the
question, and he is one of the finest
artillerists in the service, they say.
"Why, General, we are trying to put
shell through that stone barn over
there it's full of sharp-shooters.
"Hold moment land the Gener-
al dismounts and sights the gun. "Try
that elevation once, Sergeant" he says
and the shell goes crashing through the
barn a mile and a half away, and the
sharp-shooters come pouring out of it
like bees out of hive. "Let them
have it so, boys" And the General has
mounted, and rides, laughing, away
along the line.
Meanwhile, something is TRANSPORTING
Immediately before our eyes that amuses
us immensely. Not more than twenty
yards away from US is 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
oEe-you must remember faces the
enemy's fire. The water has worn out
Of the soft sand-rock sort of cave, in
which Darky Bill, QUIZ company cook,
took refuge at the crack of the first
shell. And there, crouching in the mar
row recess of the rock, we can see him
shivering with alright. Every now and
then, when there is lull In the firing,
he comes to the wide-open door of his
house, intent upon flight, and, rolling
up the great whites of his eyes, is about
to step out and run, when hur-r-r-
bang-crack goes the shell, and poor
scared Darky Bill dives into his cave
again head-frst, like frog into pond.
After repeated attempts to run and re-
peated frog-leaps backward, 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
afterward told us, "was a-sayin' all de
time, Where's dat niger Where's dat
niger :! Where's dat niger r."
As night-fall comes on, the firing
ceases. Word is passed around that
under cover of night we are to cross the
pontoons and charge the enemy's works