Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1883-10-04
A Graphic Descriptions Of "A Hat
lerY In Action.

Did you ever see battery take 20
sitio12 asked a writer of the Detroit
Free Press. 1t hasn't the thrill of 1
cavalry charge nor the grimness OF q
line Of bayonets slowly moving on, but
there is a peculiar excitement about
it that makes old veterans rise in their
saddles and cheer. We had been
fighting at the edge of the woods
Every cartridge box had been emptied
once and more, and a fourth OF the
brigade had melted away in dead aud
wounded and missing. Not a cheer
was made in the whole brigade. We
know that we are being driven back
foot by foot, and when we break bach
once more the line will 20 to pieces and
the enemy will pour through the gap
Here comes hel Up
Down the crowded highway gallopt
a battery, withdrawn from some posi-,
tion TO save ours, The field fence il
scattered while you count thirty, and
the guns rush from the hill behind us
Six horses TO piece-three riders Il
each gun Over dry bitches where 4
farmer would not drive his wagon
through clumps OF bushes. over logs 4
foot thick, every horse on ag.llop,
every rider lashing his team and yelling
the sight behind US makes us forget
the foe 10 front The guns jump two
feet high as the heavy wheels strike
a rock or log, bat not horse slackens
his pace, not a cannoneer loses his seat
SIX guns, six eaissons, sixty horses
eighty men race for the brow Of III,
hill as he who reaches it first would
be knighted.
A moment ago the battery was q
confused mob. We looked again anC
the six guns we're in position, the de
tached horses hurrying by, the ammu
ton chests open, and the greunC
shakes and trembles-the roar shut
out all sound from battle line thre,
miles long, aud the shells 20 shriekin.
through the swamps and cut tree
short of, to NOV great gaps in thu
bushes, to hunt out aud shatter anC
mangle men until their corpses oanno
be recognized as human You would
think tornado was bowling through
the forest followed by pillows of FIRE
and yet men live through it-aye
press forward to capture the battery
We hear shouts as they form for 4
rush.
Now the shells are changed fol
grape and canister. and the guns 4
served so fast that they blend IN on,
mighty roar The shrek Of a she'll il
the wiokedest sound 10 war, but moth
ing makes the flesh crawl like IN,
demoniac singing, purrinq, whistline
grape shot and the serpent hiss Of can
mister. Mems legs and arms are mo-
shot through but torn off Heads ar,
torn from bodies aud bodies are torn
IN two, A round shot or she'll take,
two men out Of the ranks as it crushel
through grape and canister NOW 4
swarth aud pile the dead on TOD O.
each other.
Through the smoke we see a swarR
Of men, and along our line runs the
command: Give them one more vol
Icy and fall back to support the gunsl'
We have scarcely Obeyed, when boon,
booml opens the battery, and lets O
FIRE jump down aud scorch the greer
trees under which we fought and de,
SPARED,
The shattered old brigade has
chance to breathe for the FIRST time in
three hours as we form a line OF battl,
behind the guns and lie down. WhaI
cool, grim fellows these cannoneerl
are. Every man is perfect machine
Bullets splash dust in their faces, bul
they do not vince. Bullets sing over
aud around them, but they do moi
dodge. There goes one TO the earth
shot through the head while he
,onged his gun. The machinery
! lses Just one beat-misses Just one Coz