Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1885-11-27
BEFORE VICKsBURG.
General Grant on Exploding Minos Bofor,
the Besieged City.

Genera1 Grant on Exploding NIinos Before
the Besieged City. i
The following is taken from Gen
Grants paper in the September Cen
tury: From the Esd Of May the work
OF fortifying, and pushing forward our
position nearer to the enemy, has been
steadily progressing. At the point on
the Jackson road in front of RansOm's
brigade sap was run up to the
enemy's parapet, and by the 25th Of
June we habit undermined and the
mine charged. The enemy had ooun-
termined, but did not succeed in reach
ing our mine. At this particular point
the hill on which stood the rebel work
rises abruptly. Our sap ran close up
to the outside of the enemy's parapet.
In fact this parapet was also our prQ~
lection. The soldiers Of the two sides
occasionally conversed pleasantly
across this barrier sometimes they
would exchange the hard bread of the
Union soldiers for the tobacco of the
Confederates, and at other times they
| threw over nd-grenades, the rebels
throwing them first, and our men often
catching them in their hands and re-
turning them. ss@
Our mine had been started some
distance back down the hill; co nse-
quently. when it had extended as far
as the parapet, it was many feet below
it. This caused the failure OF the enc
my in his search to find and destroy
it. On the 25th of June, at o'clock,
all being ready the mine WAS exploded.
A heavy artillery fire all along theline
| had been ordered to open with the ex-
| plosion. The effect was to blow the
top of the hill off and make a crater
| where it stood. The breach was not
sufficient to enable US to pass col-
unn of attack through In fact,
the enemy, having failed to reach
our mine, had thrown up line further
| back. where most OF the men guarding
that point We're placed. There were a
| few men, however, left at the advance
line, and others We're working in the
| counter-mine, which was still being
pushed to find ours All that were
| there were thrown into the air, some
OF them coming down on our side still
alive. remember one colored man
who, having been underground at work
when the explosion took place, was
thrown to our side Hewas not much
hurt, but terribly frightened Some
one asked him how high he had gone
up. "Dun no, massa, but t'nk bout
tree mile, was his reply. Gen. Logan
commanded at this point and took
this colored man to his quarters,
where he did service to the end of the
siege.
AS soon as the explosion took place
the crater was seized by two regiments
of our troops who were near by, under
cover, where they had been placed for
the express purpose. The enemy
made desperate effort to expel them,
but failed and soon retired behind his
new line. From here, however, they
threw hand-grenades, which did some
execution. The compliment was re-
turned by our men, but not with SO
much effect. The enemy could lay
their grenades on the parapet, which
alone divided the contestants and
roll them down upon us, while
from our side they had to be
| 1A'Ao"Ai oFoA VIC pAIAl'tt, "HlC1A
was at considerable elevation.
During the night we made efforts to
secure our position in the crater
against the missiles of the enemy, so
as to run trenches along the outer
base Of thsir parapet, right and left,
but the enemy continued throwing
their grenades, and brought boxes of
field ammunition (shells), the fuses OF
which they would light with port-fires,
and throw them by hand into our
ranks. We found it impossible to
continue this work. Another mine
was consequently started, which was
exploded on the LIST of July, Destroy
ing an entire redan, killing and wound
ing considerable number of it's occu-
pants, and leaving an immense chasm
where it stood. No attempt to charge
was made this time, the experience Of
the 25th admonishing us. Our loss in
the first affair was about thirty kill.
ed and wounded. The enemy must
have lost more in the two explosions
than we did in the first. We lost
| none in the second.