Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-05-28


with the Army Of the
Potomac, Immediately following the battle of
Gettysburg, my regiment was detached at War
renton junction and sent south. At first We
did not know where We were going, but we
finally learned that we were to Join the
forces of Gen. Gilmore. who was in
charge of the siege OF Charleston.
We reached Morris Island on the evening
of the 18th of September. 1863. If I remem-
Der rightly, and disembarked on the low.
sandy beach. glad to get upon dry land once
more after having been crowded rather uncom-
fortably in the transports. The scene was
not particularly inviting, especially as a
dull drizzling rain had commenced to fall, and
as we marched up the beach our first impress
sions of Morris Island were not very agreeable
When We had reached a spot nearly opposite to
what was known as the Beacon House We were
ordered to halt and directed to bivouac for the
night.
AN UNCOMFORTABLE VISITOR
We had been used to lying on the ground
without any shelter over us, SO we didn't care
much for the heavy mist that was falling. and
soon all the command. excepting the sentries.
were fast asleep. Another man and myself had
laid a rubber blanket first down on the ground
| on which We stretched ourselves, putting our
guns between us, and then with another rubber
blanket over us We were soon dreaming of home
army life. We were tired and slept soundly, or
at least I know l did, and when L opened
my eyes on hearing the expression L have
quoted above 1 found it WAS morning
and the sun was shining brightly
simultaneously with the remark that / was
killed felt an uncomfortable sensation along
my left leg and the impression conveyed TO nv
mind was that the man who was living beside
me had got up and drawn his bayonet across
my limb As l opened my eyes, however.
discovered that the feeling had been caused by
the wind from piece of shell, which buried it.
self In the sand just between NV feet. In re-
spouse to the remark. which had been uttered
by my friend and terminate. who was living a
Few files distant from me. 1 replied:
Not by large majority" and then pro-
ceeded to get myself on end and dig out the
piece of shell, which L found to be an ugly
about nine pounds.
A half an inch variation in the fall of that
piece of shell and the remark as to nv death
would have been a truth. and I would prob
ably have been left to enrich the soil of that
almost barren sand bar in Charleston harbor
OF course all this happened in a far briefer
period than 1t takes to tell the story, but men
ton II as one of the remarkable escapes from
death during my personal experience and as
the only time in which 1 think a missile
was sent by the rebels which WAS labeled with
my name. The incident caused quite little
halted at place which was supposed to be out
of range from the rebel fire. and il was the only
piece of shell that came in our direction while
We were there. / was regarded with consider
able curiosity and considered something of a
hero, although as a matter of fact was simply
passive agent. had no knowledge of my danger
and couldn't have run away il had wanted to,
because was fast asleep.
DOING SIEGE DUTY,
That was our first introduction to siege duty
on Morris Island, which afterward became quite
monotonous and wearisome. 1t was anything
but agreeable to lie in the trenches, or rather
under splinter proofs for three or five DAYS at
time. as the case might be, and simply wait un-
til We were relieved and sent back to our camp
farther down the island. where we had season
OF rest and the regular routine Of camp duty
only to go back i'm the trenches again when our
turn came. There was comparatively little
danger while in the trenches, although the
rebels were constantly shelling us from Forts
johnson, Sumter and the batteries on Sulliyan's
Island, excepting occasionally where a shell
would go through one of the splinter proofs
and play havoc with the men in its immediate
vicinity. Our army was constantly max
ing new parallels and steadily ap-
preaching the works which surrounded Fort
Gregg and Battery Wagner. which were on the
northern end of the island. which the enemy had
held with determined persistence. We knew
forces or their evacuation by the enemy was
simply question of time. and as each new par
allel was dug by Gen. Gillmore's men and occu-
pied by his troops the settlement of that uues-
ton came nearer a conclusion. As is well known,
both forts were abandoned by the enemy and
the Union forces took possession Of the entire
island. The night before the evacuation nv
company was assigned to picket duty. and from
after dark until nearly dawn / stood with three
other men on a post on the beach. All night
%t.x, alxxl, d. IN.
activity. endeayorlng to conceal their prepara-
lions for evacuation. We would watch their
shells as they went up in the air, leaving a
tail OF fire behind them, and then note the
angle Of their fall. You could hear the
continual ''where-is-yer," "where-is-yer."
"where-is-yer," as the sound had become to be
Familiarity characterized, and then when il
would burst with 'I-found-yer'' we kept a
keen lookout to see whether any Of the pieces
were coming our way. No accident happened,
however, and just before daybreak we were put
into a parallel which had been dug during that
night and which was hardly deep enough for a
man Of average height to stand up in without
showing his head above the sand bags So we
all sat down with our backs against the sand
bags and resigned ourselves to the task of
waiting. We had nothing particularly to do.
but simply to stay there and SO the only in
junction was that we should not leave the mar
allel.
HOW THE STORY ENDED.
About II O'Clock went nearly to the end of
the parallel and there group of us, consisting
Of the orderly sergeant, the second lieutenant
Of company G and Lieut. Webb Of company F.
began to kill the time in telling stories. Webb
had got piece Of board, which he had put
against the sand barricade and against which
he leaned. A particularly funny story had been
told and we were all laughing heartily when we
heard the lookout at the whitworth battery
call out johnson" and We saw a
shell go up from that fort and
burst in the air. We had no
idea that We were in any danger.
but one Of the pieces came our way, struck
Lieut.. Webb in the forehead and took the whole
top Of his head right Of, scattering his blood
and brains over the rest of us rs we tumbled
back on to the ground. OF course he
was killed instantly, but the sight he
presented was, think, the most ghastly I
ever Witnessed have seen men who have
died under almost every condition, by shot, by
shell, by accident, by writhing pain and by
convulsion, and some have had terribly dis
torted features during the last paroxysms be-
fore life was finally extinct, but have never
seen anything which was quite 10 horrible as
the sight presented by this officer on that occa-
sion. The rigor morris was instantaneous with
the shot, and there he sat bolt upright against
the board, his mouth extended on broad grin.
his eyes starting from their sockets and with no
roof to his head Il was some minutes before
We could collect our senses sufficiently to lay