Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1893-12-02

HE FLEW OUT OF DOORS.
cannon ball as big as his head plump
through one side of the house and out
at the other, and then he flew out
doors and struck a gait just little
faster than creased lightning. Singular
ly enough, that was the only shot
which ever hit the house, though
dozens fell around it.
After Grant had his guns in position,
and more especially after he began
reaching out for the Weldon railroad,
he could have knocked Petersburg to
pieces in twenty-four hours. He would
probably have done so had there been
any excuse for it, but there was none.
The confederate lines were mile and
half away, and Petersburg was held
only by non-combatants. Neverthe-
less, Grant did not propose that any
one in reach of his guns should sleep
soundly or forget his presence. Occa-
sionally shots were, therefore, pitched
into the city to check any enthusiasm,
and if anybody got over an hours sleep
at time it was considered something
to boast of. One night during heavy
firing to the left of the crater. the fed
eral guns were for n time SO elevated
that every missile cleared the confed-
crate lines, howled over Petersburg
and fell among the houses under the
hill. One shell entered the window of
house and exploded in the parlor. A
part of the front of the house was
blown out, one side demolished, the
chamber floors driven through the
ROOF and the whole building weakened.
The people had moved out. but left all
their goods and n dog to watch them.
No one could say just where the dog
was when the explosion took place, but
he was not killed.
During the same fire, and five min
utes after family had taken up their
quarters in bombproof in the back
yard, n shell drove in the front door,
penetrated the floor and exploded un-
der the house. There were five rooms
below and four above, and the eXplo-
sion shook off every bit of plaster and
knocked down every partition in the
lower part. The family well was at
the back of the house, and so much
debris was driven into it that no water
could be got for days.
In the winter of 1864 citizen who
had unexpectedly received two thou
sand dollars in confederate currency on
an old debt, determined to have
good, square dinner, and company to
help eat it. Rye coffee, bacon, meal,
rice and molasses were about the only
provisions in market; but at cost of
nineteen hundred and sixty dollars the
citizen scraped together enough to JUS
tify him in inviting a company of six
friends. The guests were in the par
lo-, the table set and the cook was
over the stove, when shell entered
the dining-room through the side of
the house. The explosion so wrecked
the room that no one would enter it.
The table, pieces of which / saw, could
not have been demolished any better
with an AK, and the plaster in two or
three rooms was shaken down. When
all was excitement, and before anyone
really understood just what had hap
pcned, second shell plunged into the
lower bedroom in another part of the
house, alighted there and exploded.
ALI the plaster on that side of the room
and overhead was shaken off, the walls
bnlged out, the window glass shivered
into fine fragments, bureau split to
kindlings, and yet looking glass was
not even cracked, and, save the powder
stain and scorch, the bed was not dam
aged. Th9se two missiles were the
only ones which entered house on
that block during the whole siege, and
We're probably thrown from IL gun
which had just been put in position.
Many of the missiles fell into the yards
and streets. From one yard. compris-
ing about half an acre of ground, over
thirty cannon balls were dug out after
the war. One she'll which exploded in
the yard made hole which required
seven cart loads of dirt to fill Mp again,
and it threw out with the dirt rock
which two men could hardly move. A
solid shot which hit chimney and
then rolled off the roof killed colored
woman who was passing below A
shell which fell near negro who was
working in a garden disemboweled him
and cut the hanile of the hoe off with
in foot of the socket A boy On horse
back heard whirr and saw flash,
and the next thing he knew he was
seated astride a dead horse, cannon
ball having shot the animals head of.