Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1893-03-04

batteries-there were n dozen signs to
indicate what was coming.
From daylight to nine o'clock there
was sputter of musketry along the
front as the sharpshooters and slir-
mishers fred at long range. From nine
to ten the cavalry on the wings had the
fight all to themselves. From ten to
eleven gun here and there shelled
the. confederate skirmishers out of the
bitches in which they were hiding, but
there seemed to be no fighting any
where. From eleven to twelve Lee
was massing one hundred and twenty
field pieces in front of Longstreet and
Hill to open on Hancock. Meade posted
one hundred guns to reply, but the or
ders were to fire slowly.
At noon few couriers We're riding
furously in different directions, but
not gun was being fired. The men
in line ate from their haversacks and
the artillery horses nibbled at the
grass as they We're unchecked by their
drivers. Scores of men had pocket
telescopes. These were passed from
hand to hand and every gun on the con-
federate side was located.
''They are going to batter us with
shot and shell and then charge. Lie
close to the ground The shot will fall
short or go over u.s."
So came the word along the line. 1t
was a wise precaution. But for the
caution no one could tell what would
have happened. From half-past twelve
TO one o'clock seemed an age. At one
O'Clock sharp the boom of single gun
echoed over the battlefield, and shell
came screaming over our heads and ex-
ploded two hundred feet in the rear.
This was the signal. Before one could
have counted twenty there was roar
which can be compared to nothing one
has ever heard. In two minutes the
earth was trembling. The stones in
the wall in front of us gritted together.
Mud had been used as plaster, and
pieces of it fell out with chinking.
One would have said that nothing
could add to that awful roar, but the
federal guns opened in reply, and then
men lying down gasped as they
breathed and clutched sod or stone as
if perched on some dizzy height and
afraid of falling.
For the first five minutes the roar
shut out all sounds-swallowed them
up as 4 great ocean would another gill
of water. Thousands of men closed
their eyes and clinched their teeth
Officers who had been standing up dis
appeared to hug the earth. Now the
roar is split and slashed and penetrated
by the missiles from the confedera t.
guns. They are throwing round shot
steel bolts, fuse she'll, percussion
every form of missile which portablt
guns can take in and belch out again
They shrek and scream and whir
They come from in front and from the
right and left. Some fall short and
exploding in the dry soil, throw a clout
of dust heavenward to sift down on oul
backs. Others sail high above us ant
carry death into the ranks of the re
serve, while now and then one burs
Just right to wound or kill in our owl
ranks.
No living man will ever hearken to ,
more terrific cannonade. No battle
field of the future will hold men fo
two long hours under such cross
fire. The smoke rose up and hunl
a dead cloud in the air until on,
thought that night was coming down
Fiery serpents darted in every direc
tion. Exploding shells created suddei
great flames, as IL kegs of powder ha,
been tossed up to destroy the heavens
There was no lull-no interval. Onl,
those who became unnerved sat up L
look around them. Here and there on
rose up and ran away. He was not
coward-he was simply unnerved b,
the situation. Sometimes he came
creeping back, white faced and weeT
ing, and sometimes he was struc
down as he groped about in the sem
darkness to find shelter from the raj
of death.
Two hours, they afterward said. We
lying there, made no note of the pas
sage of time. 1t was nightmare, an
yet we did not sleep. Death rode al
along our front-he leaped over us-h
raced his specter Stssd along the fence