The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1894-08-22
WHERE DEATH WAS SURE,
In the Ride Pits in Front Of Petersburg.
Detroit Free P,'ess.

In the Rifle Pits In Front Of Petersburg.
Detroit Free Pre3s.
Name the ferccst battle Of the war,
and yet the loss Of human life in the
rihepits in front of Petersburg ex-
ceeded it by comparison. Lee hung
to Petersburg as last hope. Driven
to bay there every Confederate soldier
fought with desperation. Up to that
time pioket-fring was looked upon by
both sides as little short Of murder,
and by tacit agreement; was suspended
except at long intervals, when it was
ordered to cover some movement by
one side or the other. Along the
front of what iS known as 1.-The Cra-
ter" the main defenses were only a
musket-shot apart. In advance of
these we're trenches and covered ways,
and still further il advance the rife
pits. The distance between Federal
and Confederate pits was not above
800 feet in any case, and here and
there; owing to the lay Of the ground,
they were only thirty or forty. Ger
tain Of the pits were reached by cover
ed ways from the rear--othels by
natural bitches. Some were connected
others isolated. In all cases two
men we're detailed to pit, and when
the siege had fairly begun they might
be relieved at the end of two hours or
held prisoners, as it were, for eight or
ten. On moonlight night, as well
as during all the hours Of daylight,
the friag was continuous and venge-
full. If the night was dark one, it
slackened off after 10 o'clock, though
person exposing himself anywhere
within range was liable to be struck.
From daybreak to darkness the men
in the riAe-pits had no other thought
except to kill. No mercy was shown
on either side, while every trick and
device was resorted to that a man
might be lured to. his death. The
riAe-pit was only hip deep, and neither
wide nor long. Two men not only
occupied every inch Of room, but were
obliged to assume such positions that
to be penned up there for two long
hours was enough to use one up for
the rest of the day, to say nothing Of
the danger. Each man must squat"
instead of sit or kncel, and ten min
utes in that position puts dozen
kinks into the spinal column. From
the day those pits we're occupied to
the hour the soldiers left them it was
kill, kill, kill. Many of the men de-
tailed were armed with fac rifles or
shotguns. If the latter arm was used
it was loaded with coarse buckshot,
and it's contents were almost certain
to wound or kill. To fire with any
accuracy one had to raise his head
until the eye could glance along the
sights. If he had his head up and
was ready to pull the trigger when
one of the men in the opposite pit
started to do the same thing, the
latter got bullet in the forehead, or
had the top Of his head blown of.
The advantage was of course with the
one who was in the position first.
When the occupants of pit suspected
that it was 'held up by the other
side, one of the pair got his rife all
ready for quick shot and the other
resorted to trickery to draw the fire Of
the enemy. There were a dozen arti-
fees practiced. A hat or cap might
be slowly and cautiously elevated on
stick, hand thrown into the air or
dummy" head exposed. This
dummy" was made of wood and
shaped and painted to closely resem-
BILE human head. In some cases
glass eyes and false hair were used to
make the deception more complete.
Some would last a week, but most Of
them not over two days. One of them
used in front of Fort He'll had sixty
two bullets sent into it in one day.
If man was killed in one of the
exposed pits at sunrise there was no
way of removing the body before night,
and sometimes not then. knew
three or four cases where the survivor
had to remain with a body for from
twenty to thirty hours. If one of the
pair was wounded little or nothing
could be done, and within two hours
he would have emptied both canteens
of their contents. I was in a pit one
day when my comrade received a bullet
in the left shoulder. We were both
crouched down and supposed ourselves
perfectly safe. The bullet struck a
small stone in the loose dirt heaped
around the edge Of our pit and was
DETECTED downwards. It was severe
wound, and within sixty minutes we
hadn' drop of water left. To stand
up meant death as sure as death can
be, and yet after suffering for another
half hour my comrade determined to
leave the pit and make break for the
rear, several hundred feet away. He
realized the danger. but sllmy entrea-
ties were useless He simply replied
that be would rather be killed than
suffer any longer. He had to stand
up, thus exposing head and breast,
before he could scramble out of the
pit, and it did not seem to me that he
had been on his feet FIVE seconds when
he sank down again. To show you
how vigilant the enemy were, and how
rapidly the hands of death move,
will state that the poor fellow was
struck by five bullets in the head and
neck. He was not only fired on from
the pit opposite, but from those to
right and left. Had he got out of the
pit he would have been struck by
twenty balls before he could make a
step.
One could never tell whether cap
was on a soldiers head or stick.
Four times out Of five it was hoisted
on stick, but we were ready to take
the one chance in FIVE Of hitting a
head. Old caps were gathered up by
the bushel for use in the pits. After
being "plunked" about FIVE times
there was only handful of rags and
batting left. The stick on which it
was hoisted would be hit about once
out of FIVE shots. I once held silver
three-cent piece aloft on cleft stick
when in pit sixty feet from the