The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1895-01-31
the front, Immediately ordered Colo.

ct the front, Immediately ordered Colo
mel Pennypaoker's brigade to his sup
port, for the first success was no more
than a lodgment. The stronghold was in
the shotproof chambers, where every
foot Of ground could be disputed, and to-
the defense Of them the C~onfederates raj
lied. General Whiting, moving down
the line from right to left, had led some
men to the first chamber, held by Cur
tbs, and succeeded in recovering that
and the adjoining parapets, although he
received wounds that cost him his life.
Colonel Lamb had gone outside the
p%arapets in order to get a view Of the
distant parts. He found the front COW
cred with a%ssailants, and also discovered
that his torpedo wires bad been destroy
ed by the navy shots that had plowed
the sand many feet deep, and these ter
rible weapons were useless. But the gar
rison was fighting bravely, and Lamb
cheered them with the hope that the fort
could DO held until dark, when Bragg
would oome to their aid. His sharp
shooters cut down all the Union color
bearers, and the hostile flags vanished
from the outer walls. The traverses
which intersected the parapets every few
yards now became barricades, over which
the combatants fought, often at, arms
length.
The naval column was out of the fight
entirely, and the guns on the vessels
kept up a steady fire along the sea face
wall, wherethe sailorshad been repulsed.
Gradually taking a wider target, they
poured their shots into the active Con-
federate batteries. This greatly demon
allied the garrison, and the assault was
rapidly pushed by the remainder of Gen.
eral Ames' division. Colonel Bells bri-
gade was ordered up to the anglo where
the land face and the sea face joined,
but the advance, though bravely made,
was checked by sharp musketry fire from
the Confederate traverses.
It now became a soldiers fight in ev-
cry sense Of the word. The traverses,
ranged all along the main parapet and
extending 80 feet to the rear, with their
shotproof sides and numerous passages,
were so many little forts, and the cap
ture Of any II Of them by Terry's men
simply drove the defenders back to an
other one. But the entering wedge had
been driven by Curtis brigade. The por-
tion Of the works held by him was a
protection to a 1anking column which
formed on the interior of the main para
pet and swept around in rear of the row
Of traverses. This compelled the garri~
son to come out Of their citadels and
fight in open ground or be captured in
them.
For a time the C%onfederates met this
flank attack from behind an old breast
work that extended along the interior
plane of the Enclosure. Colonel Lamb
went along the batteries south toward
the point and directed heavy fire to be
thrown into the northwest portion Of the
work, where the danger was so threaten
ing. On his way he ordered every avail
able man forward to the first traverse
ahead Of Terry's men, and Oh his return
he found that traverse still held by his
stubborn soldiers, although the slaugh-
ter among them had been appalling.
The fire from the fleet had scooped out
graves in the sand, and his dead were
lying in them as they fell, half buried
by the showers Of dust thrown out by
the bursting shells. Great timbers, gun
carriages, and even cannon, broken by
the huge missiles from the fleet, were
lying in heaps, and on and around them
were the dead who had vainly tried to
defend them.
The advance of Terry's men had been
arrested, and Colonel Lamb summoned
all his force to the front traverse, with
the determination to charge upon the as
sailants and drive them out. Signals
were sent to the gunners in the fort to
withhold their fire on the position held
by Terry during this countercharge. The
distance between the combatants was
not above a hundred feet, and calling on
men and officers to follow Lamb leaped
the breastworks, with the order:
"Charge %bayonets! Forward! Double
quick! March!' Instantly a Union bull
let entered his right hip, and he sank on
the works. Terry's men poured a heavy
volley Of bullets into the Confederates,
and the latter fell back behind cover.
Colonel Lamb was taken to a bomb
proof and the command given to Major
James Reilly, who agreed to continue
the struggle as long as he had a man
left. But this effort of the Confederates
depleted their ranks on the traverses,
and a new Union force under Colonel
Abbott, IN the left of Ames' brigades,
captured some Of the ~traverses between
Ames' position and the sea. The land
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