The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1896-01-01
The Battle Of the Crater.

~ To the Editor of the NeWs and Courier ), !,
4 was much interested In the paper read
2by Col. McMaster before Camp Hampton,
! Columbia. The Colonel, lii speaking OF
the battle Of the Crater, says. lit took
/ Gen. Malone q long time TO arrange his
men. y The fact Is that when it YVES found
necessary to send troops to this point
Malone first withdrew his old brigade.
This was soon followed by Wrighrs
Georgia brigade, these failing to retake
the entire line. Our brigade (Sanders's
+:Alsbama) ives ordered TO leave the works.
Wewere ordered 70 crawl upon our knees
over q portion. of ground, 30 ss to cover
the fact that only line OF skirmishers
brigade made the last charge. well
remember. the words used by Gen. Ma
hone as the. brigade was forming for the
charge under the brow Of the hill: "Ala-.
bamians, call on; you to take this place
two of the best brigades in the Army of
Northern Virginia have failed, but you
can take it, and you shall. It you give
back I'll send you again." His last COM
5mand was = Move forward at a slow
,double:quiok, when you reach the works
Jump in and use thu bayonet The Fed!
erals held their fire until We were very
close. and their fret fire was terrific,
many onfederates went down, then fol-
lowed q hand to hand struggle. Itwa
at this time the Federals turned every
gun that could be brought TO bear upon
! this point. It must be remem bered negro
troops were occupying the trenches at
this point. The Federala were driven
from the works in every direction, ex-
3cept the Crater proper. This was full Of
negroes, who had taken refuge there.
1s>S . s<r ri a nm
up to the Crater not knowing the danger
hidden here, were shot and rolled in.
One Of these iaeni was found alive after
the fight. The question now was how to
get at these men in the Crater. Gen.
Sanders solved the question by ordering
his men to gather up the guns scattered
over thb ground, others to get as near the
opening as possible and pitch them IN
bayopet foremost. This soon brought
the negroes to their sepses. a newspaper
waa fastened to the point Of bayOnet
and waved wildly about the mouth of the
chasm. Before daylight over six hun
dred dead Federals were placed in this
opening and the works rebuilt.
There was a current runner that Gen.
Lee did not: approve of this charge, on
the ground that lodgment had been
effected on either side, and the enemy
could be- dtslodged Dy sharpshootlng.
Whether this was 30 or not I cannot say.
Gen. Sanders was by birth an Alabam-
ian. His parents were native born south
Carolinians. His father, DR., Charles T.
Sanders, was, I think, q graduate Of the
Medical Collegeof Charleston. His grand
father was Capt. William Sanders, of
Anderson.
At the beginning of hostilities Gen.
j. G. Sanders was member Of the Sem
ior class Of the University Of Alabama.
He was elected Captain of Company,
soon became Colonel Of the 1lth Ala |
bama, was again made Brigadier Gene
raj, and at the time of his death was
commanding the old Wilcox Brigade. |
He was killed on the 9th OF August,
1864, on the Weldon Road. and at the |
time OF his death was ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS |
years old. This places. him among the |
youngest of the b. 3ese,