Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1902-04-21

None of us had ever been under fir,
The strain during those few miRHt4
before the first shot Numbered from
nearby hill was so terrible that fol
OF our men went crazy. l am n,
ashamed to say that l myself was
most paralyzed with fear. tried
lift cup of coffee to my lips, b
couldn't do it to save my life. Mir
you, had served a term in the Unite
States army, too, and was looked u
on as a good soldier. In the CAV
war in this country / saw men
fected in the same way who afteFwa
proved themselves the bravest Of II
brave.
cat last the first cannon shot raj
out and the spell was off. EveR h
fore the echo of that shot died out
felt as if I could have attacked {,
enemy single-handed. The faces
the men about me, but a moment al
white with fear, were now flushed al
their eyes shone like diamonds. II
Irish blood was up, and before the d.
was done the Italians learned that /;
Irishman always fights to finish
II have said that the fort was 81
rounded by hills. Fortunately, ON
one of them was higher than the II
upon which stood the fort, but th
one was so steep that the enemy, :
as they would, could not get a gun
the top. We were also protected !
| walls so feet high and 10 feet thick
otherwise most of us would ha7
been killed in less than an hour aft,
the bombardment commenced I,
they poured shot and shell at us fro
10 batteries.
IT was reloading my musket for Il
fourth or fifth time when man stan
ing a couple of feet away from me hs
his head taken Off by cannon BAH
clean and swift that he never kne
what struck him. Bombs fell insit
the walls and kept us on the IRm
But meanwhile our sharp-shoote:
were getting in their work, too Tt
enemy's artillery was within cas-
range of our rifles, and the Italian
serving the guns were picked off
fast as they showed themselves.
the end of three hours the cann0na,
ing ceased. They either did not war
to sacrifice any more men, considerin
the little damage the artillery SCENE
to be doing, or they ran out Of an
munition, l don't know which.
About noon the enemy showed
flag of truce and little later mes
sage arrived that if we didn't sGI
render at once and Internationally
the fort would be stormed and ever,
one of us put to the knife. Ma
O'Reilly sent back word that so far al
he was concerned it was a fight to tn,
to the fort, and the major knew tina
he could hold out against an army a
long as our ammunition lasted. W.
had two pieces of artillery, not made
use of thus far, because powder ant
ball had been reserved for just this
emergency. About 8 o'clock in the. Of
ternoon we heard the enemy's bHgiC
sound the attack. They marched III
to the nrst gate in close order and We
never fired a shot From that gate {
road sunk into the rock and not more
than 80 feed wide led to the entrance
of the fort, which, of course, was
strongly barricaded. The distance
to the outer gate was about 500 feet
They blew up the gate and as soon a!
the smoke had cleared away pOure,
into the road. Then we let ther
have it. It was butchery, but we
were fighting for our lives. The poo
devils went down like grass beSer,
the scythe. From where I was friHi
my musket as fast as I could load j
| could see the work done by theirs
cannon shot. Twenty men at leas
went down under it, And so it kept o.
for half an hour. The road was the
filed with dead and dying. There wa
no doubt about the courage of thos
Italians. They renewed the attac
again and again, but only to be beate
back each time with terrible loss.
"The fighting lasted until after dari
Then there was a lu1l. The enen
withdrew. We were told to sleep C
our arms, as night attack was pro
able. About midnight the enemy trio
to rush the fort, but they found
wide awake and were beaten back
before. Then they drew off for good