The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-11-09

l SS
| buckshot, a de structive missile at short
| range. owing to the rugxcdnsss of the
| ground and felled tifnhers, the enemy
| could not preserve their lines intact aui
| soon became a conglomerate mass. We
| awaited their approach in silence. When
within forty yards We were commanded
/ to fire. A blaze OF snusixetry' flashed from
| our ramparts The enemy was dazed and
stunned by the suddenness of the blow
and the fearful effect Of our missiles.
Over one-ffth his lamber were ,pon the
ground, dead or wounded. There was q
momentary pause. and then railying and
raising a shout thsy charged. The Con-
federates now loaded aud fired as rapidly
as possible. The enemy was falling thick
and fast at every step /of his slow adj
vance over brush. but still he bravely
pressed on. firing as he came until within
q few feet OF our lines and then-hed In
utter panic and rout. As usual, the re-
treat was more disastrous than the adj
vance, and the ground within range Of
our muskets was literally covered with
blue-coats. Shouts of Confederates right
and left, assured us OF general repulse
along our whole front. Before the enc
my's advance he had covered a ridge
about 50 yards In front of our regiment
with sharp-shooters. and these lay In per-
feet security and shot our men as they
raised their heads and bodies above the
breastworks to fire. These killed and
wounded several of our regiment.
The stampeded Federais rallied under
protection of the woods in front and
charged again, and was again repulsed
This second charge was made about 10 a.
m. After these, repeated assaults were
| made during the day upon our position,
| but the enemy never reached as near our
| works or fought with as much courage as
| on the first charge. Late In the evening
| the firing ceased and our next thoughts
| were Of our dead and wounded. These
| had been promptly removed to our field
| hospital in a ravine 200 yards In the rear,
| but litters were leaning here and there
along our ramparts saturated with blood,
| and blood was running and pudding IN
| the trenches. Colonel Locke received
| painful wound in the neck from a spent
ball, but bandaging 1t with his pocket
handkerchief stood bravely to his post.
The total loss of our regiment was %
killed and A wounded.
During the fierce assault Of the 9th of
May on our whole left wing. Commssary
Hill was an especial object of attack.
Here we had a four-gun battery, and be-
hind IL were our commissary stores. ar
senal and old Clubhouse containing the
little gristmills which did all the grind
ing for the army. Our battery did great
execution by destroying number OF
Federal field guns, but shart-shooters hid
den in the fallen timber soon made the
battery untenable by shooting our gun
ners, compelling them to lie behind the
parapets and await assault. Colonel
Stsedman took his position n this bat
teTy. ditch near the battery was en-
flaJed by sharp-shooters. the Colonel Or
ha int a IN Sfss&n
man (who is the brother of Colonel Steed-
MANI TO remove the men from This ditch;
in attempting to do so he was shot down
by rifle ball STRIKING him over the heart.
He was taken to the rear. supposedly
MORALLY wounded. but late at night the
Colonel and regiment were delighted to
hear that the ball was DETECTED by rib
and came out at the back, and our adju-
tant was still living. He soon recovered
from the wound and resumed duty
Our experiense on the night OF May 9th
was new to US, and distressing. The
piteous cries of hundreds of the enemy
wounded for water" water" and the
groans of the dying now touch with deep
est sympathy those with whom they had
but today been locked N deadly strife
Several Of our men took the risk and
carried canteens of water to those nearest
our lines. When these returned, they
reported plenty of Enfield rifles near our
ramparts. Our men quickly supplied them
selves, and after this each man kept two
| loaded guns, his Enfield for long taw,"
and flint and steel for close quarters.
Early next morning General Banks OBJ
tanned a flag of truce for the burial of his
| dead and removal of his wounded.
| Colonel Locke, by direction of Colonel
| Steedman, met the flag. Several immense
| openings in the earth were made in front
| of our regiment each with a capacity of
about 100 men. Into these the dead were
| piled and covered. brigade of negroes
| had charged the seth Mississippi on our
| left; about half were killed outright on
the field, and for the burial of these
General Banks never asked flag OF
| truct They lay there in the hot sun
and purified and swelled until the stencil
| became so unbearable to Colonel Shelby
| Goth Missssipp) that he asked General
Banks to allow him (Shelby) to bury
them. General Banks replied that he had
no dead there.
This ended the greatest battle of Port
| Hudson during the siege. 1t taught US
that a few men with a determination to
| stay could hold fortified position against
great odds
The enemy began a series Of zig-zag APP
breaches to our lines and soon had their
| breastworks within rs yards Of us. Both
| sides placed notched logs longitudinally
| on their breastworks. tho notches being
turned down and used as portfolios
| through which sharp shooting was piled
vigorously from daylight to dark. Both
| Federal and Confederate sharp-shooters
got the exact range of the opposite open
| ings and could shoot through them every
| fire. Many of our men lost their lives at
these positions, and Federal officer told
| the writer after the surrender that q Fed
erals had been killed through single
one during the siege. Another source of
loss was carelessness. During long
siege men became accustomed to bullets
and to a degree lose sense of danger.
On the evening of June 18th General
Banks made another demand for surren-
der. But General Gardner again cour-
teousIy declined. Tho men and Officers
preferred to fight.
The opening of the battle at dawn on
the next morning by General Banks was
yery similar to that on the 9th of May,
but he had in position more artillery,
and his infantry was nearer our lines. A
furious cannonade was maintained about
two hours Their shot and shell fire.
duently passed entirely over the Confeder-
ate semi-circle and fell among their own
men on the opposite side. After this free
for-al entertainment, the enemy ad-
vanced to the assault in three lines of
battle We used our Enfield rifles until
within, 20 or 40 yards. and then our old
flint and steel muskets. Under a destruc-
tive fire from our men the enemy bravely
advanced until within twenty yards of
us, and then fed in panic amid loud rebel