Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1902-08-06

Lying do,pn IN shallo,o rifle pits.
the chase, the battle perhaps, but no
standing around under fire after we
were done shooting.
Within few days this sort of duty
became unnecessary. The enemy re-
lieved US Of it by themselves reporting
their whereabouts. They were contin-
ually building new forts, and wheney-
er they finished one and got a heavy
gun mounted in 1t they sent a shell or
TVS 9ger Us TO let us know about it.
In the meantime u Inducements and
siege guns came pouring ID upon by
rail, and some double ended gunboats
came up the river in search of rebels
and glory. They found the former
without the least trouble and deserved
a good deal Of glory for fighting their
boats at much closer range than was
common at that day with ships engag-
Ing forts. One Confederate artillery
raan, who was captured, said the boats
came SO close that his shell fuses might
have been lighted and the shells them
selves thrown aboard, thus saving the
powder charge Of the gun.
We found places for some new forts
Of our own, and as some Of them con-
structed on, the river bank crushed
through the crumbling soil and fell In
to the river the work had to be done
over again. The bridge crossing the
river had been burned just in time to
prevent q dash Of Confederate cavalry
into town the day Of the surprise, but
now we needed it again, and timber for
1t had to be cut within easy range of
the enemy's guns.
oh, there was plenty Of work for ev-
erybody-except the cavalry. We in
dulged in an occasional reconnaissance
just to let the enemy know we hadn't
left town, but hoped he had. For the
rest of the time, however, we enjoyed
more leisure than we could have had at
bone. 1t became tiresome; then it be-
came absolutely wearing.
After the works on both sides had
been making faces at each other for
several weeks. and great lot Of pow
der had been burned without hurting
many people, and thousands of men had
been kept awake at night when they
wanted to be asleep. the word was pass
| ed through our camp one evening that
General Longstreet was to be made to
feel very sick next morning and that
we were to assist at the operation. Be-
tween dark and dawn the bridge was
secretly repaired, right under the en-
emy's military nose. The most diff
cult part Of the work, that of repairing
the frame, was done silently. Then an
| army Of contrabands went down in
couples, each couple carrying young
pine log to be used as planking. When
these had been laid, other contrabands
packed the cracks with straw, and still
others carried out bags and boxes of
dirt and strewed over all, SO the bridge
should be noiseless under football of
] man and horse. Eight hundred Afri-
cans were kept awake all night by that
job. and do not believe the occasion
would have been favorable in which to
interview them on the blessings Of
freedom. Just before dawn several
companies Of our regiment passed over
and learned that the enemy had not
expected them. Close behind came a
large body of infantry, which prolonged
the surprise we had caused and prepar-
ed to make 1t permanent. Then some
Of our light artillery took hand. We
struck the enemy's line near its center
and behaved so disagreebly to the John.
MES that General Longstreet took them
back to General Lee.