The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-06-28

on the field of battle
 Unnumbered thousands of Southern sol- diers as noble and prers .slne as Conirasie Rumph met death and met It like men. far away from home and loved ones: sometimes from sickness or wounds in over-crowded hospitals, where there were neither nurses. food, comfort nor medical attention; sometimes in an instant on the field of battle; sometimes in prison hos pitals among our enemies. where 1t was matter of total indifference whether they lived or died. though with some prefer ence for the latter; and, after death, were dumped into a hole in the ground with as little concern as a dead horse. But on this score we must not judge our enemy harshly You must remember that we Confederates shed no tears around the graves of dead Yankees. This is war.
 Bombardment of Ft. Pickens.
 On the morning of November 22, 1861, as the Bradford was steaming down to the navy yard, Fort Pickens opened fire upon 1t. This was the signal for general at tack on our lines. and in a few minutes cannon were darting flame and iron from every porthole of Fort Pickens and from every battery along the island. The form CT had more guns than all the Confed- crate forrs and batteries combined, but it had to divide its attack along a range of four miles, while it received the concen- trated fire of all the Confederates. Fort McRae was the weakest of all our de- lenses and yet the most exposed both to the fleet and Fort Pickens Its gallant commander, Villipigue, with his Georgia battalion had strengthened it somewhat with sand bags. For this reason Fort McRae had. from the outset, been the ob- ject of deepest concern and anxiety; but our apprehensions were greatly intensi- fled when two of the enemy's largest men ot war were moved up a channel even the existence of which had to this time been unknown to us. cast anchor in the rear of the right wing of the fort on which side the garrison had neither strengthened the walls against attack, nor mounted guns for defense; and from this new position about mile nearer Fort McRae than the other Federal vessels opened a terrific fire upon this helpless part of the fort At the same time the rest of the squadron now about two miles off made vigorous attack on the right front of McRae. The situation was alarming. Fleet and fort were soon en- veloped with the smoke of their own guns and that of exploding shells. except as an occasional breeze afforded tenn porary glimpse. On one occasion simul- taneous volleys raked the outer walls and parapets of the fort, wrapped 1t with flames of bursting shells sent huge tim bers and massive pieces of concrete flying through the air, swept away the flag staff and demolished a section of wall on the right. As dmly seen from our po- sltion the whole structure seemed to bulge and sink to the earth in one general conf1agration and gigantic heap of ruins. There was momentary suspense of f1r- ing along the Confederate lines, as men stood in breathless excitement and gazed with the eagerness of despair at what appeared the final doom of the fort. Mo Rae is gone up," murmured some. Mo- body denied or doubted It. A moment later a friendly breeze partially lifting the smoke, revealed only a part demol. ished. the rest standing firm. This gave some relief but a moment later 1t was noticed that the flag had disappeared. "The fort has surrendered" they now said. But these words were hardly spok- en when the large garrison banner with broken stan and torn with shot was seen slowly ascending the wall Then mighty shout of Confederates. heard above the din of artillery and soundling like the distant murmur" of many waters, rang along the bending shores from Fort Mo. Rae to the navy yard.
 While such was the struggle between the fleet and McRae a conflict of far
 
 Pickens and Barancas with its chains of batteries all manned by the First Ala bama regiment. Far more lead and iron was hurled against our positions than against McRae but shot and shell made little impression on our batteries of sand bags, and Fort Barancas, sunk in great sand hill with very little brick wall above the surface, was almost as invulnerable. The artillery on both sides aggregated about 300 pieces, varying in calibre from g to 128 pounders; and as each was fired every few" minutes, the deafening roar was beyond description-beyond even con- ception save to those engaged. Every window light in Warrenton was shivered to atoms by the first few volleys. while those Tn Pensacola, eight miles distant. were badly shaken up and many broken. In many instances blood poured from the noses of men working the guns. while the thunder of the conflict was afterwards declared to have been heard at Green- vile, Camden. Montgomery. Hayneville. Union Springs and Troy, distances rang ing from 100 to 125 miles from Barancas.
 No damage was done Barancas or any of it's batteries, but we knocked a big triangular hole in the right centre of Ft. Pickens.
 The battle continued all day with un- abated energy. About dark the firing ceased, except Captain Posey's mortar battery that kept up a duel all night with a Yankee mortar battery. furnishing quite a spectacular entertainment to the two armies.
 McRae had learned some things by the days experience, and under cover of darkness, and, assisted by heavy details. built battery of three guns half a mile down the shore. and between itself and the two men-of-war.
 Worn out by the days hard work. we ate a cold lunch and retired to the rough blanks of our 'old cabin home" for needed rest. But a seaward breeze setting up, whlstled about the rocks and around the corners of our cottages in such exact imitation of a coming hostile she'll to which our ears had all day been accus- toned, that We were frequently startled from our dreams and sprang from our hunks. Many a hearty laugh was in- dulged during the night on this score. Rather an airy" sort of battle was this, but later in the night we got up another sort. almost as "aisy." but on a much grander scale. About Il p. m. our pickets began discharglng their guns along the beach. At first the shots were scattering. but rapidly increased until 1t seemed like the whole picket force was hotly engaged, while in camp the Hong roll' was beat ing to arms. and officers shouting to their men to fall in" as if the whole Yankee army was landing about 200 yards in our front. Men ran hither-thither in hurly- burley style, sometimes knocking each other down in their blind and mad rush for clothing. guns. etc. As soon as formed. the companies were double tn ha