Sistersville daily oil review. [volume] (Sistersville, W. Va.) 1902-1905, 1903-10-08

nlSn as Ne Denelu-
Down the long and dusky line
Teeth CLEAN and eyeballs shine.
"The Federal bombardment on land
and sea suddenly ceased. A great
calm ensued, but it was portentous and
terrible. 1t seemed as if the heart Of
nature stood still, awed by prescience
Of the impending and fearful catastro-
phe. Gradually the smoke Of the can
nonade, swsthed about the fort for
hours, so rar lifted that the enemy
were seen debouching from their first
parallel and advancing over the mar
row approach between it and the fort.
Then from the bombproof and sand
hills the garrison quickly gathered
along the ramparts. Field pieces were
ranged, the artillerists double shotted
their guns, and
Each gunner moveless by his piece with
rigid aspect stands
The ready lanyards firmly grasped in
bold, untrembling hands;
So moveless in their marble calm, their
stern heroic guise
They look like forms of statued stone.
with burning human eyes.
"On rushed the Federals at double
quick, saluted by simultaneous out
break of hot shot, an implacable, con-
centrated fire from Sumter, Gregg and
James island. Conspicuous in the van,
on came the misguided and unfortu-
nate Colonel Shaw, his long hair wav-
ing behind him as he led his sable en-
fants perdus. A portion followed him
over the ditch and planted their flag
on the ramparts, where the colonel was
shot and instantly killed. The others,
however, could not endure the sight OF
that gaping ditch or the revolving SEN
sation Of winged metal viciously near.
"Some of the frightened creatures
ran like deer, others in the base paraly-
sis Of terror Frustrated themselves
upon the ground, crawling along on
hands and feet. Then grand deed
7-hich the old mortimer wonld have
called deed of derring-do was per-
formed by the men of the ever domi-
nant Caucasian race, the thought of
which as l write, quarter Of q CEN
fury after its occurrence, makes my
heart beat and my pulse throb tumultu-
ously. Across the narrow and fatal
stretch before the fort, every inch of
which was swept by hurricane Of
fire, a bosom Of destruction, the Sixth
Connecticut land Forty-cighth New
York; charged with such undaunted
resolution upon the southeast salient
that they succeeded in the very face Of
hell, one may say, in capturing it."
The commandant Of Fort Wagner,
General W. =. Taliaferro. describing
the charge, surpassed in fervor the en-
thusiasm of the poet Hayne. Said he:
"The COnfcdcratcS. with the tenacity
of bulldogs and fierce courage arOuS-
ed almost to madness, poured from the
rampartS and emDraSureS sheets OF
fame and tempest Of lead and iron.
Yet the intrepid ASSISTANTS rushed on
like the waves of the sea by whose
shores they fought. They fell by hun
drcds, but they pushed on, reeling I'M
der the frightful blasts that almost
blew them to pieces, up to the Con-
federate bayOnetS.'
The Sixth Connecticut and Forty
eighth New York belonged to General
Strongs brigade. 1t was s OclOc,: and
fully dark when the ASSISTANTS, TO the
number of 100, entered the baStiOn.
Soon after dark Colonel II. S. Putnam
charged with the Seventh New lamp
shire in the wake Of Strong and III the
confusion and darkness assaulted the
very point held by StOng'S men. The
baStion was held for three hours. when
the survivors. 40 in all, surrendered
to Il party Of the garrison led by Cap
tain W. II. Ryan, who was killed in
the counter assault.
Continuing his description, Mr..
Hayne says: THE history of war, rife
with terrible conflicts. can show no
more terrific strife than this. have
convcrScd with Old ConfedcratcS in re-
gard TO the night succeeding this great
assault and Lave remarked how set
soncd Veterans shuGdrr when they r..
call its horrors. Wcariy the dark
hours passed. and Sabbath morning
dawned over The sand hills, and every
detail of the scene was brought out in
bold relief Men lay in every posi-
bic attitude, with every conceivable
expression on tAo:r countenanccs, their
limbs bent into unnatural shapes by 4
fall cf thirty feet.
IN the salient, on tie ramparts, they
lay hcaped UP. often three deep. Con-
spicUouS among them was a tall, su-
perbly formed man. an officer. whose
calm features. only the more clearly
cut by the chisel of death, gazed to-
ward the cloudleSs sliy-a breathless
Apollo. This was Colonel Putnam Of
the Seventh New Hampshire. AL
though. horrible to relate, the entire
back Of his head had been blown off,
thee wonderful beauty OF his face re-
manned unShadOwed, evoking from his
foes 4 sigh of pity. On the crest, sur
rounded BY feW-a very few-Of his