The National tribune., 1909-12-30
AT FORT HUDSON.
The Second Assault. June 1i-fIand-to-
Hand Ffghting-Taking Rebels
Gun From Him

The Second Assault. June 1i-fIand- to-
Hand FfShting-TaiSing Rebels
Gun From Him.
Editor Rational Tribune: The day
was June II, Sunday, but the soldiers
at the front know no Sabbath. and
Gen. Banks issued orders on that
morning that the army should make
another attempt to carry the works at
Port Hudson by general assault
At that time Col. Thomas lay very
! III in a hospital, and Col. Smith. of the
114th n. Y. took his place as COM
mander of his brigade. Capt Barstow
was Adjutant- General. and Lieut. Col.
Dillingham; led the Sth VT
The order was that the column
Should consist of two regiments of skir-
mishers. followed by one regiment with
| hand grenades the next with cotton
! bags, with which to fill the ditch be-
| fore the breastwOrks, and three regi-
! rnents TO bring up the rear as an as
saulting party. The Sth VT. was as
| signed to lead the assaulting column.
! About one o'clock on the morning of
the 18th the troops were served with
coffee and light ratiOns. and two hours
| later the lines were formed, and the
! Iskirmishers advanced over the earth
works and reached the open space in
front of the parapets before the east
began to redden with the dawn of day.
Nevertheless the Confederates were on
the alert, and our movements did not
escape their notice. so that the lines
had scarcely cleared their trenches
when they were assailed by a murder
Gus IRE from the garrison.
The air was filed with minies and
grape and canister that played havoc
with our ranks. So terrible and deadly
was this fire that the cotton bag and
hand grenade regiments could not pro-
ceed, and failed to execute their orders,
and all seemed about to be driven back
in hopeless confusion
At this critical moment the Sth VT.
was ordered to move to the charge by
flank through the ravine. Steadily
it went into position and rested its
right on the brow of hill over which
1T must advance. With difficulty the
lines moved over and passed the men
with the cotton bags, who stood hud-
died together,-a ready mark for the
enemy's guns.
Forward, 9Th Vt" shouted Adj't
Spaulding from the head of the col
umn, and instantly he fell dead.
The Charge.
The men obeyed, and the line was in
motion, but in less than five minutes
SO noble Green Mountain boys were
either killed or wounded, and it
was impossible to advance in the face
of such hurricane of shot and shell.
Again and again did the brave boys
face the terrible fire, but to advance
meant instant death, and a shudder of
horror ran through the stoutest hearts
at sight of the already bloody sacri-
flee.
They fell back under cover of the
nearest ravine, reformed, and tried to
move around the hill Col. Smith was
disabled by a mortal wound and the
command passed to Lieut.-Col. Van Pat
ten, of the 160th n. Y, who ordered a
second charge. Some went around the
hill and reached the ditch, while few
touched the breastworks. Co. C, of
which was a member, was color COM
pany, and carried the flag. I was sec
ond soldier to the flag, carried by John
Gilman, and when he planted it upon
the rebel breastworks the Johnnies rose
up in their intrenchments at charge
bayonet- One of the Johnnies at first
locked bayonets with me and then with
a twist the bayonets slipped past each
other and the Johnny's bayonet struck
my hand between the thumb and fore
finger, shocking me SO that 1 let go of
my gun and it fell into their intrench-
ment. very soon recovered my senses
and saw how was situated. I grabbed
right hold of the Johnny's gun and
pulled. He pulled, too, but being the
heaviest came near pulling him up out
of the ditch. All at once he let go Of
the gun, and I went over backwards
down the embankment of dirt that had
been thrown out in making the ditch.
AS / went over backwards I discov-
cred my regiment was falling back and
the balls and shots from the rebels were
flying all around me like hailstones. so
I hugged the ground as closely a.; pos
sble and worked off the bayonet of
the gun I got and commenced digging
a hole in the loose dirt to hide myself.
L remained there until dusk, not daring
to move, for shots kept coming every
few moments.
After dark I crawled snake-fashion