Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-04-07

at Gettysburg, and not so inspiriting q
sight to see, for only the flashes OF guns
that illustrated as well as Pickett's OF
any other ever made those splendid quail.
ties Of Longstreet's infantry which made
them at once an admiration and a delight
to their comrades in the artillery.
For q few minutes about a dozen guns
poured q hot fire into the angle OF the
lines back Of the fort Then we ceased
firing to leave q clear field for the storm.
ing column, except a few shots from q
battery that could reach the ground In
rear Of the fort.
Meanwhile the assaulting column form
ed, advanced to the line Of rife pits, and
theh swarmed over them and rushed fof
the fort. Almost Immediately they found
themselves in an ENHANCEMENT Of tele-
graph wires stretched few inches above
the ground and fastened to stun1ps and
stakes. This, however, was quickly
broken up, and the men pressed forward
rapidly to the ditch around the fort, re-
ceiving a severe musketry fire from its
parapet and two or three discharges OF
canister from guns which were able to
reach part Of the ground traversed. II
ranks in this rapid advance, in darkness.
over unknown ground with such OBJ
stacles and under so close a fire. It re-
suited that the three brigades converged
in a mass and without order around the
northwest bastion. 1t was here that the
ditch was supposed to be easily passable.
On the western face, indeed. 1t proved
to be only about four and a half feet
deep, and ordinarily ditch OF that depth
would not be serious obstacle. But that
morning the ground was frozen and very
slippery, and, in addition, Col. o. M. Poe.
Gen. Burnsides chief engineer, anticipat-
ing an assault, had made a very impor-
tant variation in the ordinary profile OF
the ditch and parapet. Ordinarily there
is left a space Of about a foot between
the edge Of the ditch and the foot OF the
parapet, which space is called the
"berme."
It will be readily seen that to a man at
tempting to scale the parapet the BERNIE
is 4 great assistance, giving a foothold
whence it is easy to rush up the exterior
slope, which cannot be made sleeper than
forty-five degrees. Here the bernie had
been entirely cut away. To the right and
the ditch grew deeper until 1t reached ten
feet in places, and the parapet was raised
in places by cotton bales.
The advance was, of course. checked by
the ditch. and the men generally swarm
ed along the edge. uncertain what to do,
and firing into the embrasures and at
such of the enemy as ventured to show
their heads over the parapet. This soon
silenced the direct fire upon them from
the parapet, except an occasional musket
raised overhead to the level OF the In
terror crest and fired without aim. The
fort was SO nearly silenced that looking on
from the guns we thought II nao sur
rendered, though some fire continued:
Meanwhile many of the officers, color
bearers and men jumped into the ditch
and attempted to scale the parapet- the
slippery slopes and the absence OF
BERNIE prevented their success IN sucn
numbers as to accomplish any result, ana
the gallant fellows going up one by one
were shot down from the inside as iast
as they crowded the parapet. NOWHERE