Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 39.djvu/136

 124 Southern Historical Society Papers.

space fifteen or twenty feet square. They went through that tremendous bomb-proof, of which I have spoken, as though it was paper, and we were in constant expectation of losing all of our ammunition and provisions. Those abominable morters were the last item in their preparations. They practiced on us to get the range, and then we "got it."

TEMPEST OF SHOT.

The last day, the day of assault, came. What a day that was ! And yet the enemy's tactics were peculiar. The assault did not come until about 3 P. M. But from dawn until that time, and indeed until night they rained upon us from front and flank and rear and top, from field guns, siege guns, ship guns and mor- tars : such a tempest of shot and shell as defies description. Think of seventy-five or a hundred guns massed in a semi-circle thick around us ; think of those huge mortars belching forth their monstrous contents down upon us ; think of the fleet in our rear pouring its fire into our back? Suddenly that storm burst forth, but it ceased not for a moment through all that interminable day. The very air was hot. The din was so great it distracted our senses. We could hardly hear each other speak and could hardly tell what we were doing. The cracking of musketry, the unbroken roaring of artillery, the yelling and shrieking of the shells, the bellowing boom of the mortars, the dense shroud of sulphurous smoke thickening around us — it was thought the mouth of the pit had yawned and the uproar of the damned was about us. And it was not taking away from this infernal picture to see men, as I did, hopping about, "raving, distracted mad," the blood bursting from eyes and ears and mouth, driven stark crazy by concussion or some other cause.

DODGING THE MORTAR SHELLS.

It was Utterly idle to try to return that fire. After a few rounds we did not attempt to do so. We stood around shelter- ing ourselves as best we could. Our works were no longer a protection to us. except against the fire in front. But that we