|
|
|
|
|
Organizations
Shells were continually bursting, and the screams and groans of the wounded and dying could be heard on every side. As an Instance of the terrible effect of this fire, one of the guard was struck by a'solid shot just below the hips, sweeping off both his legs. A battery came dashing up, but when they got into the vortex of the fire the gunners fled, deserting their guns, and could not be made to man them. An officer, splendidly mounted and equipped, attempted in a most gallant manner to rally them. A ball struck him on the neck completely severing his head from his body and leaving his spinal column standing. His body rolled to the ground and the horse galloped to the rear. One of the shells struck a caisson full of artillery ammunition, which exploded, ascending in a crater of various colored flame, and showered down on the heads of the men below a mass of fragments of shot and shell. The loss inflicted by this fire must have been terrible, placing considerable over one thousand men hors de combat, and effectually breaking up the contemplated attack of the column.
Civil War
Page 31
|
|
<>
|
|
|
|