Pictorial history of the war for the Union, volume 1 (of 2) : $b A complete and reliable history of the war from its commencement to its close ... together with a complete chronological analysis of the warStephens, Ann S. (Ann Sophia)
History
Pictorial history of the war for the Union, volume 1 (of 2) : $b A complete and reliable history of the war from its commencement to its close ... together with a complete chronological analysis of the war
Stephens, Ann S. (Ann Sophia)
United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865
There was a large supply of ammunition, and when the Union forces
entered the fort there was beside each gun an abundance unexpended. The
tents were new and of excellent make, sufficient to shelter five or six
thousand men. The enemy had flour, corn, bacon and sugar in large
quantities, but no salt, and not a large supply of beef.
There were nineteen guns in position, of the following calibre: two
128-pounders, one 80-pounder, two 42-pounders, rifled, ten 32-pounders,
two 24-pound howitzers, two 12-pound howitzers. Three 6-pound smooth
bores, five 6-pound rifles, found outside the intrenchments.
A twenty-four-pound rifled gun exploded on the fourth round, and near
the close of the fight a shell from one of the Union boats entered the
eighty-pounder and burst, disabling it. Several caissons were captured
in the redan upon the west side of the river, but no guns were in
position.
Evidences abounded on all sides of the deadly accuracy of the Federal
gunners. Every one of the eleven log buildings within the ramparts was
perforated with shot, the roof of one of the small magazines was torn
open, hurdle-work scattered in all direction, half the guns knocked out
of place, and great gulleys cut in the parapet and the ground. A
thirty-two pounder bearing upon the gunboats had been struck by a Union
shell, completely shattering the muzzle. The ground beside the embrasure
was stained with blood, which lay in pools on the uneven surface. Beside
one of the buildings, with gray blankets thrown hastily over them, lay
six dead soldiers, all fearfully mutilated. Inside, ten wounded men were
stretched upon cots, or on the ground, some insensible, and others
rending the air with groans, while the surgeons of the garrison were
attending upon them. Just above, on the river, was the hospital ship of
the rebels, the stern-wheel steamer R. M. Patten, which had been
captured with the fort. The ensign of disease, the yellow flag, was
flying from the staff, waving off destruction from sixty invalids.
THE REBEL CAMP.
Upon a high plateau, the heavy trees had all been cut away over a large
area. They were designed for the construction of an abattis, and though
nothing had been done beyond chopping down the heavy timber, the large
trunks and limbs, lying in all directions, would have presented almost
insurmountable obstacles to the approach of cavalry or artillery, had
the rifle-pits, just beyond, been filled with men.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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