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laid near by, for closer work if necessary.
The scene is one of wild magnificence.
The flash of the guns momentarily rends the pitchy blackness of night, and reveals powder-begrimed men springing to their work.
Over us scream shells from batteries in our rear, while those from the enemy are bursting on every side.
Pandemonium seems tame in comparison.
What the outcome of it all is to be, we cannot conjecture; but at last the crash of small arms diminishes, batteries cease firing, and soon all sounds die away.
Then rises a deafening cheer which passes the entire length of our line, a token that the attack has been repulsed.
Again we lie down, and again the same uproar breaks out, and the same wild scene is re-enacted, resulting, as before, in the repulse of the enemy.
During the fusillade not a man in the Company has been hit, and although several tons of lead and iron have changed sides, the total loss is insignificant.1
A third attempt to slumber is crowned with success,
1 I append the following extracts touching these night attacks, and leave the reader to draw his own conclusions. I may add that the author of the first is unusually candid and reliable for one on his side.
The only change made in the Southern line after the battle was the withdrawal of Breckenridge's troops from the salient they had lost and regained. The line was straightened, and this weak point removed. When this was accomplished, Breckenridge, about 9 o'clock that night, advanced his skirmish line to its original position. Immediately the enemy drove it in, at the same time making an effort to carry the line of battle. They were promptly repulsed. An attack was then made on Hoke's line with a like result. The firing then ceased for the night. McCabe: Life and Campaigns of Gen. Robert E. Lee.Per contra.
A little before dark it was evident from the commotion among the Confederates in front of the Philadelphia Brigade, and of the brigades on the right and left, that an assault was in preparation, Soon the commands of their officers were heard, then the well-known yell, and a rush for our line. Now came our turn, but we had not the advantage of strong earthworks. The men rose in their places, and poured in heavy volleys of musketry, and for a few moments there was a struggle as severe as in the morning, extending along the entire front of Hancock and Wright. It was soon over; some of the Confederates were captured, many lay killed or wounded, and the rest of the advance quickly retired to their defences. Banes: History of the Philadelphia Brigade.And again.
The Diary of a Staff Officer, Second Corps.
The Arakelyan press, Boston, 1909.
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