Part 9 (1/2)
It was still early in the morning, about five or six o'clock, and, as yet, all was quiet in our front; we hadn't even seen a Federal soldier.
Suddenly! out of the woods to our right, just about five hundred yards in front, appeared the heads of three heavy blue columns, about fifty yards apart, marching across the open field toward our left. Here was impudence! Infantry trying to cross our front! _That's_ the way it seemed to strike our fellows. I don't know whether they knew our guns were there, but we took it for an insult, and it was with a great deal of personal feeling, we instantly jumped to our guns and loaded with case-shot. Lieutenant Anderson said, ”Wait till they get half way across the field. You'll have more chance at them before they can get back into those woods.” We waited, and soon they were stretched out to the middle of the field. It was a beautiful mark! Three, heavy well closed up columns, fifty yards apart, on ground gently sloped upward from us, lovely for ricochet shots,--with their flanks to us, and in easy range.
Dan McCarthy went up to Ned Stine, our acting gunner, who was very deaf, and yelled in his ear, loud enough for the Federals to hear, ”Ned, aim at the nearest column, the ricochet pieces of sh.e.l.l will strike the columns beyond.” ”All right,” he bawled back, with his head on one side, ”sighting” the gun. ”I've got sight on that column, now. Ain't it time to shoot?” This instant Anderson sung out, ”Section commence firing! and get in as many shots as you can before they get away.” ”Yes,” shouted Dan, ”Fire!” ”Eh?” said Ned, putting his hand up to his ear, ”What did you say?” ”I said Fire! you deaf old fool--Fire!” the last, in a tone calculated for a mile and a half. This fetched him. Ned threw up his hands (the gunner's signal to fire) and we let drive. All Ned wanted was a start, he was only slow in hearing. He jumped in now, and we kept that gun blazing almost continuously. It was the first time Stine had acted gunner, and he did splendidly here, and until Dibbrell, our gunner, got back.
Our first shot struck right in the nearest column, and burst, and we instantly saw a line opened through all three columns, and a great deal of confusion. The shot from the ”Third Piece” struck at another point, and burst, just right for effect. I am sure not a single shot missed in that crowd, and we drove them in just as fast as we could. The columns were pretty badly broken, and in two minutes, they were rapidly crossing back into that woods, out of which they had come, and disappeared. The Texans were greatly pleased with this performance. Having nothing to do, as the enemy was out of effective rifle range, they stood around, and watched us work the guns, and noticed, with keen interest, the effect of our shots upon the blue columns, and they made the welkin ring, when the Federals turned to retire.
=Parrott's Reply to Napoleon's Twenty to Two=
In a minute or two we received notice of our work from another quarter.
That artillery, up there on the hill, beyond the woods, woke up. They got mad at our treatment of their infantry friends, furiously mad.
”Boom” went a loud report, over the way, and, the same instant, a savage shriek right over our heads, of a twenty pounder Parrott sh.e.l.l. Another followed, another, and another. They began to rain over. We could detect the sound of different sh.e.l.ls, three inch rifle, ten pounder Parrott, and twenty pounder Parrott.
Some fifteen or twenty guns joined in, and they hammered away most savagely. Most fortunately the treetops of that wood, out in our front, came up just high enough to conceal us from the enemy. They could see our smoke, and knew just _about_ our position, but they could not _exactly see us_, and correct their aim by the smoke of their sh.e.l.ls. So they could not get the _exact_ range. And that makes a great difference, in artillery firing, as it does in a great many other things. To know _just about_ and to know _exactly_, are two very different things in effect, and in satisfaction to the worker. If those people could have _seen_ our two guns, I suppose they could have smashed them both, and killed, or wounded every man of us, and their columns could have moved across our front, in peace, and accomplished this movement they were trying to get across them for, and about which they seemed very anxious.
As it was, neither man, nor gun, of ours, was touched, though it was hot as pepper all around there; and our guns stuck there a thorn in their sides, and broke up that movement altogether.
It seems that those columns were a part of Warren's Corps, and were trying to push into an interval between our Corps, and A. P. Hill's Corps, which, under command of General Jubal Early (Hill being very sick) began just on our left, our position being on the left of Longstreet's line, near its junction with Hill's. This infantry was pus.h.i.+ng across our front to get into that gap, and make it hot for ”Old Jubal” over there in the woods. But, in order to get to that gap, they were forced to pa.s.s close to us, and across that open field.
Now, at once, to insult us, and to hurt our friends, was a move that we didn't at all approve, and were not going to stand. And as soon as we discovered the meaning of this move, we were very earnest to stop it.
Well! we had stopped it once, and driven back the Federal columns of attack. It remained to see what they were going to do about it. The Federal artillery thundered at us through the trees. We quietly sat and waited to see.
In about half an hour, (I suppose they thought we were pulverized by the fire their guns had been pouring upon us,) we saw those three infantry columns pouring out of the woods again, at a quick step. We manned the guns, and waited as before, till they reached the middle of the field.
Then we began to plow up the columns with shrapnel. This time some of our infantry tried and found it in range for their muskets and they adjusted their rifle sights and took careful aim, with a rest on the top of the works. Soon, the columns faltered, then stopped, then broke, and made good time back to their woods. We could see their officers trying to rally them, but they refused to hear ”the voice of the charmer.” Soon they disappeared!
Then the artillery began to pour in their sh.e.l.ls on us more furiously than ever! The air around us was kept in a blaze, and a roar of bursting sh.e.l.ls, and the ground, all about, was furrowed and torn. We quietly sat behind our works, and interchanged our individual observations on what had just taken place, and waited for further developments.
The two rifled pieces of our Battery, and the other rifled guns of our Battalion, ”Cabells,” had been laced in position, on a hill half a mile back of, and higher, than the low hill on which we were. The plan was for these long range guns to fire over our heads, at the enemy. We suspected that when that Federal infantry next tried to pa.s.s us, they would try to make a rush. So Lieutenant Anderson sent back to the other guns, calling attention to this probability, and suggesting that they should be on the lookout, and reinforce our fire, and try, also, to divert the Federal artillery, a little. We thought that with eight or ten rifled guns, added to the fire of ours, and what the infantry could do, we could sicken that Federal infantry of the effort to get by.
Presently we noticed the fire of the Federal guns increase in violence to a marked degree. At this savage outburst, Lieutenant Anderson said, ”Boys, get to your guns, that infantry will try to get across under cover of this.” We sprang to the guns, and sure enough, in a minute, those blue columns burst out of the woods at a double quick. ”Open on them at once men. We can't let them get a start this time,” shouted Anderson. Both guns instantly began to drive at the head of their columns.
The sound of our guns started our rifle guns on the hill behind. They opened furiously, and we could hear their sh.e.l.ls screeching over our heads, on into this enemy's columns. We did our best, and the Texans did what musket fire they could. The enemy still advanced at a run, but this storm was too much for them. Their columns were torn to pieces, were thrown into hopeless confusion. They had, by this time, gotten half way or more across the field, and they made a gallant effort to keep on, but torn and storm-beaten as they were, they could not stand. The crowd broke and parted. A few ran on across to the farther woods, and were captured by Hill's men. The rest, routed and scattered, ran madly back to the cover they had left. This gave them enough! They gave up the attempt, and tried it no more.
We thought that Hill's Corps ”owed us one” for this job. We certainly saved them a lot of trouble by thus protecting their flank. They had to stand a heavy a.s.sault by Hanc.o.c.k's Corps, and had very hot work as it was. If these strong columns, that we were taking care of, had gotten into that gap, and taken them at disadvantage, they would have had a hard time, to say the least. Our work left them to deal with Hanc.o.c.k's Corps alone, which they did to their credit, and with entire success, as will appear.
That little scheme of our long-range guns on the hill behind, firing over our heads at the enemy acted very well, for a while. It came to have its very decided inconvenience to _us_, as well as to the enemy.
When the Federal infantry had retired, those guns turned their fire on the Federal artillery which was hammering us. They meant to divert their attention, and do us a good turn. They had better have left us to ”the ills we had.” Their line of fire, at that artillery, was exactly over our position. Very soon their sh.e.l.ls got tired travelling over, and began to stop _with us_. Our Confederate sh.e.l.ls were often very badly made, the weight in the conical sh.e.l.ls not well balanced. And so, very often, instead of going quietly, point foremost, like decent sh.e.l.ls, where they were _aimed_, they would get to _tumbling_, that is, going end over end, or ”swappin' ends” as the Tar Heels used to describe it, and _then_, there was no telling _where_ they would go, except that they would _certainly go wrong_. And, they went very wrong, indeed, on this occasion, in our opinion.
The sound of a tumbling Parrott sh.e.l.l in full flight, is the most horrible noise that ever was heard!--a wild, venomous, fiendish scream, that makes every fellow, in half a mile of it, feel that it is looking for _him particularly_, and _certain_ that it's _going to get him_. I believe it would have made Julius Caesar, himself, ”go for a tree,” or want to, anyhow!
Well! these blood-curdlers came cras.h.i.+ng into us, from the rear, knocking up clouds of dirt, digging great holes, bursting, and raining fragments around us in the field. We were not firing, and had leisure to realize the fix we were in. With the enemy hotly sh.e.l.ling us from the front, and our friends from the rear, obliged to stay by our guns, expecting an infantry a.s.sault every minute, we certainly were in a pretty tight fix, ”'Tween the devil and the deep sea.”
It was the only time I ever saw Lieutenant Anderson excited under fire, but he was excited _now_, and mad too. He said to one of the fellows, ”Go back under the hill, get on a horse, ride as hard as you can, and tell those men on the hill, what confounded work they are doing, and if they fire any more sh.e.l.ls, here, I will open on them immediately.” In a few minutes it was stopped, with many regrets on the part of our friends.
=The Narrow Escape of an Entire Company=
In the midst of all this, an incident took place that created a great deal of amus.e.m.e.nt. Along the line, just back of and somewhat protected by the works, the Texans had pitched several of the little ”shelter tents” we used to capture from the enemy, and found such a convenience.
One of these stood apart. It had a piece of cloth, b.u.t.toned on the back, and closing that end up to about eighteen inches from the top, leaving thus, a triangular hole just under the ridge pole. In this little tent sat four men, a captain and three privates, all that were left of a Company in this Texan Brigade. These fellows were playing ”Seven-up”
and, despite the confusion around, were having a good time. Suddenly, one of the sh.e.l.ls from the hill behind, struck, tumbled over once or twice, and stopped, right in the mouth of that tent, the fuse still burning. The game stopped! The players were up, instantly. The next moment, one fellow came diving headforemost out of that triangular hole at the back, followed fast by the other three--the captain last. It only took ”one time and one motion” to get out of that. Soon as they could pick themselves up, they, all four, jumped behind a tree that stood there; and then, the fuse went out, and the sh.e.l.l didn't burst.
Everybody had seen the sh.e.l.l fall, and were horror stricken at the apparently certain fate of those four men. Now, the absurdity of the scene struck us all, and there were shouts of laughter at their expense.