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KENNESAW'S 
 
 BOMBARDMENT. 
 
 HOW THE SHARPSHOOTERS 
 
 WOKE UP THE BATTERIES. 
 
 By JOSEPH M. BROWN. 
 
 RECORD PUBLISHING CO., ATLANTA, GA. 
 
 189(). 
 
xi! 
 
vj. 
 
KENNESAWS BOMBARDMEfJT. 
 
 OR 
 
 How tliB Sharpshooters 
 
 Woke lip the Batteries. 
 
 JOSEPH M. BROWN. 
 
 Atlanta, Ga. 
 
 Hecord Publishing Company. 
 
 1890. 
 

 Entered ac'Cordiiig to Act ot Congress, in the year of our Lord 1890j 
 
 By Joseph M. Brown, 
 
 In the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington, D.^C. 
 
 2Z~I(^V^ 
 
 

 PREFACE. 
 
 It is customary for an author to introduce his book 
 with a preface, and, since 
 
 "Man yields to custom as he bows to fate," 
 this book will have to begin with a preface, although 
 it has become necessary to drop out a few shells in order 
 to get it in, the only regret of the "men who were on the 
 mountain top," being that the omission was not made 
 over twenty-live years earlier. 
 
 As the reader will readily gather by wading through it, 
 and looking at the pictures, it is intended as a historical 
 novel, — as a view of the panorama which war spread out 
 upon and around Kennesaw Mountain on that "day of 
 thrilling events," — the historical part of it being as nearly 
 correct as it is possible to make it by laboriously and care- 
 fully fishing out the facts with a drag-net with pin-hook 
 attachment, — and the fictitious part being as fascinating 
 as the writer's riotous love of sentiment will allow. If it 
 be urged by the northern reader that the "sentiment" is all 
 southern, it is a fair reply to say that that was the kind 
 which prevailed on Kennesaw at the date shown in the 
 book ; and the author's intention and determination have 
 been to make the picture a true and characteristic on«^. 
 
 In the preparation of this work, there has been the 
 most extensive research, at odd times within the past 
 three years, through official reports, files of daily news- 
 papers published during June, 1864, and correspondence 
 or personal conversations with those who took part in the 
 scenes attempted to be described. All the characters in 
 the book are real ones, except some four or five, and those 
 
the reader, whether he has got his "Counterfeit Detector" 
 with him or not, will doubtless readily pick out. 
 
 There are several anachronisms as to dates, none, how- 
 ever, being actually more than three or four days before 
 or after June 23, and the incidents in question are all 
 brought into that day for the purpose of making it 
 illustrate what was practically the everyday experience 
 during the almost two weeks that the Confederate batteries 
 were on the mountain-top. 
 
 Of course there had to be a pretty girl in it, or else 
 the novel would not have been a stunning success, na 
 matter whether the bombardment was or not. 
 
 Atlanta, Ga., January 15, 1890. 
 
KENNESAW'S BOMBARDMEi\T, 
 
 OR 
 
 How the Sharpshooters Woke up the Batteries. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 It was on the forenoon of Thursday, June 23d, 
 1864. 
 
 A cold, drenching rain had been falling- many 
 hours. The two weeks of wet weather had cul- 
 minated in a furious thunderstorm ; and the past 
 night and this morning had seemed to gather unto 
 themselves almost the terrific grandeur of a tropical 
 tempest. Rain ! rain ! rain ! the forests were drop- 
 ping it like spray, the hillsides were shedding it in 
 sheets, the creeks were becoming rivers. 
 
 But the center of all the elements' fury was Ken- 
 nesaw Mountain. About its twin peaks the clouds 
 had clustered as though the)'^ were a storm magnet. 
 The lightning, which occasionally flashed its daz- 
 zling splendors through the blinding darkness of 
 the night, seemed to blaze around the towering 
 crests like a fiery diadem ; the thunder, which rolled 
 
6 KENNESAW'S BOMBARDMENT. 
 
 forth and reverberated with deafening echoes for 
 leagues around, one could almost imagine was the 
 wrathful shout of the mountain god. How the 
 winds howled ! how the rain poured I 
 
 Thus through the night the aerial battle had 
 raged; and with scarcely less fury had it continued 
 until well into^the forenoon. 
 
 At length, as if from the mere exhaustion of the 
 ■elements, a calm hour came on. The rain ceased 
 falling, except now and then a light mist, which, 
 observed from|the valley, appeared like a veil to 
 adorn the mountain. Then through a rift in the 
 storm-cloud a golden shaft seemed to dart; and the 
 next instant the mountain top was glorified by a 
 halo of dazzling sun-light. Then the drifting fog 
 enveloped it again, and obscurity was lord for a 
 minute. 
 
 But the fresh breeze, which had just sprung up, 
 soon swept away again these "cobwebs from the 
 sky," and majestic Kennesaw's crown once more 
 towered above the vision for miles around. 
 
 Thus alternately the flashing sunlight and the 
 thickly-banked clouds struggled for the possession 
 of the mountain and the surrounding hills and fields. 
 And how similar was this war for mastery of the 
 elements above to that which at the same time was 
 being waged by man below, in which the grandest 
 genius of America was giving direction to the mar- 
 shalling of the bravest and most intelligent soldiery 
 of the age. 
 
WAKING UP THE B VTTERIES. 7 
 
 But now as the storm is breaking, and the first 
 sunshine of a fortnight* is lighting the sky, let us 
 look immediately upon Kennesaw, for there the 
 initial steps are just being taken which will shortly 
 bring about one of the most thrillingly magnificent 
 yet terrific scenes which America ever witnessed. 
 
 For nearly a month Johnston's and Sherman's 
 armies had been fighting with desperate valor in 
 sight of Kennesaw Mountain. Nev/ Hope Church, 
 Pickett's Mill, Lost Mountain, Pine Mountain, Gil- 
 gal Church, Mud Creek, Noonday Creek, Brush 
 Mountain, once names of mere local note, had now 
 become throughout the land household synonyms 
 for scenes of blood. 
 
 The battle front had been successively changed 
 until to-day the Confederate army faced its enemy's 
 almost double numbers with entrenchments which 
 began east of the Western & Atlantic Railroad, 
 thence crossed it, and ran up the long ridge of 
 Kennesaw Mountain, just below the north front of 
 both crests, and, descending its western slant, turned 
 abruptly south, and extended through the valley 
 and over the hills, parallel to the railroad, for some 
 four miles. 
 
 Loring's corps (till late that of the Bishop-General 
 
 ■-"The wpather is villainously bad."— Gen. Sherman to Gen. 
 Thomas, June 18, 1804. ^ , , 
 
 "This is the nineteenth dav of ram, and the prospect of clear 
 weather as far off as ever. The roads are impassable, and fields 
 and woods become quaijmires after a few wagons have crossed. 
 ■•:= =;= a= The enemy holds Kennesaw, a conical mountam, with 
 Marietta behind it, and has retired his flanks to cover that town 
 and his railroad. I am all ready to attack the moment the 
 weather and roads will permit troops and arti'lery to move with 
 anything like life.'"— Gen. Sherman to Gen. Halleck, June 21, 
 1804. 
 
8 KENNESAWS BOMBARDMENT. 
 
 Polk, whose tragic death on Pine Mountain had 
 crowned it in the Southland's memory with the 
 immortelles of melancholy,) covered the mountain. 
 
 Walthall's division (Quarles' brigade on the right, 
 Cantey's in the center and Reynolds' on the left;) 
 extended from the base up the ridge of Great Ken- 
 nesaw to the crest, and there met the right brigade 
 (Ector's) of French's division, which descended to 
 the gap between the two peaks and over the little 
 knob which rises like a hump from the ravine be- 
 tween Great and Little Kennesaw. Ector's brig- 
 ade also occupied the works from this ravine to the 
 top of Little Kennesaw, thence Sears' was pro- 
 longed behind those on the north side of and a little 
 below the summit and partly down the slope on the 
 west, at which point it aligned with Cockrell's Mis- 
 souri brigade, whose front extended down the ex- 
 posed slant, across the ravine and over the high hill 
 on the west, to the plain. 
 
 It was now well into the morning, and General 
 French, who had come from his headquarters up to the 
 mountain top early after breakfast, had just gotten 
 through with a short consultation with his brigade 
 commanders and some others, who had been after- 
 wards called in, to join an informal discussion over 
 the military situation that day. 
 
 Standing by a huge crag near the eastern end of 
 the summit of Little Kennesaw was General French 
 himself, — short in stature, but the ideal of a com- 
 mander. On his right, on a rock, sat Colonel 
 W. S. Barry, who was in command of the brigade 
 
WAKING UP THE BATTERIES. 9 
 
 of General Sears, who was absent this day because 
 of sickness, and by his side, writing in his note-book, 
 was Major D. W. Sanders, General French's Adju- 
 tant-General ; leaning against an artillery caisson 
 in front, examining a map, was the tall form of 
 General Francis M, Cockrell, every inch a soldier; 
 with him stood Lieutenant-Colonel D. Todd 
 Samuels, of the Third Missouri cavalry, and on the 
 other side. Colonel James McCown, of the Fifth 
 Missouri, was I'eading a memorandum order which 
 had just been handed him by Colonel Elijah Gates, 
 the gallant and popular commander of the First 
 Missouri cavalry, and Cockrell's chief lieutenant. 
 
 Standing on the rocky parapet in front of one of 
 the cannon of Hoskins' battery, — whose muzzle 
 faced Pine Mountain, where was now a Federal 
 signal station, — Colonel W. H. Young, of the Ninth 
 Texas cavalry, with a field-glass was surveying the 
 movements of a body of Federal infantry from the 
 vicinity of the Cheatham house on the north toward 
 the mountain. 
 
 By his side was Major Geo. S. Storrs, General 
 French's chief of artillery, who had been called by 
 some, "one of the bravest men in the Confederate 
 army," under whose direction the Confederates had 
 planted several batteries on the crest of the moun- 
 tain. This achievement was one almost wonderful 
 in the boldness of its conception, and the ingenuity 
 and triumph over the apparently insurmountable 
 obstacles which nature had placed in the way. 
 
 The fire from the Federal batteries commanding 
 
10 KENNESAW'S BOMBARDMENT. 
 
 the slanting end of the mountain, he had found a 
 Avay to drag the cannon by men with long ropes, — 
 there being two hundred men allotted to each can- 
 non, in performing this task, — up the steep side on 
 the south; and here now, from behind the mons- 
 trous bowlders, or piles of loose stones, they frowned 
 upon the Federal camps and works in the plain and 
 on the hills far below. 
 
 These parapets were erected by General Gibson's 
 Louisiana Brigade, which was temporarily attached 
 to French's division, being on this date, with Holtz- 
 claw's Alabama Brigade, in reserve behind the 
 mountain. Of General Gibson and his command 
 Major Storrs said : "The artillerymen thought him 
 a very clever gentleman and his brigade fine sol- 
 diers, because all they asked of us was to set the 
 stakes, and then they went energetically at it with 
 picks and shovels, and not only built splendid works, 
 but carried by hand a large amount of ammunition 
 up the mountain and stored it in our extempore 
 magazines, while the artillerymen, except a few to 
 give directions, slept so as to be fresh for the next 
 day." 
 
 Of Major Storrs himself the most characteristic 
 description probably was given by one of the artil- 
 lerymen of Captain Hoskins' detachment on the 
 mountain top, when asked who was in command of 
 that section of Hoskins' battery — the captain him- 
 self being in personal charge of that section which 
 was on the hill to the west of Kenuesaw. Said he : 
 "I cannot say who was in command, unless it was 
 
v;^^V',"*:r^4t^ 
 
 
 PLANTING THE GUNS ON KENNESAW. 
 
12 KENNESAW'S BOMBARDMENT. 
 
 Major Storrs, who, in person, gave us every order 
 we received on the mountain. He was about as 
 near one of us as could be, and often sighted and 
 directed the movement of the guns. In fact, 
 he was everywhere where things were the warmest. 
 He was over the mountain constantly every day, 
 and 1 never saw a time anything was being shot 
 away, but what Major Storrs was in sight or near 
 by. Yes, he was a good one, and you could bet 
 everything you had or could borrow on his personal 
 skill and courage. It would take a great deal of 
 space to write up the good soldierly qualities of 
 Major Storrs." 
 
 Right behind Major Storrs and Colonel Young, 
 sitting on a rock and drawing a profile, were Major 
 Gus(J. A.)ShiDgleur, the division Inspector General, 
 and Captain Porter, of the engineers, who had both 
 assisted Major Storrs in making an examination of 
 Little Kennesaw before the guns were taken up. 
 
 Only a few steps to the left of these, two officers, 
 subordinate in rank, but greatly beloved by officers 
 and men alike, were engaged in earnest conversa- 
 tion. These were Lieutenant Archibald D. Man- 
 ning, a Cumberland Presbyterian preacher, and 
 Lieutenant F. M. Baker, of the Fifth Missouri 
 infantry, a model officer and Christian. 
 
 In front of the parapet, about twenty steps down 
 the mountain side, in the shadow of a tree, was a 
 group of officers and men surveying the prospect 
 below them extending far away on the north and 
 west. 
 
WAKING UP THE BATTERIES. 13 
 
 Among these were Colonel W. H, Clark, of the 
 Forty-sixth Mississippi regiment, (Sears' brigade), 
 Colonel J. L. Camp, of the Fourteenth Texas, 
 Colonel D. Coleman, of the Thirty-ninth North 
 Carolina, Major H. D. E. Redwine,— the latter 
 three belonging to Ector's brigade, and Captain 
 A. J. Booty, of the Fourteenth Texas. 
 
 Sitting on a crag, just to the left, were Captain 
 Pat Canniff, brave and shrewd, and Lieutenant 
 J. R. Mothershead, a most gallant officer and 
 exemplary Christian gentleman. These belonged 
 to Cockrell's brigade. 
 
 Farther up to the left was a group of artillery 
 officers, among whom was Captain Jno. J. Ward, 
 whose gallantry and wisdom as an officer were 
 matched by his genial disposition and estimable 
 social qualities ; although the crowning trait of his 
 character was his pure Christian love. As was 
 said of him, "he was every inch a soldier, every 
 inch a gentleman." By his side Captain James A. 
 Hoskins was engaged in a jocular dispute with 
 Captain R. H. Bellamy over the relative superiority 
 of the ten-pounder Parrott guns which were in their 
 respective batteries. 
 
 "That's very good for bragging," exclaimed Cap- 
 tain C. L. Lumsden, who with Captain Bellamy 
 had left their respective batteries down the west 
 slope of the hill at the end of the mountain, com- 
 manding the Burnt Hickory road from Marietta, 
 and come up here in obedience to orders, to join in 
 a consultation with General French and Maior 
 
14 KENNESAW'S B0MBARDME2^T. 
 
 Storrs; "but my Alabama battery of Napoleons 
 would make both of you jump for cover if I opened 
 upon you." 
 
 "Ha! ha! wait till you hear from the proprietor 
 of Guibor's Missouri battery," interjected Lieuten- 
 ant A. W. Harris, of that battery, "and you'll 
 think there's thunder among the mountains." 
 
 "Well, the Lord knows we don't want any more 
 thunder among the mountains," exclaimed a private, 
 who was burnishing his gun, "especially if it fetches 
 as much rain as it did last night. Gracious! it 
 seemed like Niagaray Falls, as the Vermont Yankee 
 called 'em, was a pouring down on me, as I stood 
 0^1 picket duty near the foot of the mountain. 
 I think enough water soaked into me to dilute all 
 the whisky I'll drink for a month. I didn't want 
 to stay down there in it five minutes, but the 
 trouble was I had an engagement to stay there all 
 night; and it was like an engagement to be hung, — 
 one which couldn't be dispensed with without 
 danger of serious detriment to the public interest." 
 
 "Boys," said Lieutenant Mothershead, who had 
 heard this last remark, "I have been told about 
 being enfolded in the arms of Morpheus; but last 
 night all of us were enfolded in the arms of the 
 thunderstorm. Why, our tent was worth no more 
 than a veil. The clouds rolled against it so thick 
 that you could feel them with the hand; the rain 
 beat in like it was coming throiigh a sieve, and, to 
 cap it all, a gust of wind came howling along and 
 tore it entirely from the pins on one side. Just 
 
WAKING UP THE BATTERIES. 15 
 
 then the lightning seemed to set the whole moun- 
 tain on fire, and the peal of thunder that followed 
 is almost roaring in my ears yet." 
 
 "Well, there's some consolation about it all," 
 exclaimed Captain Canniff, "if another flood comes 
 it will drown the Yankees first; or it will make 
 them come up here and surrender to us. Just 
 imagine* old Sherman's hundred thousand men 
 climbing up the mountain to surrender to our divi- 
 sion ! " 
 
 "How did you say General Sears was?" asked 
 General French of Colonel Barry, as they and 
 several others walked by the group of artillery 
 officers toward the west. 
 
 "I received a note from his headquarters only 
 an hour ago," was the reply, "and he is reported a 
 little better this morning." 
 
 "Well, I am glad to learn that," said General 
 French, "but did I understand you to say that 
 he has established his headquarters down yonder in 
 the valley at the base of the mountain which he will 
 have to climb?" 
 
 "Yes, sir," answered Colonel Barry, "he is down 
 there. You know General Sears comes from Missis- 
 sippi where there is not much mountain climbing." 
 
 "But," said General French, "location and 
 accessibility to his brigade are a necessity. Send 
 word to him that as soon as he recovers he had 
 better move his headquarters nearer the line, the 
 mountain is so inaccessible." 
 
 "All right, General," responded Col. Barry, 
 
16 
 
 KENNESAW'S BOMBARDMENT. 
 
 "and as I am just sending my morning report down 
 to him, I will add that such is your wish in the 
 matter." 
 
 Turning to a sergeant who was with him he wrote 
 a note and handed to him with orders to take the 
 papers to General Sears. 
 
WAKING UP THE BATTERIES. 17 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 '.'Say, Colonel," exclaimed a North Georgia moun- 
 taineer, named Partridge, to Col. Young, "what 
 do you make out of that body of Yankees down 
 there in the field, near the railroad? Don't you 
 think we could creep down ihe mountain, and get 
 the range of 'era, and make 'em behave 'emselves?" 
 
 "Yes," answered the colonel, "they seem to be 
 making observations ; and it might be well to run 
 them behind cover. Suppose you sharpshooters 
 get down among those crags yonder, and try them." 
 
 "Well, we're the chaps to do it," sang out a 
 
 Texan. 
 
 "Love is love and beauty's beauty : 
 But killing Yanks, ah! that is duty." 
 
 sang out a couple of others ; and then the word was 
 passed along the line that the sharpshooters would 
 have the privilege of entertaining themselves for 
 the next hour or two without restraint. 
 
 There were nearly twenty of these wbo were 
 picked men, — selected for fine marksmanship, and 
 furnished with good Whitworth'*^ and Enfield rifles, 
 
 •-"We liatl a corps of sharpshooters, howCTer, perhaps the 
 most expert in the army. They were armed with the Whitworth 
 ritle — an English gun with a tele"scope on the side. This gun was 
 deemed the be.st in use. Each brigade had four of them. We 
 could not procure more. They were expensive and rare." — Ben- 
 ham's "Life of Gen. P. R. Cleburne." 
 
 "I heard that the Whitworth rifles cost fifteen hundred dol- 
 lars a piece in gold in England, and the Yankees never had any of 
 them. I know Porter, one of the picked men, was shot in the eye 
 on Kennesaw or around it, and died in a few days. I shot his gun 
 
18 KENNESAW'S BOMBARDMENT. 
 
 the best which could be imported from Europe or 
 captured from the enemy. Partridge was a vol- 
 unteer member of this body, having joined the ar- 
 my after some of Garrard's cavalry had burned his 
 cabin and turned his family out in the woods. He 
 captured his own rifle, a Whitworth, from a Fed- 
 eral sharpshooter whom he waylaid and killed near 
 Cassville. This identical gun had been taken from 
 a Confederate sharpshooter (of Cheatham's division) 
 who was mortally wounded the day before, near 
 Adairsville. Partridge having rescued it was al- 
 lowed to retain it. 
 
 They disappeared among the bushes down the 
 mountain side, in the neighborhood of a steep, 
 craggy formation of outcropping rocks, where there 
 was perfect shelter from danger from shells. 
 
 "Say, Captain Ward," yelled Partridge, "if they 
 get to shootin' b'ilin' pots at us you must show 'em 
 that your Parrotts can say 'Pretty Poll,' too." 
 
 "Ha! ha!" laughed the captain good-humoredly, 
 "we'll drop some shells among them if they open 
 upon you ; make that group of officers get back out 
 of sight. They are taking too leisurely a look 
 at us." 
 
 "All right, we'll make 'em do it, even if we have 
 
 a few days; but they kick so, and you hold a long telescope to 
 your eye that runs along the barrel, and if you are not careful to 
 keep it tight against the shoulder, so that when you fire your head 
 must come back with the recoil, or else you receive the kick in 
 your eye which would put it out, There were only five of these in 
 our division, and they were the surest to kill of anything. The 
 Whitworth balls are very long, and nearly all the Yankee prison- 
 ers had picked up one as a reliC: saying they had killed a man or 
 a horse a mile in the rear of their army." — Letter from a member 
 of Hoskins' battery to the author. 
 
WAKING UP THE BATTERIES. 19 
 
 to wake up the batteries," halloed Partridge, as he 
 passed out of sight. 
 
 "My Parrotts, eh!" laughed Captain Ward, turn- 
 ing to Major Storrs, "well, Parrotts or Napoleons, 
 they are the same to him if we will only drop a shell 
 or so down yonder should the Yankee artillery open 
 upon him." 
 
 "Yes," answered the major, "Partridge does not 
 care anything about names so he gets the thing he 
 wants. A wonderfully fine marksman he is ; and 
 we will soon hear from him." 
 
 "Why, great heavens! Minon, what does this 
 mean?" exclaimed Captain Ward, as he walked 
 back on the crest of the ridge, and suddenly met 
 one of his sergeants, who was only a few steps in 
 front of a beautiful lady and a little boy. 
 
 "Ah! Captain Ward, let me introduce you to 
 Miss Harper, and to Master Jack Harper," said the 
 gallant young artilleryman. 
 
 Captain Ward's polite bow was met by a most 
 gracelul one from the young lady, while little Jack 
 came forward and extended his hand, saying, "And 
 is this your Captain Ward, Mr. Minon? Why he's 
 a mighty good-looking man to be a cannon man." 
 
 The captain grasped Jack's hand cordially, and 
 answered, "Thank you, Master Jack, I am Captain 
 Ward, the cannon man." 
 
 "Well, then, Captain Ward, I want to join your 
 cannon company, and be one of your soldiers. 
 I want to learn to shoot one of your biggest cannon. 
 They make a heap of noise." 
 
20 KENNESAWS BOMBARDxMENT. 
 
 "Ha! ha! ha!" laughed the captain, "do you 
 think you are large enough, Jack, to shoot a can- 
 non? Then you must know that all of my soldiers 
 have to obey orders; and I am afraid that you 
 would want to get away if I ordered you to stay 
 when the Yankees got to throwing big bombshells 
 all around you." 
 
 "Oh! I'd stay if you ordered me to," answered 
 Jack in a tone of very positive earnestness, "please, 
 Captain, can't I be one of your soldiers?" 
 
 "Yes," said Miss Harper to the captain, "it is 
 Jack's highest ambition to be a soldier, and shoot 
 the cannon. He has been begging for several days 
 to be allowed to come up on the mountain, and see 
 the soldiers and the cannon; so last night Mr. 
 Minon promised that if to-day was fair, he would 
 bring Jack up. He had no idea he would be called 
 upon to do so; but this morning after the clouds 
 scattered, Jack summoned him to niake good his 
 promise, and, after some argument, carried his point. 
 Mother, however, would not agree to let him come 
 till Mr. Minon said he would take special care of 
 him; and then I was persuaded to come along, 
 as there was no danger today, and help keep him 
 within bounds." 
 
 "And, Captain, it would have made you proud 
 of our Georgia young ladies if you had seen how. 
 bravely Miss Harper stood the trip up the mountain 
 side till we arrived here about a half hour ago. 
 She did not seem to be as tired as I was." 
 
 "Oh, no, it is not a feeling of weariness, but of 
 
WAKING UP THE BA.TTERIES. 21 
 
 apprehension of danger which disturbs me," said his 
 fair comrade. "Do you think we are going to have 
 any fighting today, Captain Ward?" 
 
 "Well, I hope not up here to any great extent," 
 answered the latter, "at least for a little while yet. 
 Come forward with me, and look over at the 
 Yankee camps on the north and west." 
 
 "Yes, let's shoot the cannon at 'em, Captain 
 Ward," sang out Jack, 
 
 "Come here, Miss Harper," said Captain Ward, 
 "and let us survey the panorama which war spreads 
 out before us. Look south now to that prominent 
 hill which rises so conspicuously out of the plain, 
 about two or three miles from here. That is the 
 centre of General Cheatham's position, and is just 
 east of the house and farm of a countryman named 
 Channell. His division occupies a strong line of 
 entrenchments on its crest, extends beyond it also 
 to the south, and comes up this way for a few hun- 
 dred yards until it reaches the portion of our line 
 which is held by the gallant Pat Cleburne and his 
 famous division. 
 
 "Ah! what heroes Cleburne and Cheatham are. 
 They are the two ^ions of the Confederate army, — 
 Cheatham combining the resistless impetuosity of a 
 Frenchman in a charge, with the bull-dog grip of an 
 Englishman or Russian, when told to hold a position 
 despite whatever odds are hurled against him ; and 
 Cleburne, with the fiery gallantry of an Irishman,* 
 as he is, in assault sweeping everything before him 
 
 '■' Cleburne was Irisli by birth and raising, t%\t he was of Englisli 
 parentage. 
 
22 
 
 KENNESAW'S BOMBARDMENT. 
 
 like a torrado; and shooting out, if I may use the 
 comparisou, the fervid heat of an iron furnace 
 against all who attempt to penetrate whatever 
 stronghold he is directed to occupy. 
 
 "Then beginning this side of the Marietta and 
 Dallas wagon road, within less than a mile from 
 here and following the line up this way, is the divi- 
 sion of General Bate, of Tennessee; while right 
 adjoining him, and coming up to the very foot of 
 the mountain beneatl^ us, is your Georgia general, 
 
WAKING UP THE BATTERIES. 23 
 
 Wm. H. T. Walker, a comparatively small man in 
 stature, but one who could give Julius Ca'sar 
 some lessons in courage if the great Roman were 
 alive to-day. These four divisions compose Gen- 
 eral Hardee's corps. 
 
 "Then General French's division starts near the 
 foot of the mountain and comes up to where we are, 
 and runs along before us around the side of the 
 mountain, and thence crosses the ravine to our 
 right and up almost to the very summit of Great 
 Kennesaw over yonder, where he joins General 
 Walthall, whose courage is the admiration of the 
 army ; thence, as we go down the mountain to its 
 base we could see, if we were on Big Kennesaw, 
 where Featherston's division ends beyond the 
 Western & Atlantic Railroad, and Wheeler's dis- 
 mounted cavalry occupies the trenches which up to 
 yesterday General Hood's corps have held, and 
 which extend tor nearly a mile east of here ; but 
 General Hood'scommand has been transferred* from 
 
 *"As the extension of tlie Federal army toward the Chattahoo- 
 chee made a corresponding one necessary on our part, Hood's 
 corps was transferred from the right to the Marietta and Powder 
 Spring road, his right near the south of Cheatham's left. General 
 Hood was instructed to endeavor to prevent any progress of the 
 Federal right toward the railroad, the course of which was nearly 
 parallel to our left and centre. Our position, consequently, was a 
 very hazardous one." — Johnston's Narrative, page a39. 
 
 "Johnston had begun to be concerned for the Marietta and 
 Powder Spring road, for Hooker's right was close to it, and Scho- 
 tield's movements were threatening to put him astride of it. 
 Hardee had stretched his lines quite as (ar as was sale, and the 
 Confederate commander determined to move the whole of Hood's 
 corps from the right to the left flank. Ordering Wheeler to show 
 a bold front and make as strong a fight with his dismounted cav- 
 alry as he could, Johnston lett these, with such help as could be 
 got by stretching Loring's corps to the right, to till the trenches 
 out of which Hood was drawn. This movement was made in the 
 night of the 21st. ■■' ■■' '■'■ It is uncertain to what degree Loring's 
 corps had been extended to Johnston's right to supjily the place 
 from which Hood had been taken; but it'is hardly credible that 
 
24 KENNESAW'S BOMBARDMENT. 
 
 tliat position to our extreme left, and occupies a 
 iine of works which run probably a mile or two 
 southward. He had a pretty tough fight down 
 yonder yesterday near Ivolb's farm, and I am sorry 
 to say we got the worst of it. The Yankees, you 
 see, are swinging to their right and to our left 
 which is south of us. They are attempting to get 
 possession of the railroad in our rear, and all of 
 General Johnston's anxiety now, I think, is to 
 maintain his communications. We must protect 
 the railroad or we cannot hold Marietta and Kenne- 
 saw Mountain." 
 
 "God grant that they may never secure a further 
 lodgement on our State road ! " said Miss Harper, 
 "for Kennesaw, the citadel of Georgia, must be 
 held, or the waves of war's tempest will dash 
 around Atlanta itself." 
 
 "Yes; that is true," said Captain Ward, "if Ken- 
 nesaw is given up Atlanta will have the enemy at 
 her doors. And, speaking of Atlanta, now look to 
 the southeast, and you can plainly see the church 
 spires and the smoke from the foundries in Atlanta, 
 twenty miles distant. There is the goal of Sher- 
 man's ambition. There is the heart of the Con- 
 federacy; and if the Yankees can pierce it, the 
 
 Wheeler's cavalry alone had been able to impose upon Mcl'herson, 
 who eertainly heUeved and reported that the intrenchnienti in his 
 front were held by infantrv."— Cox's ' Atlanta," pp. IdiS, 115. 
 
 It may be "hardly credible," but Wheeler's cavalry did 
 "impose iipon McPherson'' nevertheless. 
 
 I'eatlierston's division of Loring's corps vras extended from 
 the Western A- Atlantic Railroad, where its right originally rested, 
 only about a louple of hundred yards east of it, and the rest of the 
 entrenchments of Hood's corps were held by Wheeler's dis- 
 mounted cavalrv. 
 
26 KENNESAWS BOMBARDMENT. 
 
 South will then receive her most desperate wound. "^ 
 
 "What mountain is that which rises 'solitary and 
 alone' out of the plain to the left of Atlanta?" asked 
 Miss Harper. 
 
 "That is Stone Mountain," said Captain Ward, 
 "one of Georgia's curiosities. See, it sits upon the 
 level horizon like a huge cone or helmet." 
 
 "Yes, sir," answered the young lady, "I now 
 remember it well." 
 
 "And over to the east, beyond Big Kennesaw 
 some five miles or more, is Black Jack Mountain 
 with its several crests. Then look, too, to the 
 north at those high peaks which pierce the horizon. 
 Those are the Allatoona Mountains. If you will 
 examine closely, you can see a depression in the 
 ridge just this side of the mountains. That is 
 Allatoona Fass, an artificial cut over a hundred fpet 
 deep, through which the Western & Atlantic rail- 
 road emerges from the mountain fastnesses into the 
 open country on this side. All the desperate fight- 
 ing which we had in the wilderness around New 
 Hope Church was caused by Sherman's flank move- 
 ment there, which was intended to force us to give 
 up the Allatoona Pass. 
 
 "The fighting was the most desperate and bloody 
 which we have had since the campaign opened ; 
 but Sherman accomplished his purpose by making 
 the line too long for us to hold with our inferior 
 numbers, and we fell back to Kennesaw. 
 
 "The trains, with supplies for the Yankee army, 
 now come through the pass and down to Big 
 
WAKING UP THE BATTERIES. 27 
 
 Shanty, which you see over yonder about six miles 
 to the north, but for the present, at least. General 
 Johnston says to them, 'Thus far and no farther.' 
 
 "Ah! by the way, Miss Harper," said Captain 
 Ward, '-direct the field-glass almost immediately 
 south of us to that house in a grove just by the 
 Dallas road from Marietta, and in the suburbs of 
 Marietta. That is Mr. Kirkpatrick's house, which 
 is General Johnston's headquarters." 
 
 "Oh, Captain Ward," said Jack, "the Yankees 
 are down there all along the front of our men, ain't 
 they?" 
 
 "Yes, Jack," replied Captaiji Ward, "it is too 
 true that they are ; and they are very close neigh- 
 bors, too. We had much rather have their room 
 than their company;" — then turning to Miss Har- 
 per, he continued : 
 
 "Right in front of our line, and not more than 
 some three or four hundred yards distant on an 
 average, the Yankee army is maintaining its death- 
 grapple with ours. Look and see, almost as far as 
 the eye can reach to the southwest, those white dots 
 on the earth show the thousands of tents of the 
 Yankee army. You observe they come in a sort 
 of irregular line up from the south to the west, 
 then make an angle and whiten the fields and 
 forests below us on the north. Occasionally you 
 see hundreds of them apparently grouped together 
 like a town. These are where some divisions are 
 in reserve, instead of being located in line of battle 
 behind regular works. There must be at least ten 
 
28 KENNESAW'S BOMBARDMENT. 
 
 thousand of them iu reach of the eye. Tlieu 
 notice the white specks which are moving in long 
 lines. Those are the Yankee wagon-trains. There 
 are some ambulances for the wounded among them 
 which our boys make them have a good deal of use 
 for. Down yonder to the south in front of Cheat- 
 ham's and part of Cleburne's lines is Hooker's 
 corps, — 'Fighting Joe' Hooker, as the Yankees call 
 him, and it must be admitted that he is a pretty 
 tough fighter; but he has met his match without 
 any question when he faces our redoubtable Ten- 
 nesseean and the 'Confederate Irishman,' as the 
 Yankees call Cleburne. Up at Ringgold, just 
 two days after our defeat at Missionary Ridge, 
 Cleburne gave Hooker a whipping which will go 
 down to history. Hooker, by the way, has the only 
 corps of eastern troops who are in Sherman's army. 
 The rest are western men; and we find the western 
 pioneers are generally harder fighters than ea-tern 
 shop-clerks; but Hooker partially counteracts that 
 by his personal skill and dash. 
 
 "Thence on Hooker's left, and coming up this 
 way, is Palmer's corps. They are good fighters, 
 too, and we have our hands full holding them oflf; 
 but they have not made such progress as they must 
 naturally desire, even if they have overwhelm- 
 ing numbers. Further up this way, and almost 
 beneath us, is the Fourih Corps, which General 
 Howard commands. He is the one, you know, 
 that Pat Cleburne administered such a terrible 
 drubbing to, over near New Hope Church and 
 
30 KENNESAW'S BOMBARDMENT. 
 
 Pickett's Mill on the 27th of last mooth, and, by 
 the way, that was northwest of here, to the right of 
 Lost Mountain, which you see rising so promi- 
 nently over yonder. 
 
 "Cleburne was on our right up there, and the 
 Yankees were trying to flank us that evening, and 
 he was ordered to check the movement at all haz- 
 ards. He took position in the forest on the hill- 
 side, and the Yankees came down the opposite hill 
 and up that one in six lines. They marched up 
 the ascending slope until all at once their front line 
 found itself facing Cleburne's men in the open 
 forest. There was not the sign of a breastwork 
 occupied by either. Cleburne made his men hold 
 their fire until the Yankees had come up to within 
 about fifteen paces of them, and then gave the 
 order. Such a destructive volley has scarcely ever 
 been seen in warfare. It is said that out of several 
 hundred men only seven were left standing. The 
 next column came up; but our boys had gotten 
 ready again, and felled nearly every one of them 
 with the second volley. Then they had it hot and 
 heavy for awhile; but the Yankees were utterly 
 routed." 
 
 "Then we gave them the worst kind of a beating, 
 didn't we, Captain Ward?" said Jack. 
 
 "Yes, Jack," answered Captain Ward, laughing 
 heartily, "we gave them as bad a beating as they 
 ever had;" and, continuing, he said, "Down in 
 front of the mountain, and joining Howard's corps 
 on the left, is Logan's, which extends, fronting us, 
 
WAKING UP THE BATTERIES. 31 
 
 to and across the Western & Atlantic Railroad, 
 •which crosses Noonday valley on that huge red 
 "embankment you see down yonder ; and on that 
 little rise which you observe just east of the rail- 
 road, the .Yankees in his command are constructing 
 a casemated battery which, I fear, will worry us a 
 great deal." * 
 
 "What is a casemated battery?" inquired Miss 
 Harper. 
 
 "Why, it is one which is covered up. They first 
 make entrenchments and put their cannon in them, 
 and then build a framework of logs above, and on 
 the top they place a timber roof over all these, and 
 on this roof they pile a thick layer of earth, so that 
 a shell from above falling upon it, makes practically 
 
 From Report of Gen. P. J. Osterhaus. 
 
 <= "These sharpshooters had been annoying the artillerists and 
 infantry in my main works considerably. ■•■ ■' ■■' In following up 
 the enemy, however, it was found that he had only fallen back 
 about a mile into a second line of works running along the crest of 
 Kennesaw and on the slope east and west, thus protecting the town 
 of Marietta about three miles in their rear. =•' =■' '■= On the '20th 
 of June, in pursuance to orders received, Col. Williamson's (2nd) 
 Brigade deployed on the crest of the hill to the right of the second 
 division, where he entrenched himself. This position was in the 
 direct front of the rebel batteries placed on the very summit of 
 Big Kennesaw, and exposed to their plunging fire. Between the 
 riglit of Col. Williamson's line and the (Western & Atlantic) rail- 
 road, which here runs through a gap in the mountains, was a con- 
 siderable interval. "•■= * =■' 
 
 "In order to resist the artillery fire which the enemy con- 
 stantly kept up from his batteries (as well as musketry fire from 
 the rifle pits on the slope of the mountain) while these lines were 
 Iseing established, I built two casemated batteries for my rifled 
 guns (two 3-ineh Rodman and two 20-pound Parrotts." 
 
 Gen. Osterhaus adds, regarding the operations of June 23d : 
 "I opened fire from these batteries, and with such precision that 
 the mountain batteries were not only silenced whenever they 
 opened, but were entirely withdrawn June 25th." 
 
 This last statement was either an intentional fiction or a care- 
 less mistake; for these batteries were not withd'awn until the 
 night of July 2nd, and, in fact, during a part of that dqjr (July 2nd) 
 they maintained, for some two hours or more, a very hot bombard- 
 ment upon the Federal position below. 
 
32 KENNESAW'S BOMBARDMENT. 
 
 no impression. We have either to fire right into a 
 port-hole or our discharge goes for nothing. From 
 this elevation, or from a long distance, a shot will 
 not enter a casemated battery. 
 
 "Over on this line to the east of the railroad, 
 fronting Great Kennesaw and extending east of it, 
 is Blair's corps, of McPherson's army, as we under- 
 stand it. They only arrived at the front and reen- 
 forced Sherman's grand army last week. Several days 
 ago they made an impetuous attack upon and cap- 
 tured an entire regiment of our boys. The men on 
 top of the mountain saw the whole thing; but there 
 was no means of signaling them to retreat. * 
 
 "And that reminds me, look yonder to the sum- 
 mit of Great Kennesaw, Miss Harper, see that red 
 flag which the man on top of the rock is waving as 
 against the sky. That is our signal flag. That is 
 now being watched through field-glasses from Mari- 
 etta and from several other points. The man is 
 giving information of the Yankee army's movements 
 as seen from the mountain top. 
 
 •:="0n the 15th we advanced our general lines, intending to 
 attack at any weak point discovered between Kennesaw and Pine 
 Mountain; but Pine Mountain was found to be abandoned, and 
 Johnston had contracted li's front somewhat, on a direct line, con- 
 necting Ken' esaw with Lost Mountain. Thomas and Schofield 
 thereby gained about two miles of most difficult country, and 
 McPherson's left lapped well around the north end of Kennesaw. 
 We captured a good many prisoners, among them a whole infantry 
 regimt-nt, the Fourteenth Alabama, three hundred and twenty 
 strong." — Sherman's Memoirs, Vol. II, page 54. 
 
 An uncle of the author was on the mountain top and, through 
 a field-glass, saw the Federals surround this regiment (the 
 Fortieth, instead of the Fourteenth, Alabama) in the forest, and 
 observed them throw down their arms in surrender, and march 
 off to the rear of the Federal position, under guard. 
 
 "Oh! iww we did wish," said he to the author, "when we savf 
 the Yankees eirclmg through the woods on either side to get 
 behind them, that we had some means of signaling to them from 
 the mountain top, to let them know their danger." 
 
waej:ng up the batteries. 
 
 33 
 
 "A few days ago I remember his message was 
 one which brought poignaDt grief to every man in 
 the army. It was the information that our grand 
 Bishop-General Polk had just been killed on the 
 summit of Pine Mountain. The information was 
 signalled from the station on Pine Mountain to that 
 on Kennesaw, and thence repeated to the other 
 
 -■5-■^ V-- 
 
 DEATH OF GENERAL POLK. 
 
 stations around here. Ah ! that was worse than a 
 killing in battle, — that was a tragedy." 
 
34 KENNESAW'S BOMBARDMENT. 
 
 "Yes," exclaimed Miss Harper with a shudder, 
 "that was war's most awful tragedy. May God 
 have mercy upon the hands that did it!" 
 
 "After his death," continued Captain Ward, 
 "his remains were brought down to the Hardage 
 house, which you see in that clump of trees yonder 
 to the northwest, and scarcely a half mile from the 
 western end of the mountain. The Burnt Hickory 
 road from Marietta runs right by the house. The 
 body of the noble old man lay in an ambulance 
 under a grand oak tree for a couple of hours before 
 they got everything ready and carried it to Marietta 
 to send to Augusta for burial." 
 
 "Yes," said Miss Harper," "I remember coming 
 up from Atlanta on the train several days ago, and 
 the conductor, Mr. Sanford Bell, was telling me 
 that the Bishop's remains were carried down to 
 Atlanta on his train." 
 
 "But let us go forward a little," said the captain, 
 "and we can look immediately down the mountain 
 side on the north. Hear that whistle! and look 
 yonder. Miss Harper, toward Big Shanty. See the 
 train of cars coming down the Western & Atlan- 
 tic Railroad, in the rear of the Yankee lines and 
 toward the mountain. Ah, the rascals! the very 
 same railroad which is our sole dependence for sup- 
 plies from the south is also their sole means of 
 communication with the north. Where we have it, 
 it is our salvation, and where they have it, it is one 
 of the strongest weapons against us. Their every 
 great movement heretofore has been for the purpose 
 
WAKING UP THE BATTEKTES. 35 
 
 of breaking it in our rear, and thus paralyzing us; 
 and we could afford to give almost a fourth of our 
 army if we could ruin it in their rear. 
 
 "And, by the way, speaking of the railroad 
 reminds me of an achievement by a Yankee engi- 
 neer several days ago, which, although it chagrined 
 us a good deal at the time, yet, I must confess, 
 appeals more highly to our admiration than to our 
 resentment. 
 
 "While a number of us were strengthening our 
 works on the mountain, and otherwise occupying 
 our time as profitably as soldiers on the lookout can, 
 some one called our attention to a locomotive 
 which was coming down from the direction of Big 
 Shanty toward the mountain. 
 
 " 'What are they after?' was the general inquiry, 
 'is it bearing a flag of truce ? ' 
 
 "Through our field-glasses several of us could 
 see the engine as it came at the rate of six or eight 
 miles an hour toward our lines. 
 
 "Our soldiers in the breastworks could he ob- 
 served getting upon the parapets in swarms, and 
 we could imagine the curiosity they felt at seeing 
 the Yankee locomotive commg straight forward, as 
 if its engineer was trying to get away from old 
 Sherman and bring a first-class prize with him as 
 an offering of loyalty to us. 
 
 "Suddenly he began to slow down, and within 
 less than a minute the engine stopped, apparently 
 within scarcely a hundred yards in front of our 
 works. 
 
36 KENNESAW'S BOMBARDMENT. 
 
 "We then saw her begin to back toward the 
 Yankee lines, after her engineer had first made her 
 give a saucy, shrill whistle which was plainly heard 
 by every man up here. 
 
 "The next instant we could see an irregular suc- 
 cession of puffs of smoke breaking forth from all 
 along our breastworks as far as they were within 
 range or sight of her, and a moment afterward the 
 rattling sound of musketry was faintly heard from 
 below. 
 
 '"Spying our works, by jingo!' yelled a soldier 
 up here, and another added, 'Ain't that the most 
 audacious trick you ever saw a Yankee plfy?' 
 
 "Another shrill blast of the whistle was heard, as 
 the engine began accelerating her backward motion 
 every instant. 
 
 "All at once the boom of a cannon was heard, 
 and we saw the cloud of smoke arising from that 
 high hill on the right of the railroad, which is 
 called Brush Mountain, and a smaller cloud and 
 report right beyond the now flying locomotive told 
 us that a shell had been sent after her by one of 
 our batteries, 
 
 "The example was contagious, and from all 
 along the top of the mountain the yell arose, 'Open 
 fire upon the impudent scoundrels, and blow their 
 engine up.' 
 
 "Every artilleryman, without needing orders, 
 ran to the guns, and, before a minute had elapsed, 
 one of Guibor's guns banged away and sent a shell 
 after her. But, gracious! the shell missed her fully 
 
WAKING UP THE BATTERIES. 37 
 
 three hundred yards. For once in his life Sam 
 Kennard made a bad shot. 
 
 "The rest of us followed suit, and the loud reports 
 irom Big Kennesaw told that the artillery over 
 there was also after her. 
 
 "We could see the smoke from the explosion of 
 our shells and from those on the hills below, but 
 I don't think a single one struck within a hun- 
 dred yards of the engine. The Yankee escaped, 
 and no doubt was a great hero in his camp, — and 
 deservedly so I must admit, for it was certainly a 
 most daring deed, and one which calls for the 
 applause of all brave men. 
 
 "We were naturally a little fretted at the success 
 of the fellow in coming almost into our lines and 
 then giving us the slip, and in the most saucy man- 
 ner too ; but next morning we felt somewhat dis- 
 comfited when some one told us that a Yankee 
 picket who had been captured, had stated that the 
 engineer and an officer, named Potter, had been 
 sent down toward our lines in the locomotive, by 
 General Sherman's orders, to draw our fire and 
 determine the location of our guns on the mountain 
 and among the hills. He said they were in great 
 glee over the success of the venture. 
 
 "You see that was practically the first pass they 
 had made at us since we abandoned the New Hope 
 Church line of defense and assumed this at Ken- 
 nesaw Mountain, hence the development of the 
 location of our new line was an important matter 
 for them. Their locomotive scheme beat sending 
 
38 KENNESAW'S BOMBARDMEIST. 
 
 forward several thousand men and running them 
 into an ambush, or at least getting them caught 
 between a cross fire from strong works such as 
 we have. 
 
 "However, if it was any source of gratification to 
 them, they are welcome to it, for they have not had 
 any success worth bragging about since they have 
 been fighting around Kennesaw, unless we except 
 General Hood's defeat below here yesterday. 
 Hood's rashness and independence of action have, 
 on two or three occasions during the campaign, 
 amounted almost to insubordination. Oh, if Pat 
 Cleburne or Cheatham were only in command of 
 that corps, instead of Hood, we would have every 
 reason to be satisfied ! I have heard it intimated 
 that General Hood is quietly intriguing for the 
 command of the army in General Johnston's stead* 
 Woe be to the army, the cause and the country 
 if he succeeds ! 
 
 "Ah! but look down yonder, Miss Harper, ta 
 the right of Big Kennesaw, and close to its base. 
 See that multitude of white spots, some ot them 
 moving about in that open field. That is our 
 wagon train. It has been placed, as you see, be- 
 hind the mountain ; but since the Yankees began 
 throwing shells over the summit some two or three 
 days ago they have caused a good deal ot confusion 
 down there. General Walthall was speaking of it 
 last night, and laughingly remarked about the 
 shells, which exploded in the air and scattered their 
 fragments promiscuously below, 'Whenever they 
 
WAKING UP THE BATTERIES. 39 
 
 fail to hit a man they frighten a mule, consequently 
 the wagon train is in an uproar half the time.'" 
 
 "But, oh! what is the matter with those poor 
 fellows who are lying on the ground, while their 
 comrades seem trying to make them comfortable?" 
 asked Miss Harper. 
 
 "There has been considerable sickness in our 
 division, as well as others recently," said Captain 
 Ward. "The hot weather, night marches, expos- 
 ure to heavy rains, loss of sleep and the lack of 
 vegetables, and the consequent diet of bread and 
 bacon only has told on them. I have, in fact 
 for several days, been sick myself, and came on 
 duty this morning for the first time in a week, and, 
 to tell the truth, ought not to have come to-day; 
 but I felt that I ought to be at my post if it were 
 possible. General Johnston is appealing to the 
 people to send us vegetables, and using every means 
 in his power to remedy the evil. Ah ! the general 
 public does not appreciate how nobly he watches 
 over his soldiers; but we see it evidenced by a 
 dozen or more proofs every day. Not only does he 
 endeavor to prevent any useless sacrifice of the lives 
 of his men, but he constantly attempts to keep them 
 healthy, and I can safely say that nine-tenths of the 
 men in this army have the most unbounded con- 
 fidence in their commander. In fact, I have never 
 seen or heard of an army which was so devoted to 
 its leader." 
 
 "Oh, Captain, just listen to those cannon firing 
 
40 KENNESAW'S BOMBARDMENT. 
 
 over yonder to the west; let's go there and see 
 what's the matter," exclaimed Jack eagerly. 
 
 "Yes," said Captain Ward, "there is heavy firing 
 going on below the foot of the mountain, on the 
 west; I have been noticing the sound of the cannon 
 for some minutes; but it is about a mile from 
 here and cannot affect us on the mountain top. 
 But let us go over toward the western slope and 
 watch it. General French, Major Storrs and a 
 number of others have walked that way. And 
 I should like to introduce you to General French 
 and Major Storrs. They are both such perfect 
 gentlemen, as well as splendid commanders." 
 
 "Oh! Captain, is it safe to go?" asked Miss Har- 
 per. "Had we better do so?" 
 
 "There is no danger at all up here, Miss Harper," 
 he answered, "the fightmg is on the hills about six 
 hundred feet below us, and fully a mile away from 
 the foot of the mountain." 
 
 They walked down the crest, and at one point 
 behind Guibor's battery, the captain remarked : 
 
 "Here was where Lieutenant McBride was killed 
 by a Yankee cannon shot last Saturday. He was 
 at the time in command of this battery, Captain 
 Guibor being absent, as he still is, from sickness." 
 
 "General Johnston sent orders for the batteries 
 on Kennesaw Mountain to open actively on the 
 enemy and draw their fire, and thus develop their 
 position and the number of their pieces of artillery. 
 
 "This we did, and we soon had a considerable 
 bombardment directed against us from along their 
 
WAKING UP THE BATTERIES. 41 
 
 line. In the midst of this, Major Storrs got upon a 
 large rock, which I will show you to the west of us, 
 to count their guns. He was thus occupied for 
 about a half hour, and, Irom counting them over 
 carefully several times, found that we were under 
 fire from one hundred and lorty cannon. One of 
 their missiles struck McBride and killed him. 
 Poor fellow ! he was a splendid officer and a most 
 noble gentleman. He was one who was always 
 ready for any emergency ; but his is now the soldier's 
 last sleep: he has fought his last fight and the 
 reveille will awake him no more. But to change 
 the subject a minute," added the captain, "here is 
 my battery near the end of the peak. I have four 
 Napoleons, as they are called. You see them here 
 behind the parapets of rock which we have piled up 
 on the otherwise almost naked surface of granite ; 
 and I suppose you have, within the past three days, 
 seen the smoke of our guns even from the windows 
 of your t ome in Marietta." 
 
 They soon reached the western c^d of the peak, 
 and stood upon an immense bald, rocky formation 
 which was its extreme point. From here the de- 
 scent was very steep, and there was an unobstructed 
 view for miles to the west and south. General 
 French and Major Storrs wjre standing here with 
 General Cockrell and General Ector, the latter of 
 whom had just returned from a visit to General 
 Johnston's headquarters; and, as Captui Ward 
 and his party came up, General French who stood 
 facing her, bowed very politely to the young lady, 
 
42 KENNESAW'S BOMBARDMENT. 
 
 and Captain Ward immediately introduced her to 
 the three officers. 
 
 General French remarked, "This reminds me of 
 a visit of one of the Graces to Olympu?*, the home 
 of the thunder-clouds." 
 
 "Yes," said Miss Harper, "and since I have 
 gotten up here, I have thought for twenty times or 
 more that the Grace had better have staid at home 
 and left Mars alone to associate with Jupiter." 
 
 "Oh, well," said General French, with a laugh, 
 "there have been things done which were more 
 imprudent than this." 
 
 "And you can say another thing, Miss Harper," 
 said General Cockrell, "and that is that very few 
 ladies in Georgia have looked down upon a battle, 
 as you are now doing." 
 
 "And," said General Ector, "if our boys down 
 yonder only knew how fair a face was directed 
 toward them from up here almost among the clouds, 
 they would fight as they have hardly ever fought 
 before. You are observing what very few ladies 
 have ever had equal chances of seeing." 
 
 "Yes," added Major Storrs, "there are very few 
 ladies who have witnessed so fierce a bombard- 
 ment from opposing batteries without being in any 
 danger. " 
 
 "Here we are up on the eagle's perch," said 
 Captain Ward, "and we can, without fear, glance 
 downward upon the dangers of those who are 
 hundreds of feet below us." 
 
 "But," said Miss Harper, as she looked back at 
 
WAKING UP THE BATTERIES. 43 
 
 one of Captain Ward's pieces of artillery, "we are, 
 as General French said a minute or so ago, on 
 Georgia's Olympus whence the thunderbolts dart." 
 
 "Well," answered Captain Ward, "I hope the 
 Yankees will think they are worse than thunder- 
 bolts by the time I get an opportunity to open 
 upon them." 
 
 "But, look, Miss Harper," said General French, 
 "see, down to the west of us, the dense clouds of 
 smoke which are rising from our lines and those of 
 the Yankees. There you wiU notice those quick 
 puffs which burst forth as from the earth. The 
 sound is like near thunder. The Yankees have 
 over thirty pieces of artillery concentrated against 
 a portion of our lines. Now look through this 
 glass, and you can see strong columns of the enemy 
 advancing under cover of that heavy bombardment, 
 and they are driving in our skirnaishers. Those 
 little whiffs of smoke which from up here appear no 
 larger than the pufi from a cigar, are the discharges 
 from our skirmish line. There, they come in pretty 
 regular array. You see the heavy work which is 
 being done by our batteries. Those are on our 
 main line, and the Yankees had as well give up 
 any attempt against that." * 
 
 *"JuNE 23. — In accordance with request of General Thomas 
 I tried an intrenched height in front of General Newton's and 
 Stanley's position, it being doubted whether or not this was a 
 position of the enemy's main line. I opened upon it a concen- 
 trated artillery fire from as many guns as I could bring to bear, 
 and immediately afterwards advanced a strong skirmish line, 
 which drove th° enemy within his vporks and developed a heavy 
 
 artillery and musketry fire. By this operation I advanced our 
 lines, particularly on the extreme right, to very close proximity to 
 the rebel works. These proved to be hii main lines, covereci by 
 
 troublesome abatis and other entanglements." — Gen. O. O. How- 
 ard's Report of Operations of the Fourth Army Corps. 
 
44 KENNESAW'S BOMBARDMENT. 
 
 They gazed intently at the exciting melee in the 
 woods far below them, the scene being somewhat 
 obscured, however, by the smoke, and then, as the 
 little force of Confederates was seen retreating in 
 groups, firing as they fled before the storm of 
 shells and the heavy infantry lines. Miss Haiper 
 exclaimed : 
 
 "Oh! the sound of the guns is terrible. Do you 
 really think our soldiers will be able to hold our 
 position? See how strong the Yankee line is, com- 
 pared with ours." 
 
 "Yes, but if you were down there and could see 
 our men, you would not have any fear that the 
 Yankee column which is now moving against it, 
 would be able to break it," answered General 
 French. 
 
 They stood for nearly a quarter of an hour longer, 
 observing the fight which was going on. This was 
 principally, however, an artillery duel, with the 
 exception that the Federals had moved forward 
 under cover of the fire of about thirty pieces of 
 artillery and had somewhat advanced their position 
 toward the Confederate main works. 
 
 "Captain Ward, what is that man doing?" asked 
 Jack, pointing to a soldier who was sitting on a 
 large rock with a pencil and a sheet of paper, 
 intently surveying the panorama below, and leis- 
 urely sketching it. 
 
 "Ah!" answered the captain, "he is drawing a 
 picture of the fight. Jack. Some of our soldiers 
 are apt artists." 
 
WAKING UP THE BATTERIES. 45 
 
 "Yes," said the soldier with a smile, "but it's a 
 safe disciple of art I am this time, as I am not 
 under fire, but securely perched above the fire. 
 ' Tomada en gloho' (taken from a balloon) the Span- 
 iards say of some panoramic pictures taken mid-air 
 by venturesome photographers ; but I am beating 
 them, for I have a firmer foundation to rest my 
 easel on." 
 
 "Let me see," said Miss Harper, leaning over 
 and surveying his sketch, "upon my word, you 
 have made such a true picture. There is Lost 
 Mountain on the horizon, then the undulating hills, 
 and below us is the open field at the end of 
 the mountain, and the dotted lines showing the 
 advancing columns of soldiers and the little clouds 
 of smoke. There is everything, except the sound." 
 
 "Thank you kindly. Miss," answered the soldier 
 with a bow, "I will always be proud of the compli- 
 ment." 
 
 General French then remarked, "Well, I think 
 that we have seen the termination of to-day's fight. 
 The enemy have no idea of an assault at present 
 upon our line, and this is merely the cover to a 
 partial forward movement." 
 
 Captain Ward exclaimed, "Yes, that's so. Now 
 Miss Harper, let us go back to the middle of the 
 peak, and see how matters are getting along there. 
 I wish to point out one or two other objects of 
 interest to you." 
 
 With a polite bow to General French and the 
 
46 KENNESAW'S BOMBARDMENT. 
 
 other officers, Captain Ward and his party then 
 left them. 
 
 "Captain Ward, is that man waving his flag [so 
 as to show the old Yankees that we have still got 
 the mountain and they can't take it away from us?" 
 asked Jack, as they observed an officer on top of a 
 high rock near the western end of the mountain 
 and just where it began sloping down toward the 
 north. 
 
 "No, Jack, not exactly that," ansAvered the cap- 
 tain; "but he is on observation here, and is signal- 
 ing to our men on the front side of Big Kennesaw, 
 and to the observation post west of Marietta, and 
 givin? them the news of the progress and result of 
 the fight down below us. I am glad it is favorable 
 news to-day. 
 
 "That is what we call 'Observation Rock.' 
 From it Major Storrs counted the Yankee guns, as 
 I was saying a while ago ; and every day the officer 
 on observation duty on this end of the mountain 
 takes his position upon it, and from there can see 
 everything to the north and west, and also to the 
 south. You could, if you were upon it, look over 
 the backbone of the mountain where we are, and 
 trace our line, with a field-glass, clear down to the 
 hill where General Cheatham's division rests, nearly 
 three miles to the south, besides noticing the gen- 
 eral level of the country for miles beyond." 
 
 "What a queer rock it is!" said Jack, "you can 
 look under it and see the hills and fields and the 
 Yankee tents in front of the mountain." 
 
WAKING UP THE BATTERIES. 
 
 47 
 
 "Yes," answered the captain, "the tempests of a 
 great many ages have washed the under side of it 
 until it seems to rest upon the mountain top as if 
 
 ,^}^I^Ui,^ 
 
 it was not there originally, but had been thrown up 
 here by some great giant's hand." 
 
 "Whoopee!" exclaimed Jack with some enthusi- 
 asm, "Jack, the giant-killer, would have had a 
 hard time killing him, wouldn't he?" 
 
48 KENNESAW'S BOMBARDMENT. 
 
 "I should think he would have," replied Captain 
 Ward with a smile; "but let us go." 
 
 "This is your battery, I believe you said a few 
 minutes ago, did you not, Captain Ward?" asked 
 the young lady, as they were passing the guns near 
 the western end of the crest. 
 
 "Yes, these are mine, — four Napoleons," replied 
 the captain, "and just beyond me to the east are 
 three Napoleon guns of Guibor's Missouri battery. 
 Their other gun was damaged by a Yankee shot, 
 and has been sent to Marietta for repairs. These 
 Missourians are magnificent fighters, and they are 
 adepts in handling this battery. 
 
 "Then, on their right, and near the northeastern 
 end of Little Kennesaw, is a section, or two guns, 
 of Hoskins' Mississippi battery. They have fine 
 pieces, and they deserve them. There are four 
 brothers named Hoskins in this battery, one of 
 whom, Captain Jim Hoskins, commands it. They 
 are splendid soldiers, and theirs is very justly con- 
 sidered one of our crack batteries. The other guns 
 of this battery are down the western slope of the 
 mountain, or rather of the hill below us which is 
 really the continuation of the mountain." 
 
WAKING UP THE BATTERIES. 49 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 They soon reached the eastern end of the ridge 
 and stood behind a long rock, over which they could 
 look through a glass at the prospect below. 
 
 "What are those men after, who are going down 
 the mountain side with their guns?" inquired Miss 
 Harper. 
 
 "They are sharpshooters, who intend trying 
 to pick ofl some of the men in that group in the 
 field down in front of us," replied Captain Ward. 
 ^'I thought they had gone down some minutes ago; 
 but they seem to have been delayed." 
 
 "They were just getting ready," said a private 
 standing by, "but now they're going to take a crack 
 at the Yankees." 
 
 "Oh, my! then let us get away from here. It 
 would be terrible to witness the death of any 
 person, even if an enemy," exclaimed the young 
 lady, with a shudder. 
 
 "No, Sis, let's see if they hit 'em," said Jack. 
 
 "Oh, no indeed, let us at least get out of sight 
 until this dreadful scene is over. I cannot remain 
 longer," said his sister. 
 
 "Well then, if you will go," answered the captain, 
 "there is a large rock back yonder, behind which 
 
50 KENNESAW'S BOMBARDMENT. 
 
 you can both find shelter from even the severest 
 bombardment. Just take rhem down there, Minon, 
 till we see what comes of this. If the Yankees 
 don't get after Partridge, they can come back here 
 within half an hour, and we will show them, in 
 detail, war's most imposing panorama below us. 
 It is well worth staying to see." 
 
 "I think we had better return home!" replied 
 Miss Harper. 
 
 "No, Sis, you go back behind the rock, and 
 I will stay with Captain Ward," said Jack. 
 
 "Jack," said the captain, "you are now one of 
 my soldiers; I detail you to protect your sister. 
 Go back with her, — those are my orders." 
 
 "All right, captain," was the reply, "but can't 
 I come back after a while?" 
 
 "You must not come till I tell you to do so," 
 said the captain. 
 
 Miss Mary smiled at the droll scene, and the 
 captain's eye twinkled, while Jack with childish 
 lack of guile took it all in sober earnestness. 
 
 Minon then took the two behind the gigantic 
 rock, and, spreading a blanket on the grass, ex- 
 claimed, "Remain here, Miss Harper, and Jack, 
 till I return. You are in no danger here." 
 
 "All right; but if any trouble comes, you will 
 see us safely home at once," answered the young 
 lady. 
 
 "Certainly, I will take care of you," exclaimed 
 Minon, and then with a bow hastened back to hi& 
 post at the guns. 
 
WAKING UP THE BATTERIES. 51 
 
 Soon the sharp crack of a rifle rang out from 
 amid the cliffs. 
 
 About a minute later two others were heard. 
 
 The venturesome Federals, however, were not 
 observed as showing any concern. 
 
 "Wait till you hear from Partridge," exclaimed 
 Captain Ward to Captain Hoskins, who had ex- 
 pressed a fear that they had not gotten the range ; 
 ""he's sheltered behind that big crag to the right." 
 
 He had hardly spoken before "bang!" went 
 Partridge's gun. 
 
 "Ho! ho!" exclaimed Col. Young, who, like 
 Captain Ward, was watching the scene through a 
 field glass, "he's brought down the game." 
 
 "Yes," added Captain Ward, "one of them has 
 tiallen from his horse, and there is quite a flutter 
 among the rest. They are getting back* into the 
 woods in a hurry. But see that fellow galloping 
 away toward the battery near the railroad this side 
 of Noonday Creek." 
 
 Another report of a sharpshooter's rifle inter- 
 rupted, and Captain Ward added : 
 
 "A first rate shot; he's tumbled him out of the 
 saddle. I won't have to return that battery's com- 
 pliments until they send another messenger of evil 
 tidings to it." 
 
 " That was Porter's shot. He winged the bird 
 as it flew," said Lieutenant Murphy, of Guibor's 
 battery, who was down the slope watching the ri- 
 flemen. 
 
52 KENNESAW'S BOMBARDMENT. 
 
 "Confound this atmosphere," exclaimed an artil- 
 leryman, "it's so heavy that the smoke from those 
 Enfield rifles hangs around the crags like cotton. 
 Ihe Yankees can see it with their glasses, and they 
 will get the range of our Partridge nest, and shell 
 the boys behind cover." 
 
 "That's so, Tom," said Colonel Young, "and 
 I see two horsemen hurrying toward the battery." 
 
 Just then Generals French and Cockrell and 
 Colonel Barry joined the group in front of the para- 
 pet, and the former asked, "Are the boys inter- 
 fering with the curiosity seekers?" 
 
 "Yes, General," replied Colonel Young, "they 
 have only a minute ago scattered a party who were 
 in the edge/)f that field down yonder. They shot 
 down two of them." 
 
 Three reports rang out in quick succession, and 
 Colonel Barry remarked, "The music from the 
 smaller instruments is beginning." 
 
 "Yes, but wait a few minutes," said Captain 
 Ward, "and you will hear the big bass drum. 
 That battery down in front is going to open, 
 if I mistake not." 
 
 "Yes," added Captain Hoskins, "and as there is 
 no telling how far this will spread, I'll hurry down 
 to my two guns on the hill," and walked rapidly 
 toward the west. 
 
 A couple of minutes passed, during which the 
 parapets were lined with officers and soldiers, whose 
 attention had been attracted by the rifle shots. 
 
 Suddenly a volume of white smoke burst forth 
 
WAKING UP THE BATTERIES, 53 
 
 from the top of the hill far below, and then the 
 sullen boom of a cannon woke the air. 
 
 "That's so, lock out for it!" exclaimed Col nel 
 Barry, and a second later a puff of smoke arose from 
 the forest growth about a hundred yards below, to 
 the right, and the sharp report of an exploding shell 
 rang out. 
 
 "Pretty good," said General Cockrell, "'Hurrah 
 for that gunner! he's come very near landing his 
 very first charge in the midst of the boys." 
 
 A derisive yell arose from the sharpshooters, and 
 several other shots were fired by them. 
 
 About a minute later two other guns in the Fed- 
 eral battery opened upon them; but these fired 
 wide of the mark, the shells falling fully two hun- 
 dred yards from the sharpshooters' nest. 
 
 Then the crack of a rifle succeeded, and oflBcers 
 and men alike burst into a roar of laughter. 
 
 "That's a magnificent duel," exclaimed Major 
 Storrs, "a bunch of riflemen and a battery, over a 
 half a mile apart, firing at each other." 
 
 "It may be well if it is confined to them;" 
 remarked General French, "but it is best to be 
 prepared to reciprocate any gratuitous favors which 
 those gunners may dispense for our benefit up here. 
 Major, hadn't you better arrange for Captain Ward 
 and Lieutenant Harris to silence that battery if it 
 gets too familiar?" 
 
 "Yes, General, Captain Ward has promised 
 already to stand by the boys if they get into trou- 
 ble," answered Major Storrs; and then, turning to 
 
54 KENNESAWS BOMBARDMENT. 
 
 Captain. Ward, he remarked, "Captain, suppose 
 you get ready for that fellow if he fires again." 
 
 "All right. Major," said Captain Ward, "I'll try 
 to fix him so that he won't send any more than one 
 'R. S. V. P.' missive to us," then turning to E. R. 
 Matthews, who carried the battery flag, he re- 
 marked, "Matthews, fasten the colors to that stump 
 of a sapling in front of the parapet. We want it 
 in front of our guns, and in full view of the enemy 
 for miles around." 
 
 Just as he started toward one of the guns in his 
 battery, which was about a hundred yards west 
 from where they were standing, and had called 
 three of his men to join him, three almost simulta- 
 neous puflEs of smoke arose from the Federal bat- 
 tery; and the reports had scarcely reached the ears 
 .X those on the mountain top before two shells ex- 
 ploded among the crags near the sharpshooters' den, 
 and a third buried itself in the ground about thirty 
 yards below General French and his party, and 
 exploded, scattering earth, rocks and fragments on 
 every side. 
 
 "Well, gentlemen, you have received the invita- 
 tion to the ball; I think you should accept it, and 
 lead those chaps as lively a dance as 'old Dan 
 Tucker,"' said General French to Major Storrs and 
 the artillery captains. "We haven't a very great 
 amount of artillery ammunition ; but we had better 
 fire a few rounds and impress them with the fact 
 that we are on the vigorous defensive." 
 
WAKING UP THE BATTERIES. 55 
 
 "Yes," said the major, "let the men come to 
 their posts and prepare for action." 
 
 A general hurrah followed, and the artillerymen 
 hurried to their guns all along the line. 
 
 "Ah, banner of beauty!" exclaimed the captain, 
 pausing a moment and gazing at the flag of the 
 Confederacy, as it fluttered in the breeze above his 
 battery, with its blue cross and bright stars amid 
 the square of red in the upper left hand corner and 
 the snowy whiteness of the balance of it. "What 
 nation," he added, "ever boasted a flag so chaste 
 and elegant? How much prettier it is than the 
 old stars and stripes! Whenever I look quietly 
 at it, I find myself wishing that I were a Byron or 
 a Scott, so that I might express in words the real 
 poetry with which it lights up my soul. Yes, 
 whether I look at the national flag or its child, the 
 battle flag, I feel like calling down the benison of 
 holy Heaven upon it and all who are true to it. 
 May a gracious God bless the South and the flag of 
 her love ! " 
 
 "Yes," said Major Storrs, "that's the prettiest 
 banner I ever beheld, and it is typical of our glori- 
 ous Southland. Long may it wave, and long may 
 she stand, the abode of liberty and happiness." 
 
 "Those are all sentiments that each of us in- 
 dorses," added Colonel Barry. 
 
 General French, Major Storrs and Colonels 
 Young and Barry joined Captain Ward, who had 
 taken personal charge of one of the pieces. 
 
 "Let me cut that fuse, Tom," said the captain to 
 
56 KENNE SAW'S BOMBARDMENT. 
 
 one of the men who had brought forward a shell, 
 "I think a three seconds' length will just about get 
 the range of that battery. Now, elevate her barely 
 a span, boys: there, that's too much, — lower her, 
 ah! now you've got it; now turn her a little to the 
 left, — ha! she's right at last. Now, Cruse," said he, 
 addressing his first lieutenant, who was very fleshy, 
 and wore eye-glasses, "pull off your own eyes and 
 try this field glass, and let me know just where my 
 shell goes." 
 
 Nearly half a minute succeeded, then, as Captain 
 Ward himself pulled the lanyard, a cloud of smoke 
 shot out, enveloping everything for yards around, 
 and a deafening roar shook the mountain top and 
 reverberated like thunder through the air far 
 toward the Etowah Valley and the Allatoona Moun- 
 tains. 
 
 **A good shot. Captain Ward, you can't do that 
 again," exclaimed General French, "you landed 
 your shell right in the midst of that Yankee bat- 
 tery; and that's a caisson that's exploded." 
 
 "Yes," laughed Cruse, "when I was cashier in a 
 bank I never handled money and made it fit the 
 calculations any closer than you did that gun." 
 
 A wild yell of applause arose from the artillery- 
 men and the spectators. 
 
 "Well, I'm prepared to admit," said Captain 
 Ward, "that that was a fortunate accident, and 
 that I couldn't do it again in twenty shots." 
 
 "Golly, Mass John, dat was a noble shot!" ex- 
 claimed Woodson, Captain Ward's negro cook, 
 
WAKING UP THE BATTERIES. 57 
 
 "efyougiv' 'em anudder one like dat dey'll want 
 to git back ahind de Oostanauley for sho'. Sock it 
 to 'em agin." 
 
 "Yes, drat 'em," added Daily, General^French's 
 cook, "dey broke my pans yestiddy wid one o' dar 
 splodin' bumshells, an' I can't [cook good till I git 
 some more. Smash 'em good wid de nex' shot." * 
 
 "Now, let them have it again, boys," called 
 Major Storrs, "that was a fine beginning; let the 
 good work go on." 
 
 "Hurrah for Joe Johnston and the Southern Con- 
 federacy!" shouted the gunners, and, some three or 
 four minutes later, from Guibor's and Ward's bat- 
 teries three thunderous reports in quick succession 
 rang out from Kennesaw's crest, and a lew seconds 
 afterward three puiFs of smoke near the Federal 
 battery and three explosions, "laint from farther 
 distance borne," told that payment in their own 
 coin had been tendered the enemy. 
 
 An answer came back within a couple of minutes 
 in a shell from the Federal battery, which struck 
 about half way up the mountain side and exploded. 
 
 "Ah! they're demoralized by your shot. Captain 
 Ward," said General Cockrell, "that was rather 
 wild." 
 
 * "Thousands of their Parrott shells pass high over the moun- 
 tain, and exploding at a great elevaiion, the alter part of the shell 
 is arrested in its flight, and falling perpendicularly, comes into 
 camp, and they have injured our tents. Last night I heard a 
 peculiar "thug" on my tent, and a rattle of tin pans, and this 
 morning my negro boy cook put his head into my tent and i.aid: 
 "See here, "Master Sam, them, 'fernal Yanks done shot my pans 
 lastnight. What am I going to do 'bout it ? " A rifle ball coming 
 over the mountain, had fallen from a great height, and, perfor- 
 ating the pars, had entered the ground.— From Gen. French's 
 Diary during June, 1864. 
 
58 KENNESAW'S BOMBARDMENT. 
 
 A rifle shot was now heard from Partridge's 
 perch, and a general laugh again arose. 
 
 "Hurrah for the sharpshooters!" said Colonel 
 Samuels, "they're entitled to a part in this fight." 
 
 Just at that moment from the hill behind the 
 Western & Atlantic railroad, on the other side of 
 Noonday Creek, a cloud of smoke arose, and an 
 angry "boom!" shook the air. 
 
 "Another Richmond in the field!" exclaimed 
 Major Storrs. "They are not waiting to finish the 
 casemating of that battery of Parrotts and Rodmans 
 before trying to make it as offensive as possible 
 to us." 
 
 He had not ceased speaking ere the scream of a 
 shell was heard above their heads, and, before the 
 two darkey cooks had finished dodging toward the 
 ground, the explosion was heard behind them, and, 
 on looking around, the curling smoke amid the 
 forest, some seven hundred yards south of the 
 mountain top, showed how far the deadly missile 
 had sped. 
 
 "That was a bad one," said Colonel Samuels. 
 
 "Regular pizen," exclaimed a soldier, "if that 
 fellow don't cool ofi", we'll have to rub a wet sponge 
 over his face." 
 
 "Take care. Daily!" shouted a private who had 
 seen the two darkeys hugging the ground with a 
 desperate clutch, "them thar things with shucks to 
 the'r tails are after you and Woodson. Thar's no 
 mark for a Yankee shell like a nigger." 
 
 "God almighty! boss, don't make fun of us now," 
 
WAKING UP THE BA.TTERIES. 59 
 
 whispered "Woodson, "I'd give a thousand dollars 
 if I had never heard tell of a Yankee." 
 
 A roar of laughter ensued from the soldiers who 
 heard this last remark, and Pat Quin, one of the 
 crack shots of Guibor's battery, exclaimed, "Well 
 now, I don't know how much that offer is worth, 
 begorra, till you tell me whether you mean Con- 
 federate money, Yankee greenbacks or the world's 
 specie." 
 
 "All of 'em, boss, an' copper too," answered 
 Woodson, as he raised his head with a grin on his 
 face, which reminded every one of the little boy in 
 the graveyard who began whistling to keep his 
 courage up. 
 
 "Boom! boom!" again went Captain Ward's 
 guns, and another shell struck near the first Fed- 
 eral battery. Its companion, however, exploded in 
 the air only about a hundred feet from the muzzle, 
 and almost over the infantry line, which ran just 
 below the summit. 
 
 "There was bad powder in that one," said the 
 captain, "that's one of our difficulties." 
 
 Another cloud of smoke and another report arose 
 from the battery across the railroad, and a Parrott 
 shell struck the side of the mountain about a hun 
 dred feet below the crest. 
 
 "That means that. we are considered as entitled 
 to respectful attention," said Major Storrs; "and 
 that we reciprocate all courtesies in kind," he added, 
 as another of Guibor's guns, aimed by Lieutenant 
 Sam Kennard, went off, waking all the echoes of 
 
60 KENNESAW'S BOMBARDMENT. 
 
 the mountain, and landing a shell close to the near- 
 est Federal battery. 
 
 Hardly a minute afterwards a sound, now some- 
 what familiar, was heard to the west, and the inevi- 
 table white smoke told that the warlike contagion 
 was spreading. 
 
 The next instant another shell flew, hissing like 
 a snake, over the mountain, and, falling to the 
 ground a half mile southward, exploded. 
 
 "Aha!" exclaimed General Cockrell, "that bat- 
 tery of twenty-pounder Parrott guns over behind 
 the Hardage house has concluded to join the chorus. 
 I'll go down and have Captain Hoskins to take it 
 under his special charge." 
 
 "Yes, gentlemen," said General French, "you 
 had better prepare for a lively time. Everybody 
 to his post, and be ready to open all the batteries." 
 
 "Hurrah! hurrah! hurrah!" came from several of 
 the ofiicers, and then a wild "rebel yell" ran down 
 the whole line, as the men left their exposed posi- 
 tion on the north side of the mountain and went to 
 their places behind the parapets. 
 
 It was well they did, for the last man had just 
 about gotten within shelter when from a hill east 
 of the Lattimer place a couple of guns Avere fired, 
 and a shell struck the cliff above Cockrell's works 
 and exploded, scattering the rocks and fragments 
 in fifty directions. The other buried itself in the 
 earth just a few feet below and in front of Captain 
 Ward's battery, and went off, enveloping the para- 
 
WAKING UP THE BATTERIES. 61 
 
 pet in smoke, and throwing mud, etc. , on every 
 side. 
 
 Almost co-ordinately the battery which had 
 begun the racket, sent another shell over the moun- 
 tain, and its explosion a few hundred yards beyond 
 told everybody to "lie low." 
 
 Ward's and Guibor's batteries now opened in a 
 grand chorus, and Hoskins' two guns on the right 
 took up the refrain, amid the cheers of the soldiery, 
 till the mountain was crowned with uproar. 
 
 This found its echo on the hills on either side oi 
 the railroad, as the bursting shells whitened the 
 atmosphere with thick smoke, and woke the forest 
 around the Federal guns and gunners who had 
 brought on the affray. 
 
 But then almost simultaneously a half dozen bat- 
 teries on the north and northwest, on either side of 
 Noonday creek, joined their thunders with those of 
 their comrades of tumult, and a shower of exploding 
 shells and whirring solid shot fell below or flew 
 screaming over the parapets on the mountain top. * 
 "They must do better than that," said Major 
 Storrs, "or it will be a pure waste of the raw mate- 
 rial by the Yankee gunners. Now, gentlemen, 
 show them how to fire. Give it to them like 
 we did last Monday ! Hurrah for the batteries on 
 Kennesaw ! " 
 
 * June 23 —At 10 a. m., when all was quiet on the mountain, 
 the enemy commenced a rapid artillery fiie from guns put in posi- 
 tion during the night, and concentrated it on our guns on the 
 mouniain. Yesterday we had it all our own way— to-day they are 
 repaying us and the connonade is "fast and furious."— From Gen. 
 French's Diary during June, 1864. 
 
62 KENNESAW'S BOMBARDMENT. 
 
 "And hurrah for the sharpshooters! " yelled Part- 
 ridge from the crags below. 
 
 • .^-^^ SHARPSHOOTERS. 
 
 "Yes, hurrah for the sharpshooters!" said Major 
 Storrs good-humoredly, "even if they do get us 
 into trouble occasionally." 
 
 "Hurrah for Guibor's guns!" exclaimed Lieuten- 
 ant Harris, "beat that if you can." 
 
 "They'll have to try a good many times before 
 they do it, lieutenant," said Colonel Young, who 
 
WAKING UP THE BATTERIES. 63 
 
 was lookiug through his field glass in the direction 
 of Harris' shot, "You dropped that shell right 
 into the midst of a column of Yankee cavalry, and 
 I think you must have killed or wounded at least 
 a dozen or so of them. Lord! how the rest are 
 scattering. To say it's a stampede hardly describes 
 it. Every fellow's going in a different direction, 
 and every fellow seems trying to outrun a shell 
 which he thinks, is after him particularly. Ha, 
 ha, ha! I think at least twenty have been thrown, 
 and are sprawling on the ground, and the horses, — 
 well, nobody can catch them now. Your single 
 shell has routed them as badly as Wheeler did 
 Garrard* and his cavalry several days ago." 
 "Ha, ha, ha, ha," went down the entire line. 
 
 *"0n the aoih the most considerable cavalry affair of the cam- 
 paign occurred on our right. The Confederate cftvalry on that 
 flank, bemg attacked by that under General Garrard's command, 
 repulsed the assailants, whom, as they were retiring, Wheeler 
 charged with about a thousand men, and louted, capturing a hun- 
 dred men and horses, and two standards. Fifty of the enemy's 
 dead were counted on the field. The Confederate loss was fifte'en 
 killed and fifty wounded."— Johnston's Narrative, page 339. 
 
64 KENNESAW'S BOMBARDMENT. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 "Minon," said Captain Ward, "you had better 
 go back and tell Miss Harper and her little brother 
 to stay closely behind that rock. They are safer 
 there now than they would be descending the 
 mountain ; for some one of those shells which are 
 flying over the crest might explode, and strike them 
 with a fragment. Let them remain sheltered where 
 they are." 
 
 The young sergeant hurried back, and found her 
 in a state of much apprehension ; but she took in 
 the situation and readily consented to comply with 
 Captain Ward's suggestion. 
 
 "But, oh! I do wish we had not come!" she ex- 
 claimed, "this was so foolish a trip." 
 
 "No, I am glad we came, Mr. Minon; ask Cap- 
 tain Ward to please let me go out and see it," said 
 Jack in a tone of great eagerness. 
 
 "No, Jack, Captain Ward orders you to stay 
 here and protect your sister," answered Minon, 
 "and now I must hurry back," he added, bowing 
 to Miss Harper. 
 
 "God shield you from all harm!" she replied 
 clasping her hands. 
 
WAKING UP THE BATTERIES. 65 
 
 "Minon, where are Miss Harper and her little 
 brother who were with you about a half hour ago?" 
 asked General French who saw him as he returned. 
 
 "They are back yonder behind the large rock, 
 General," the young sergeant replied. 
 
 "The mischief, they are! " exclaimed the general, 
 "why what made you keep them here? — however, 
 there's no need to discuss that now. Do you go 
 at once and have some men to take those planks 
 and poles which are around that ammunition chest, 
 and lean against the rock behind them, so as to pro- 
 tect them as much as possible from the explosion 
 of shells. I think we are going to have a good 
 many of them screaming around here within a few 
 minutes, and it won't do for them to attempt now 
 to go back to Marietta till things quiet down again." 
 
 With a tip of his hat Minon hurried off to carry 
 out the general's orders. 
 
 Miss Harper was greatly agitated by these extra- 
 ordinary preparations for her safety, and again ex- 
 claimed, "What a foolish trip this was!" 
 
 Jack, however, as usual, was equal to the occa- 
 sion, and piped out, "Oh, don't be afraid. Sis; 
 I'll stay here with you." 
 
 Boom ! boom ! boom ! went the batteries on Ken- 
 nesaw, and now the patches of smoke above the 
 plain showed that the Confederates had turned their 
 attention to several of the Federal challengers. 
 
 "See," said Major Storrs, who had raised his field 
 glass for a minute to watch the effect of the fire 
 from his guns, "the inhabitants of the temporary 
 
66 KENNESAW'S BOMBARDMENT. 
 
 city in the woods below us will find this rain some, 
 w^hat worse for them than that other kind they had 
 last night. Their sharpshooters whom I see at 
 their customary devilment down youder will proba- 
 bly seek shelter within a few minutes and some of 
 their artillerymen may have occasion to wish that 
 they had more casemates."* 
 
 But over hill and forest from beyond the slopes 
 lining N onday valley east of the railroad, to and 
 beyond the Wallace house on the far west, thence 
 along the line running southward, a chain of rising 
 clouds of smoke, and angry reports, told that bat- 
 tery after battery had opened upon the mountain. 
 The most practical evidence to the Confederates, 
 however, of this fact, was the tempest of Parrott 
 shells, solid shot, and other deadly missiles which 
 came crashing against the crags or flew hurtling 
 through the air above them.* The shout of the 
 war god had been heard ! 
 
 "Withdraw the infantry from the breastworks 
 in front. Colonel Barry," said General French; 
 "I think this will be merely a bombardment from 
 the batteries, and our men should not be needlessly 
 exposed." 
 
 "Yes, sir," answered Colonel Barry, and then 
 sent orders for Sears' brigade to defile behind the 
 breastworks toward the ravine on the east, so as 
 to be sheltered by the mountain from the shells. 
 
 *Kennesaw Mountain is no longer a place of resort, owing to 
 The largo numbar of shells hourly sent there by the enemy. 
 
 The view from there during the forcnoou was obstructed by a 
 heavy fog, hanging like a pall over the valley beneath, and a large 
 glass failed to pierce it and locate the position of the enemy. — 
 Augusta Constitutionalist, June 23, 1864. 
 
WAKING UP THE BATTERIES. 67 
 
 The command was obeyed in perfect order, and 
 •within a few minutes there was no exposure to the 
 Federal fiie, except that of artillerymen who were 
 handling the batteries. 
 
 These had hurried to their guns from one end of 
 the summit to the other, and the enthusiastic energy 
 with which they went at their work, was attested 
 by the continuous explosions which appeared to 
 almost shake the mountain, and the dense volumes 
 of white smoke which, like a storm cloud, enveloped 
 its towering crest. 
 
 This was plainly visible in Atlanta, twenty miles 
 distant, to hundreds of people who thronged the hill 
 ^t the western end of Alabama street, or climbed 
 to the tops of buildings, or swarmed like bees on 
 the Broad street bridge, and gazed with breathless 
 interest at the smoking rrountain, and strained 
 their ears to catch the booming sounds which, like 
 distant thunder, kept shaking the air; while from 
 the streets and windows of Marietta, which were 
 filled by hundreds of citizens and soldiers, it is said 
 to have presented a scene of grandeur, whose only 
 parallel might be found in a volcanic eruption.* 
 The smoke rising in tremendous columns high above 
 the crest, the thunderous reports from the Confed- 
 erate batteries, and the explosions, over toward the 
 
 -•"From this time, June 20, until (he evening of the 20th, our 
 position was not materially changed. Under direct fire from the 
 rebel skirmishers, no man could expose himself without being 
 a mark for their bullets. They kept our men closely confined to 
 their trenches, and the only Variety they had was the constant 
 succession of artillery duels between our batteries and those on 
 the mountain top, which might be looked for at any time of the 
 day or night; at times these assumed a degree of magnificence." 
 — From Report of Major General A. Baird. 
 
68 KENNESAW'S BOMBARDMENT. 
 
 town, of the Federal shells, which had darted 
 through the war clouds, all told a tale of awe and 
 magnificence. 
 
 But if it was a magnificent spectacle to those 
 who beheld it from their homes in Marietta, hardly 
 two miles distant, it was one where tumult and 
 danger walked hand in hand with grandeur, in the 
 eyes of the men who stood behind the parapets and 
 amid the crags on the crest of Kennesaw Mountain. 
 
 The thick, sulphu:ous smoke from their own 
 pieces enveloped everything around them in obscu- 
 rity. This was lit up in quick succession by the 
 flash of fire which burst forth with every dis- 
 charge and, like lightning among the clouds, shot 
 its glare for the instant all around. 
 
 But the terrific majesty of the scene was exhibited 
 in the explosion of the Federal shells, and the crash- 
 ing of solid shot, above and amid the crags and 
 rocky parapets behind which the Confederate guns 
 were posted on the crown of the mountain. 
 
 From one hundred and forty guns on the sur- 
 rounding hills and forests Sherman's commanders 
 had concentrated their fire upon the crest of Little 
 Kennesaw.* 
 
 * "There emphatically was such a bomliardment repeatedly. 
 I do not know exactly upon how many days they opened with at 
 least 140 guns, with their aim actually d'rectod to the crests of Big 
 and Little Kennesaw; liut do not think it would be too mucli to 
 say that this occurred on at least t^n separate days, and some- 
 times we would rece ve two or three bombardments on one day. 
 
 "Sometimes when I would fire a few rounds on some exposed 
 body of the enemy, my nine guns would receive the concentrated 
 fire of shot and shell from 140 guns or more, until a thousand or 
 fifteen hundred projectiles had been thrown at us. The fire was 
 absolutely terrific."— From letter written by Major Geo. S. S'orrs 
 to the author. 
 
WAKING UP THE BA.TTERIES. 69 
 
 For scores of yards downward the ground was 
 torn up, and the cliffs were scarred. Hundreds of 
 the messengers of wrath flew screaming over the 
 heads of Major Storrs' cannoniers, and exploded far 
 above or in the forests in the valley behind them. 
 Others darted crashing through the trees on the 
 summit, scattering the branches on every side, and 
 bursting into myriad pieces, with spiteful flashes of 
 fire and clouds of stifling smoke which hung like a 
 pall of horror above the mountain. Yet others 
 dashed against the tremendous bowlders on the 
 summit, or struck the huge rocks which bad been, 
 with patient labor, piled before the guns as a para- 
 pet, and, exploding, spread destruction on every 
 side. 
 
 Here a poor fellow in Ward's battery had his 
 head blown ofl*, and beside him were two others 
 wounded by a bursting shell. A solid shot tore off* 
 the arm of a man in Guibor's battery, while Hos- 
 kins' battery had two wounded within a few min- 
 utes. 
 
 Henry O'Hara, of this battery, was with one of 
 the two guns which were on the summit of the 
 mountain. He had gone to the ammunition chest, 
 and was bringinq- forward three charges of fixed 
 ammunition* when a shell burst so close to him as 
 
 '•' The Conff derates, while on (he summit of Kennesaw Moun- 
 tain, protected their artillery ammunition by digging holes in the 
 ground some thirty or forty feet behind the guns, and burying the 
 ch'sts therein. Covering them with logs cut from the timber on 
 and near the summit of the mountain, they thus secured very fair 
 protection. Only one che.'t was thus provided for the supply of 
 each gun. The "infantry brought the current supply up by hand 
 as it was needed, and deposited it in the chests. From two to four 
 
70 KENNESAW'S BOMBARDMENT. 
 
 to explode the nine pounds of powder in his arms. 
 A terrific sheet of fire and smoke enveloped him, 
 and, as he fell backward, some one exclaimed, 
 "My God ! it's burnt him up ! " 
 
 ASSISTING A COMRADE. 
 
 His comrades rushed forward, seized him, and 
 
 men were specially detailed from the infantry to bring the supply 
 required for each gun. 
 
 On Ihe hill Ireyond the western end cf Little Kennesaw, which 
 was occupied by General Oockrell's brigade, Captain Jas. A. Hos- 
 kins was in charge of his two gurs, which were posted there, and 
 also the guns of Lumsden's Alabama battery. One day, subse- 
 quent to that whose events are herein chronicled, three of Lums- 
 den's chests were blown up by the Federal fire. They were within 
 thirty feet of each other, and the result of the explosion, it is 
 quite needless to say, was disastrous to the battery, and the fact 
 of the occurrence, in spite of all the precautions to prevent it, 
 furnishes one of the best evidences of the terrific nature of the 
 Federal bombardment. 
 
WAKING UP THE BATTERIES. 71 
 
 carried him to the rear. His clothes were badly 
 burnt and his body, face and limbs blackened by 
 the powder; but, as he stoutly asserted, he was 
 "not done for yet," and within a few weeks was back 
 on duty. 
 
 "He was Irish," as some of the boys s id, "and 
 you couldn't expect such a small matter as that 
 to knock him out." 
 
 But in the meanwhile with courage which might 
 have excited the envy of Titans, the Confederates 
 stood to their guns, and poured back a shower of 
 shot and shell among the Federals on the hills 
 below. The roar of their batteries from amid the 
 clouds of smoke which enveloped the mountain top 
 found its counterpart in the explosion of shells 
 which darted like thunderbolts among the Federal 
 camps and into the midst of the batteries which 
 were hurling storms of destruction against them. 
 
 Just at this period. General French, who was 
 talking with Major Storrs and Col. Barry, noticfd, 
 coming toward them, the sergeant who had been 
 sent down to General Sears' headquarters. 
 
 "Well, you've got back, I see," he remarked. 
 
 "Yes, sir, I delivered your message to General 
 Sears," answered the sergeant. 
 
 "And what did he say?" asked the general. 
 
 With a smile, after a slight pause, the sergeant 
 answered : 
 
 "He says to me, 'Go back and tell General 
 French I'm not a mountain billy-goat to be jumping 
 from cliff to cliff.'" 
 
72 KENNESAW'S BOMBARDMENT. 
 
 A roar of laughter followed from the party, after 
 which General French remarked : 
 
 "If that message had have come from a lieuten- 
 ant or a private, it would have been called insub- 
 ordination ; but all we'll say about it now is that 
 Sears is sick, and consequently irritable." 
 
 Suddenly a wild, thrilling yell arose from the 
 infantry in the ravine. It was taken up by those 
 who were sheltered on the southern slope behind- 
 the batteries; and Lieutenant Harris, peering^ 
 through the battle smoke iu that direction, swung 
 his hat above his head and shouted: "The big guns 
 on Big Keunesaw have joined us. Now, boys, fire 
 fast, and let the Yankees have a regular Confeder- 
 ate concert." 
 
 "Yes," added Major Storrs, "don't reduce a cart- 
 ridge. Give them all the guns will stand." 
 
 Their enthusiasm was well founded, for, like suc- 
 cessive claps of thunder, the big siege guns on the 
 crest of Big Kennesaw* had opened upon the Fed- 
 erals; and already dense clouds of smoke were hang- 
 ing around it on every side. 
 
 Soma of the Confederates, who had taken position 
 behind the crags and amid the thick forest and 
 undergrowth on the east side of the ravine which 
 separates the two summits of Kennesaw, said that 
 
 *"You may make the necessary orders and be prepared for 
 rapid aclion to-morrow. So dispose matters tliat the biji guns of 
 Kennesaw will do you as little mischief as possible." — Dispatch 
 from Gen. Sherman to Gen. MePherson, Jnne 2i, 1864. 
 
 We have some very heavy p;nns on Kennesaw Mountain 
 which annoy the enemy very much, and they keep out of our 
 reach as miich as poss.ble.— Auffusta Constitutionalist, June 26, 
 1864. 
 
WAKING UP THE BATTERIES. 73 
 
 tbe scene was one where the terrible grandeur of 
 war defied all powers of description. 
 
 Beginning east of Brush Mountain, and extend- 
 ing in an irregular line across the railroad westward 
 to the neighborhood of the Lattimer house, and 
 thence curving southwestward till they disappeared 
 from view behind Little Kennesaw, dense clouds of 
 smoke rose in quick succession from scores and 
 scores of guns in the Federal batteries. From two 
 or three casemated batteries toward the west these 
 sudden puffs reminded one of the fire from gun- 
 boats. There was but little air stirring, conse- 
 quently an almost continuous chain of fog seemed 
 hovering above the hills and valleys north an 1 west 
 ot the mountain ; and this was all the time growing 
 wider and thicker, and rising higher, as the thunder 
 of forty or fifty discharges per minute shook the 
 atmosphere around Kennesaw, and reverberated 
 from the wild Etowah hills to the crowded streets 
 of busy, bustling, anxious Atlanta, to whose ears 
 these sullen sounds were like the roll of the drum 
 of fate. 
 
 Above, behind and in front of this roaring battle 
 cloud, here and there they could see the sudden 
 puffs of smoke which showed the explosion of the 
 Confederate shells from the batteries on the crest" 
 of Kennesaw. These, however, were so few, com- 
 paratively, that they, as a soldier expressed it, 
 "reminded one of a school boy throwing snowballs 
 into a river full of ice." 
 
 But around the summit of the mountain was con- 
 
74 KENNESAW'S BOMBARDMENT. 
 
 centrated all the majestic terrors of the war storm.* 
 The dense white smoke from the cannon enshrouded 
 the parapets, the forest growth and the highest 
 cliffs. Against the steep slopes, above the rising 
 clouds, or in their midst, whirling them in cyclone- 
 like circles by their explosion, the Federal shells — 
 fuse shells, percussion shells and combination shellsf 
 — were darting like thunderbolts. At times a hun- 
 dred of these seemed bursting at the same instant, 
 and the rolling balls of smoke and the tumultuous 
 roar were absolutely terrific. The tempest had 
 crowned Kennesaw. 
 
 "Look!" exclaimed General Cleburne to Captains 
 
 '•'The enemy directs most of his pieces against Kennesaw. 
 
 The mountain is about two miles from Marietta, and can be 
 shelled with ease. The sehrapnells pass over it and far into the 
 rear, where it has become very dangerous. Several mules and 
 horses have been killed among the commissaries.— Augusta Con- 
 stitutionalist, June 22, 1864. 
 
 tA distinguished gentleman,— a general in the Confederate 
 army, whose command was on Kennesaw Mountain from June 
 20th to July 3rd, 1864, stated to the author that the Federal artil- 
 lerymen u=ed some shells, — "the like of which," said he, "I never 
 heard of before, and have never seen since. They seemed to be 
 what we might term combination shells; that is, ihey were per- 
 cussion in front snd fuse behind, and so arranged that if they 
 hit anything on the mountam the cap would explode the shell ; 
 whereas, if they missed it, the shell would go flying throvigh the 
 air over towards Marietta, and would explode in the air when the 
 fire from the fuse reached the powder inside. 
 
 "They were the most annoying things of the kind that I eyer 
 saw, and created not only more comment, but more damage 
 than any other missiles the Yankees fired at us. If one hit against 
 the mountain side, we who were up there, were in danger of their 
 flyng fragments, whereas, if they went over and exploded in the 
 air the pieces would fall beh'nd the mountain right into the midst 
 of our wagon train which was immediately behind it, and as 
 we thought when we placed it there, shelted by the mountain. 
 
 "These pieces falling would frequently hit a man or a mule, or 
 would, anyhow, frighten the mules, and the consequence was the 
 wagon train was in an uproar all the time. The teamsters found it 
 much more lively than had been their expectation, or certainly 
 their desire. 
 
 "All in all they were villainous missiles, and we had no end of 
 annoya'-ce from them as long as we held position on the moun- 
 tain." 
 
WAKING UP THE BATTERIES. 75 
 
 L. H. Mangum and Irving A, Buck, of his staff, 
 who were intently gazing at the mountain from the 
 centre of the worlds occupied by that division over 
 a mile away; "I have seen many a thrilling spec- 
 tacle during the war; but never one more sublime 
 than this. Heaven's most appalling thunderstorm 
 hasn't more elements of grandeur in it than yonder 
 war cloud which has burst and is roaring around 
 Kennesaw." 
 
 So awful was this rain of destruction that within 
 a lew minutes the Confederate batteries were prac- 
 tically silenced. General French ordered Major 
 Storrs to have the guns which were not fully pro-» 
 tected by parapets pulled back to the top of the 
 southern slope, where the backbone of the mountain 
 shielded them from the direct fire of the Federal 
 artillery, and commanded the men to take shelter 
 below them. 
 
 They were safe here from a cross-fire, since 
 Walker's line which ran southward from the western 
 end of Little Kennesaw was so far advanced that 
 the Federal works in front of it were too distant for 
 the shells from their batteries to reach the summit 
 of the mountain. Walker's men, on the contrary, 
 were annoyed to some extent by the shells from the 
 Federal batteries on the north, which passed over 
 the mountain and, exploding a thousand feet in the 
 air, dropped their Iragments in some instances into 
 the very trenches. 
 
 For fully ten minutes after the last Confederate 
 gun had fired the bombardment from the enemy's 
 
76 KENNESAW'8 BOMBARDMENT. 
 
 batteries continued with unabated fury. Trees 
 were torn to pieces, and the falling boughs hurled 
 clear over the mountain side; large stones were 
 knocked frora the tops of the parapets; and against 
 monstrous crags which jutted from the summit, 
 sometimes nearly a dozen feet high, the deadly 
 missiles flew, — the shells exploding with sounds like 
 thunder, and scattering fragments on every side, 
 the solid shot chipping out huge flakes by the con- 
 cussion, and then, with a ring like the curse of dis- 
 appointed spite, falling impotent to the ground, or 
 bouncing hundreds of feet down the slopes on the 
 south.* 
 
 One poor fellow, a corporal in Ector's brigade, 
 was killed by a cannon ball which struck a reck, 
 glanced off over the southern side half-way down 
 the mountain, broke off a large limb of a tree and 
 fell upon him, mashing his skull. 
 
 '•'It was the second or third day before we began to realize that 
 a Yankee could shoot to the top of Little Kennesaw: then we 
 changed our opinions and wondered if they really meant to shoot 
 anywhere else.— Letter from a member of Hoskics' battery to the 
 author. 
 
WAKING UP THE BATTERIES. 77 
 
 CIIAPTEK V. 
 
 But from the towering crest of Great Kennesaw 
 the Confederate batteries continued belching forth 
 defiance and destruction upon the Federals far 
 below. Their fire was not so rapid as had been that 
 from Little Kennesaw ; on the contrary, was very- 
 deliberate, and their aim unusually precise. These 
 bad turned their attention more directly to the 
 Federal batteries upon the two hills on opposite 
 sides of Noonday creek, between which the West- 
 ern & Atlantic Railroad runs, crossing the valley 
 on a high, red embankment which was plainly seen 
 from the top of the mountain. 
 
 The Federals manning the farthest of the two 
 turned their Parrott guns against Great Kennesaw ; 
 but were fairly out-shot, and within less than twenty 
 minutes their fire sensibly slackened, and soon 
 theirs and the neighboring battery across the valley 
 were silenced, — "completely knocked out," as the 
 soldiers said. 
 
 By two or three Confederate officers who watched 
 the scene from the summit with field-glasses the 
 Federal gunners could be plainly observed as they 
 pluckily worked their pieces, sending up to the 
 
78 KENNESAW'S BOMBARDMENT. 
 
 mountain-top well-aimed missiles against those 
 whose shells were exploding so accurately among 
 and around them ; but finally forsaking their death- 
 scourged batteries and fleeing for safety into the 
 forest behind them. 
 
 A whirlwind of enthusiastic cheers now arose 
 from the thousands of Confederates who were sur- 
 veying the scene from Great Kenuesaw, and from 
 the ravine on the west. This was renewed as their 
 gunners next turned their attention to the Federal 
 batteries on the hills to the east of and behind that 
 where Tom McLellan's house now stands, less than 
 half a mile directly in front of the eastern end of 
 Little Kennesaw. 
 
 But as if to meet the challenge Sherman's artil- 
 lerymen all along the line slackened their fire upon 
 Little Kennesaw, and began gradually opening 
 upon the great peak. 
 
 They first had to experiment for the range; and, 
 their guns being elevated for the height of Little 
 Kennesaw, the missiles struck the sides of its taller 
 mate below the Confederate position. 
 
 There was soon an improvement, however, in 
 this, and ' now from one battery and then from 
 another, first a single shell then two or three at a 
 time, began exploding near the crest. 
 
 Then from the Parrott battery near the Hardage 
 house a shell, following a burst of smoke, flew, 
 screaming like a hawk, over the very summit, 
 and, curving downward, struck and sank into the 
 ground in the valley on the east, and exploded just 
 
WAKING UP THE BATTERIES. 79 
 
 in front of a train of cars on the Western & Atlan- 
 tic Railroad, throwing mud and fragments all over 
 the engine, and stampeding the fireman, who was 
 "oiling up" on that side. 
 
 This engine, the "General," was the same which 
 had been stolen at Big Shanty, April 12, 1862, by 
 a party of twenty-two Federal soldiers in disguise, 
 and with which they attempted the daring feat of 
 hastening up the Western & Atlantic Railroad for 
 the purpose of burning the bridges at its upper end. 
 
 The chase and overhauling near Ringgold, Ga., 
 of the "General"* and her captors have become a 
 part of the nation's history. 
 
 On the morning of this day of stirring events the 
 "General" had taken a train load of supplies up to 
 the Confederate lines near the foot of the mountain, 
 and was now standing near there ready to returo. 
 
 The engineer seeing the fireman "taking to the 
 woods," sprang upon the platform, and, grasping 
 the throttle with one hand pulled the whistle with 
 the other, and gave a shrill blast to, as he after- 
 ward said, attract the conductor's attention. 
 
 But there was no necessity for blowing the whistle 
 to accomplish that purpose, — the conductor already 
 knew all about the case. 
 
 "Here, Bill," he yelled, "we'll take the fever 
 and ague among the highlands if we stay here any 
 longer; let's slack back to Marietta." 
 
 "Yes, I don't want my engine busted to pieces 
 by Yankee bombshells," answered the engineer. 
 
 •■■■The "General" is still on the Western & Atlantic Railroad, 
 and is used for extra service. 
 6 
 
80 KENNESAW'S BOMBARDMENT. 
 
 "No," put in a countryman who was standing 
 near, "nor I don't want my skin busted to pieces 
 neither." 
 
 "Hold on, gentlemen," exclaimed a captain, who 
 was having several wounded soldiers put aboard 
 the train, "you can't go till these men are in the 
 cars. They have got to be taken down to the 
 hospital at Atlanta." 
 
 "Well, hurry up. Cap," said the engineer, "I'll 
 stay here as long as you say ; but I don't want to 
 stretch it any." 
 
 "Oh, don't be afraid of a stray shell,' answered 
 the captain, "there may not be another one here in 
 two hours." 
 
 "No, and when they do come," exclaimed one o^ 
 the wounded men, "they ain't half so dangerous as 
 a minie ball."* 
 
 Just then another shell came darting over the 
 mountain, and exploded in the air about three hun- 
 dred yards from the train. 
 
 "Make haste, Cap," yelled the engineer, "them 
 Yankees is searching for us, and I want to find 
 another hiding place." 
 
 ••'I will describe to you a new iriinie ball which the Yankees 
 are using against us, and which I had exhibited to me on yester- 
 day evening. It is made ot two separate bores, one of which is a 
 hollow shell, and the other a kind of cap from which issues a 
 short leaden screw. On this screw is placed a loose fitting piece 
 of tin wider than the ball itself, and very sharp. This is then 
 fitted in the hollow shell. The object of this appears to be, that 
 where an artery may yield to a hall it will almost to a certainty be 
 cut by this piece of tin. But if the ball should enter a man without 
 taking off the cap, the chances are that when it is being extracted,, 
 the tin will remain in the wound, and by constantly irritating the 
 wound, eventually poison the tiesh, and render the sufferer incura- 
 ble. Such is the last devilish invention of the Yankees. — Corres- 
 pondence of the Atlanta Daily Intelligencer, June 15, 1864. 
 
WAKING UP THE BATTERIES. 81 
 
 "Oh, never mind, Bill," laughed the conductor, 
 "they have turned in the wrong direction; let us 
 get these poor fellows aboard, and there'll be time 
 enough to get away." 
 
 This task was soon accomplished, however, and 
 then at a signal from the conductor the engineer 
 blew his whistle, and the "General" backed slowly 
 southward toward Marietta, and in a few minutes 
 was out of danger. 
 
 Just before she started, however, an answering 
 whistle, as of defiance, was heard from a Federal 
 locomotive on the same railroad, north of Kenne- 
 saw Mountain.* 
 
 General Reynolds who was near the summit of 
 Great Kennesaw, now directed the Confederate 
 cannoniers to turn their attention especially to the 
 battery west of the first one which had opened, and 
 also to see if they could not get the range of the 
 Parrott battery near the Hardage house, which was 
 doing the most damage of all. 
 
 Major W. C. Preston, Chief of Artillery for 
 Walthall's division, was requested by him, during 
 the temporary absence of the division commander 
 from that portion of the line, to disregard the fire 
 of the other batteries, and silence those two if possi- 
 ble. 
 
 Now, again the tempest of war began "blowing 
 
 -■■"The Yankees are strongly entrenched in our front, while 
 their trains on the Western & Atlantic railroad run as near to us 
 as two miles. During the day the shrill whistle of the engines is 
 plainly heard over the lines, and generally elicits a hearty yell 
 from our boys. I must confess that Sherman is a good railroad 
 superintendent, for the prompt manner in which he has repaired 
 the bridges over the Oostanaula and Etowah rivers prove him so." 
 — Correspondence of the Atlanta Daily Intelligencer, June 15, 1864. 
 
82 KENNESAWS BOMBARDMENT. 
 
 great guns," and against Great Kennesaw the fiery 
 messengers commenced flying from a dozen bat- 
 teries. 
 
 The Confederate works, however, being slightly 
 east of and below the immediate summit, were in a 
 measure sheltered from the enfilading fire which 
 the Federals attempted to bring from the guns on 
 the extreme west of their line. Those shells either 
 struck the western side of the crest and did no- 
 damage, or passed above the knob and flew over 
 the heads of the Confederate gunners, and, darting 
 into the valley, exploded, waking the echoes, but 
 ending in noise. 
 
 It was a magnificent spectacle, however, as the 
 shells from the mountain top, and those toward it, 
 flew in rainbow arches, their course being frequently 
 followed through the thick atmosphere by the smoke 
 from their fuses, and ending in stunning explosions 
 which filled the air with smoke and scattered the 
 boughs from the trees, or hurled the earth and rocks 
 in showers on every side. 
 
 With the diversion of the Federal fire from Little 
 Kennesaw came the resolution of General French's 
 artillerymen to reciprocate the assistance from their 
 brothers on the other summit, and which had now 
 brought upon Walthall's heroes the concentrated 
 wrath of the entire Federal artillery array. 
 
 Captain Ward and Sergeant Henry Hoskins, 
 therefore, under Major Storrs' immediate direction, 
 had four guns run forward, and, at a given signal, 
 fired a volley of shells at the mischievous battery 
 
o 
 
 O 
 
 a 
 
 tel 
 o 
 
 H 
 
 a 
 a 
 
84 KENNESAW'S BOMBARDMENT. 
 
 behind the Hardage house. The puffs of smoke 
 above the field below showed that they had practi- 
 cally gotten the rauge of it. 
 
 "Now, gentlemen," said General French, who 
 had noticed that the Federal batteries were all 
 turned against Great Kennesaw, "hurry up, and 
 pour in a few dozen shells before they can face our 
 way again." 
 
 The men uttering a thrilling yell, pushed all the 
 guns forward, tramping through the beds of prickly 
 pear with their almost bare feet, regardless of the 
 cruel thorns, and with wonderful alacrity opened 
 upon the Federal position below. 
 
 For three or four minutes not a missile came ia 
 response; but then the hissing scream of a shell 
 was heard above them, and the next instant the 
 deafening explosion followed, and one of the soldiers 
 on the farther slope of the ridge fell, with his leg 
 badly bruised. 
 
 "Keep it up, boys," shouted Major Storrs, "draw 
 some of that fire which they've got against Great 
 Kennesaw. The boys helped us, so we must help 
 them out!" 
 
 "Yes, we'll do it," yelled the men, "they've got 
 to divide witb us. Clear out of the way of the 
 Yallerhammers, Yanks." 
 
 "Yallerhammers" was the nickname given Cap- 
 tain Ward's brass Napoleon guns by the soldiers in 
 this division. 
 
 And now again the uproar from the guns on the 
 crest of Little Kennesaw was renewed, and with 
 
WAKING UP THE BATTERIES. 85 
 
 marked effect, for within a few minutes one of the 
 Federal batteries was silenced by their fire. 
 
 Captain Hoskins' gunners on the right of the line 
 turned their attention to a column of Federal in- 
 fantry and a wagon train with a large drove of 
 cattle which was passing down the road behind 
 their batteries. Sergeant George Duke, with Pres 
 ton Keys, Ben King, Zach Hoskins, J. F. Smith, 
 and Wess Graham in charge of "Gun No. 1," and 
 Sergeant Henry Hoskins, with Gus Furr, Has 
 Furr, Bob Cornega and the "three Jims" (Rutland, 
 'Allen and Smith), with "Gun No. 2," under Major 
 Storrs' personal supervision, did themselves proud. 
 
 Elevating the guns to an angle of forty-five de- 
 grees, they sent their shells beyond the position 
 occupied by the artillery , and began dropping them 
 into the midst of the moving column. 
 
 Great excitement was instantly apparent among 
 the cattle and in the wagon train ; and one or two 
 officers, with field-glasses, saw the teams going at 
 nearly every angle across the open field by the road. 
 
 The infantry also began double-quicking, and 
 breaking up into detachments which got out of 
 range as rapidly as possible, while the cattle, left 
 to themselves, werq stampeded by the bursting bombs, 
 and scattered in a hundred directions. 
 
 While this was going on Guibor's battery was 
 being worked as usual for all it was worth. Several 
 notably fine shots were made by Sergeants Law- 
 rence, Murphy and Robinson and by Pat Quinn. 
 One of the shells sent by Pat exploded right under 
 
86 KENNESAW'S BOMBARDMENT. 
 
 one of the enemy's guns, and when the smoke 
 cleared away, the gun was seen lying on its side out 
 of its previous location. 
 
 But the triumph of the Confederates was only 
 temporary, for the explosion of shells and the crash- 
 ing of solid shot among the crags about their ears, 
 soon told them that the boys on Great Kennesaw 
 had been forced "to divide with them." In fact, 
 the Federals leaving only about three batteries 
 to play upon Great Kennesaw, had turned again 
 almost their entire fury against the western summit. 
 
 So terrific did this become that a second time the 
 Confederates withdrew their guns to the south side 
 of the crest. 
 
 "It's hard for nine guns to whip a hundred and 
 twenty-five or fifty!" exclaimed Major Storrs, as 
 the men once more retired for shelter behind the 
 jutting crags. It was well that they "lay low" and 
 hugged the southern cliffs, for the bombardment 
 had become absolutely fearful. The mountain was 
 crowned with the fiery tempest, and tumult and 
 destruction reigned supreme. 
 
 In the midst of this scene of terror occurred an 
 incident so startling, so thrilling, that it almost 
 curdled the blood of every one who beheld it. 
 
 Little Jack Harper, the eight-year-old "pet of 
 the camp," who had been sheltered with, his sister 
 behind a crag, through a crevice in the rock saw 
 the flagstafl on the parapet struck by a shell and 
 shattered to splinters. The starry cross of silk, 
 with the upper fragment of the staff, was whirled 
 
WAKING UP THE BATTERIES. 87 
 
 nearly twenty feet backward, and fell to the 
 ground. 
 
 Like a flash Jack darted from his cover, and, 
 grasping the banner, exclaimed, as indignant tears 
 burst from his eyes, "Oh, you bad old Yankees, 
 you've knocked down our flag; but I'll put it back 
 again ! " 
 
 With this childish shout he rushed forward amid 
 the thunder and smoke of the explosion of a score 
 of shells, and, climbing up the rocky sides of the 
 parapet, stood upon its very top, and then, facing 
 the "bad old Yankees" on the north, with both 
 hands waved the banner of Dixie back and forward 
 in delirious triumph. 
 
 A freezing shriek of horror rang out amid the 
 tumult; and the score of soldiers and officers who 
 had just sprung forward to jerk the child from his 
 perch, stood transfixed with dismay, as Jack's 
 sister. Miss Mary Harper, who had also been shel- 
 tered behind the same crag with the boy, rushed 
 forward into the midst of the smoke and danger 
 toward him. 
 
 At that instant, however, a shell from a Federal 
 battery exploded in the midst of the boughs of a 
 tree in front of her, with a terrific report, amid a^ 
 cloud of smoke which completely hid Jack, and 
 scattered the debris in every direction. A whole 
 section of the tree was hurled to the ground, falling 
 against the parapet behind the boy, and between 
 him and his now half-crazed sister, and obstructing 
 her course toward him. 
 
88 KENNESAW'S BOMBARDMENT. 
 
 With her hands clasped convulsively above her 
 head, she screamed, "Merciful God, protect my 
 darling baby brother!" 
 
 But now like a whirlwind there was a general 
 rush toward the two. John Minon seized the 
 frantic girl in his arms, and bore her, fainting, back 
 behind the bowlders. Captain Ward leaned upon 
 the parapet and caught Jack, who was jumping 
 around, and yelling in boyish glee, as he swung the 
 colors backward and forward: "Oh, yes, you bad 
 old Yankees, you thought our flag was down ; but 
 HERE IT IS, waving right before you. Yes, here. 
 IT IS; don't you see it? " 
 
 As he was dragged backward, he "struggled like 
 a young wild cat," as one of the soldiers expressed 
 it, and cried in thrilling tones of grief, "Oh! don't^ 
 oh! let me alone; they'll think we've surrendered, 
 and we haven't! don't you see our flag's down on 
 the ground now? Let me 'loose, so I can put it up 
 again ! " 
 
 "Never mind. Jack," shouted Captain Ward, 
 "I'll put the flag up. We haven't surrendered." 
 
 "And we don't intend to, do we. Captain?" ex- 
 claimed Jack, with his eyes flashing like diamonds, 
 as he threw his arms around the neck of the brave 
 commander, on discovering who he was; "but where 
 are you going to put the flag?" 
 
 "I'll put it just where you had it. Jack," answered 
 Captain Ward, as he set the boy in his former 
 retreat. "Now do you stay here, and the flag will 
 soon be waving all right." 
 
WAKING UP THE BATTERIES. 89 
 
 "Hurrah for the South and our flag!" shouted 
 Jack, as the captain with the colors now hastily 
 left him. 
 
 "Yes, hurrah for the South and for our flag, 
 Jack ! " exclaimed Captain Ward, "and, Jack, stay- 
 just where you are. Those are my orders." 
 
 "All right, I'll obey," answered the boy, "I'll 
 obey." 
 
 "My God ! Minon," exclaimed Captain Ward, as 
 he turned and saw the latter with one hand, bearing 
 Miss Mary Harper's unconscious form toward shel- 
 ter, "what is this? is she hurt?" 
 
 "No, sir, I think she's only fainted; but a piece 
 of shell has just broken my right arm," said the 
 young soldier, glancing at that member which was 
 hanging Joosely by his side. 
 
 "God grant she be not hurt! but let me help 
 you," answered the captain, as he clasped the 
 young lady tenderly in his arms, and hurried back 
 with her, "come on, Minon." 
 
 They darted behind the huge rock, just as a solid 
 shot went crashing through a tree, hurling a large 
 branch forward, whose foliage knocked the captain's 
 hat off, and scratched his neck as it passed. 
 
 Paying no attention to this, however, he laid the 
 young lady upon a blanket before Jack, who burst 
 into a flood of tears, and screamed, "Oh, have 
 those bad old Yankees killed my sister? oh, Cap- 
 taiit, have they killed her?" 
 
 "No, Jack," answered the captain, "I hope she 
 is not hurt. I think she has only fainted. Minon, 
 
90 KENNESAW'S BOMBARDMENT. 
 
 please hand me your canteen, if you have any 
 water in it." 
 
 "I haven't any, Captain, but 1 will run and get 
 some," said the latter. 
 
 "No, let me go," shouted Jack, "I'll bring some 
 from the bucket near the cannon." 
 
 "Hold!" exclaimed Captain Ward, grasping the 
 boy by the shoulder, "I ordered you to stay behind 
 here; and you promised to obey, — I don't, allow 
 any of my soldiers to disobey my orders." 
 
 "All right, Captain, I beg your pardon, and will 
 obey," answered Jack, "but I wanted so much to 
 help sister." 
 
 "That wish does you honor, my dear boy," said 
 the commander, patting him on the head; "but 
 here we have the water now, Mr. Minon has 
 brought it. Now bring her once more to con- 
 sciousness while I redeem my promise, andput back 
 the flag where you had it. Matthews is down to 
 the left helping to work gun number four," he 
 added, speaking to himself. 
 
 "I'm ahead of ye. Captain, this time!" shouted 
 Partridge, who had seized the colors while the gal- 
 lant artillery leader was doing the doubly gallant 
 act toward Miss Harper, "I helped to fetch on this 
 row, and now I'm going to help see it through 
 creditably." 
 
 With this remark he plunged forward through 
 the smoke, and, waved the banner to and fro, and 
 then, leaning forward, placed it against the stump 
 of a sapling, and, leisurely pulling a strong cord 
 
WAKING UP THE BATTERIES. 
 
 91 
 
 from his pocket, tied the remnant of the staff to 
 the top. Then swinging his hat aloft, he looked 
 toward the enemy's batteries, and yelled defiantly, 
 "Thar, dern ye, knock it down ag'in if ye can!" 
 This done, he leaped to the ground, behind the 
 
 
 
 
 S?=^P>1^ 
 
 PARTKIDGE. 
 
 works, and exclaiming, "It tires me down to play 
 the hero long at a time! " darted like a stag to the 
 shelter of the rocks on the south. 
 
 "Now let everybody keep behind shelter and 
 behave himself," exclaimed Major Storrs, who had 
 beheld the latter part of this episode, "Let there 
 be no more exposure to danger till I give the 
 order." 
 
 He had scarcely made this remark before he 
 turned around and noticed, coming up the southern 
 
92 KENNESAW'S BOMBARDMENT. 
 
 slope, General Loring apd one of his orderlies. 
 The major at once stepped downward and met him 
 with the remark: 
 
 "If you have been getting cold come up here 
 and we will let you see what it is to have a warm 
 time." 
 
 "Thank you, Major," said General Loring, 
 "I think this is hot enough for all the requirements 
 of a reasonable man. But what seems to be the 
 idea of the Yankees in this tremendous uproar from 
 their batteries ? " 
 
 "Oh, well," said the major, "you can't always 
 judge what a lot of fellows are intending when they 
 are kicking up a fuss nearly a mile away from you." 
 
 "But how many guns have they playing upon 
 you to-day ? " asked General Loring. 
 
 "Oh, I think they have the full quota of one 
 hundred and twenty-five or fifty," answered the 
 major. "But if you would like to see for yourself 
 how it looks in the forests and on the hill-tops 
 below us, I will walk down with you to our big 
 rock, and we will mount that and see with our own 
 eyes." 
 
 "All right," said the general, "let us venture 
 over there for a few minutes." 
 
 So saying the two officers and the orderl}- 
 walked westward to Observation Rock. Major 
 Storrs climbed upon it, and then reached his hand 
 down and said, "General, let me give you a lift." 
 
 "Thank you," said General Loring, "I can't 
 climb so well with one arm as you can with two. 
 
WAKING UP THE BATTERIES. 93 
 
 Ah! by the way, isn't this the very rock upon 
 which you stood and counted the Yankee guns two 
 or three days ago?"* 
 
 ''Yes, sir," answered the major, "that was the 
 time when poor McBride was killed." 
 
 The three stood upon the rock, and Major Storrs 
 first took his field-glass and gave it a sweep around 
 the smoke-obscured country down in front. Hand- 
 ing it then to the general, he remarked: 
 
 "You needn't take the trouble to count them, for 
 I am sure all the dogs of war are barking at us. 
 But look yonder to the north. General. See that 
 train on the railroad, which has just come down 
 from Big Shanty. I can plainly see it with the 
 naked eye, and can hear its rumbling between can- 
 non shots. See that little jet of smoke, and hear 
 that whistle blowing 'down brakes.' They had 
 better put on the brakes before they get under fire 
 from our batteries. The train is scarcely two miles 
 from us, and some of the big guns on the other 
 peak might possibly reach it." 
 
 "Yes," replied General Loring, "it has come to 
 a dead stop ; and, see the soldiers pouring out of it ! 
 A sort of blue fringe is all around it. Now they 
 are forming into line. I suppose they are going 
 
 * "After we had been on the mountain several days, and the 
 «neniy continuing to accumulate artillery in our front, Gen. Johns- 
 ton directed Gen. French to have their guns counted. 
 
 ''Gen. Ffi^Qch directed me to go upon the mountain, open fire 
 so as to develop the enemy's full force of artillery, and count his 
 guns. This I did, taking position on an ele\ated point, a large 
 rock, I believe, to the left of my batteries, so as to be out of the 
 smoke of my guns, and with a pair of field-glasses, I counted the 
 enemy's pieces over several times until 1 was perfectly satisfied 
 that one hundred and forty were playing upon us at that time." — 
 Major Geo. S. Storrs in letter to the author. 
 
94 KENNESAW'S BOMBARDMENT. 
 
 down to take position in front of Featherston. 
 Well, let them come, we are ready for them." 
 
 "Yes," answered Major Storrs, "let them come 
 along as soon as they will." 
 
 The general silently scanned the scene below 
 with the glass for about five or six minutes. 
 During this time the shells were screaming and 
 bursting over and on all sides of them. Some of 
 the soldiers had raised their heads above the rocks, 
 and looked with considerable interest at the daring 
 of the three, and Lieutenant Billy Richardson of 
 Ward's battery, remarked to those beside him: 
 
 "Whenever you're hunting for brave men and 
 come to Major Storrs and General Loring, you can 
 stop, for there's no need of going any further." 
 
 After standing upon the rock some three or tour 
 minutes, General Loring laughed, and said to 
 Major Storrs : 
 
 "Well, I expect, for a corps commander, 1 have 
 stood up here as a mark for their shells long 
 enough, and that there is no strict necessity for 
 General Polk's successor to court his fate." 
 
 "Yes," said Major Storrs, "and I don't see any 
 real necessity for a division chief of artillery to 
 remain here, just at this particular juncture, any 
 longer than is proper to demonstrate to his higher 
 officer that his batteries are under a pretty heavy 
 fire from guns superior in number and calibre." 
 
 "Oh! I always know where this chief of artillery 
 is to be found whenever there is any tough fightings 
 going on; but I don't think a man is always safe 
 
WAKING UP THE BATTERIES. 
 
 95 
 
 who stays by his side too long after he has found 
 him," answered the General. 
 
 With a mutual smile the three then climbed down 
 to the ground, and hastily made their way over to 
 the southern side of the mountain. 
 
96 KENNESAW'S BOMBARDMENT. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Major Storrs, Generals Loring and French then 
 walked behind the crest of the ridge to the slope 
 leading into the ravine on the southeast. They 
 here met General Ector, who, with a couple of 
 members of his staff, was coming to consult General 
 French ; and all six now, going forward amid the 
 forest growth, could observe the general direction 
 of the Federal fire. 
 
 This was once more seeking the crest of Great 
 KennesaAV, and battery after battery was turning a- 
 portion of its guns from the lower summit toward it. 
 
 Major Preston's object, however, had already 
 been, in a measure accomplished, as the steady and 
 deliberate fire which he had directed against the 
 battery of Parrott guns near the Hardage house, 
 had proven so disastrous that it had apparently 
 driven the men trom the guns, except one piece to 
 the left, which still at intervals, replied, and with 
 some effect. 
 
 But as the four officers, and a few others who 
 accompanied them, surveyed the great crest, the 
 dense white clouds which were rising from it for 
 hundreds of yards into the air, and the sudden 
 
WAKING UP THE BATTERIES. 97 
 
 puffs of smoke from shells which flew screaming 
 over their heads and burst thick and fast amid the^ 
 forest on its slope, accompanied by the sharp report 
 of the explosion, and the ringing, crashing sound 
 of the scattering fragments against the rocks or 
 through the trees, told them that the war-tempest 
 was once more drifting against the great mountain. 
 
 The fury of this storm suddenly rose in its inten- 
 sity to the raging and appalling roar of the whirl- 
 wind, as the hitherto silent casemated battery on 
 the east side of the railroad and another, not pre- 
 viously known to have been built, became envel- 
 oped in white smoke from the simultaneous dis- 
 charge of all of their pieces, and their deadly shells, 
 aimed with remarkable precision, exploded almost 
 in the very midst of the upper tier of Preston's 
 guns. Again and yet again those fiery monsters, 
 securely sheltered under the ground, belched forth 
 death and ruin around the mountain top. Hidden 
 themselves and safe from harm, they seemed to find 
 every weak point in the Confederate works, and 
 the very lightning appeared as flashing forth from 
 the rocks on the parapets as their terrific shells 
 came dashing against them and shattering them to 
 atoms. 
 
 It was certainly a grand scene, and from their 
 shelter above the ravine the officers could without 
 danger to themselves take in all its terrific majesty. 
 
 They remained for some ten minutes beholding 
 the rapid increase of the shower of shells and other 
 missiles, which now fringed the entire peak with 
 
98 KENNESAW'S BOMBARDMENT. 
 
 patches of cloud and flying boughs which were 
 torn from the trees, when suddenly from near the 
 summit a dense column of smoke and fire shot up 
 hundreds of feet above it, and then ensued a stun- 
 ning report which nearly deafened every one who 
 heard. 
 
 The fire of the Confederate batteries almost 
 instantly ceased, and with the naked eye they 
 could observe great commotion among the men on 
 the side of the mountain; as a whole brigade, 
 apparently, rushed forward to the scene of disaster 
 and ruin, while the shouts from their midst told 
 that the event was one of unusual moment. 
 
 "Hurry over at once, and see what has hap- 
 pened," said General French to an orderly, 
 "I think a shell has dropped into Major Preston's 
 ammunition and exploded it. Go down behind the 
 ridge to your right, so as to be sheltered from the 
 Yankee fire; and return as soon as possible." 
 
 Tipping his hat, the young subaltern hurried 
 away, and was soon lost to view amid the under- 
 growth. They saw him again in a few minutes, 
 climbing the heights on the southern side of the 
 great peak, and shortly thereafter he disappeared 
 behind the knob. 
 
 About this time General Loring remarked to 
 General French, "I don't think I'll wait for a 
 report to be sent here as to the occurrence over 
 .yonder, but will go myself. I presume that it is 
 only an ammunition chest or something of that 
 kind which has been exploded by a Yankee shell." 
 
WAKING UP THE BATTERIES. 99 
 
 "I have no doubt," said General French, "that 
 you are correct." 
 
 "Yes, beyond all question," said Major Storrs, 
 "and I can hardly believe that anything serious is 
 the matter on the other peak." 
 
 "Well, it will take but a few minutes to find 
 out," said General Loring, "so, good morning, 
 gentlemen, I will see you at a later time." 
 
 So saymg, he walked down the southern side of 
 the ridge at a rapid pace. 
 
 Just at this period, however, occurred an incident 
 which was so thoroughly ludicrous in some of its 
 features that the three officers in the midst of their 
 anxiety, because of the catastrophe on the other 
 peak, could not restrain their risibilities. Two sol- 
 diers, who had been sent into the valley on the 
 south for water for their comrades, had just reached 
 the top of the slope on their way back. About a 
 hundred canteens were swung to a pole which they 
 were carrying on their shoulders. A shell passed 
 between the two, struck the pole and whirled it 
 from them back down toward Marietta, and, ex- 
 ploding, scattered the canteens, as one of them said, 
 "all over north Georgia." The clatter of the tin, 
 the swish of the spilling water, as they were blown 
 to pieces, and the crash of the bursting shell were 
 remembered for many a day. Strange to say 
 neither of the water carriers was hurt. 
 
 In the meantime, after only four or five minutes' 
 cessation, the batteries on Great Kennesaw opened 
 again, first with one gun, then with four others. 
 
100 KENNESAW'S BOMBARDMENT. 
 
 The Federal bombardment, however, had known 
 no rest; on the contrary, during the silent interval 
 among the Confederates, the enemy's shells had 
 poured with unceasing fury arouna them. 
 
 But the knob of the peak, as before shown, had 
 prevented this from proving as dreadful a scourge 
 as had been the case on Little Kennesaw, inasmuch 
 as the Federal batteries in general were located 
 more to the west of it, and their shells, therefore, 
 either struck that face of the peak, doing no damage, 
 or generally passed far beyond it before exploding. 
 
 Major Preston, taking advantage of the location, 
 had brought forward two guns, and, placing them 
 on the gradual incline below the crest, to the left 
 of where the casemated battery's shells were con- 
 stantly exploding, had, by elevating them, opened 
 fire over the summit upon the Federal position 
 westward. 
 
 They discharged several shells, while a couple of 
 the men with field-glasses on the northern side of 
 the mountain watched and reported where they fell. 
 At length they secured the range of a battery which 
 faced Little Kennesaw, and Major Preston then 
 ordered these two pieces to keep up their play upon 
 that location. 
 
 Thus the tumultuous combat was continuing 
 when the orderly returned, and reported that 
 Major Preston had stated to him that the cause of 
 the catastrophe, about which General French had 
 made inquiry, was the falling of a Federal shell 
 into the midst of an ammunition chest which was 
 
WAKING UP THE BATTERIES. 101 
 
 behind the guns on the crest of the mountain. 
 This and another were side by side, each having 
 thirty-two rounds of ammunition. They had both 
 exploded with, a terrific concussion,* blowing trees 
 to pieces, hurling huge bowlders like pebbles over 
 the cliflfs, knocking men flat to the ground for 
 fifty yards around, and, like a volcano, shooting a 
 column of fire, smoke and debris hundreds of feet 
 into the air. 
 
 By one of those strange mercies of Providence, 
 however, but few men were in the immediate vici- 
 nity of the chests; consequently only two were 
 known to be killed and tour wounded. One of the 
 former was blown over the southern side of the 
 mountain and his body, with head and one arm off, 
 was found lodged amid the branches of a tree 
 nearly a hundred yards below. 
 
 Just after this report was received, General 
 French observed an officer coming up the ravine 
 from the south, whom he recognized as Colonel 
 R. J. Manning, a member of General Johnston's 
 staflf. 
 
 "Good morning. Colonel," he exclaimed, saluting 
 him at the same time, "come this way, please. 
 Are you from headquarters?" 
 
 "Yes, General," answered Colonel Manning, 
 "General Johnston has sent me to ascertain the 
 cause of this extraordinary bombardment, and to 
 
 '■■This explosion, a Confederate officer, who was present and 
 an eye-witness, states to the author to have been one of the grand- 
 est and most fearful sights of its kind which he beheld during lour 
 years of war. 
 
102 KENNESAW'S BOMBARDMENT. 
 
 know if you need any,j,assistance from other parts 
 of the line. Are the Yankees covering any move- 
 ment of infantry by this artillery fire?" 
 
 "No, sir," replied General French, "I think they 
 are merely in for an artillery duel to-day, and are 
 attempting to silence our batteries on the mountain 
 top. You can say to General Johnston that we 
 have infantry force strong enough to more than 
 check any assault which they might dare; but 
 there is, I think, no danger of an assault." 
 
 "Well, at any rate," observed Colonel Manning, 
 "they are playing their guns for all they are worth. 
 I have had a very dangerous journey coming from 
 headquarters up here. The shells are flying over 
 the mountain, exploding sometimes a thousand feet 
 in the air and scattering their fragments all around, 
 or are lighting in the forest below and tearing 
 whole trees to pieces. It is more dangerous down 
 yonder for half a mile than it is on the slope near 
 the summit. I'll go with you awhile and see how 
 it looks up here, so that I can report to General 
 Johnston as an eye-witness as well as the bearer of 
 your message. This is a spectacle worth climbing 
 a mountain to behold." 
 
 "Yes," said Major Storrs, "the bombardment of 
 a mountain top is a rare scene in military affairs." 
 
 "But what is the status of affairs at other parts 
 of the line. Colonel?" asked General French. 
 
 "Nothing serious," answered the latter. "The 
 Yankees are throwing a good many shells over our 
 
WAKING UP THE BATTERIES. 103 
 
 line from their position east of the railroad,* and 
 they have just tried our position on Hardee's front 
 without success." 
 
 "Yes," said General French, "I saw that attack 
 from up here." 
 
 General French and his party now walked back 
 to their post on Little Kennesaw, and Major Storrs 
 was directed to run one or two guns forward at a 
 time at different places on the ridge, and open 
 upon the Federals, the object being to prevent the 
 concentration of their fire upon the Confederate 
 position on Great Keunesaw. 
 
 They soo ' met Captain Ward and Lieutenant 
 Harris, and Major Storrs gave them the programme, 
 aud sent similar orders to Hoskins' section of two 
 guns on the mountain top and to uis and Bellamy's 
 batteries, on the hill west of Little Kennesaw, com- 
 manding the Burnt Hickory road. 
 
 As they separated, the major noticed Captain 
 Ward shake his head in a jocular manner, and say 
 to the sharpshooter, Partridge, who was standing 
 by his side, ^'Yoic had better get down in front of 
 the mountain; we are going to 'wake up the bat- 
 teries,' and those Yankees want to shoot especially 
 
 -'The Yankees, by marching and counter-marching, have suc- 
 ceeded in maneuvering into possession of a portion of the ridge 
 which stretches off to the right from the railroad, and overlooking 
 Marietta. By these open movements by day and counter moves 
 by night they have advanced their lines considerably, though not, 
 perhaps, very advantageously, on our wings ; but on our centre 
 they have gafned only a few hundred yards of advance. Whetlier 
 it will be an advantage time will develop. The enemy has learned 
 to his great cost that our retention of the mountain is most 
 destructive and formidable to him. He is chary of attack on ihe 
 centre. Our terrible batteries and formidalile engines of destruc- 
 tion are against their advance, and hitherto the impregnable point 
 has only been bombarded.— Atlanta Intelligencer, June 22, 1S64. 
 
104 KENNESAW'S BOMBARDMENT. 
 
 at you. They'd rather hit you than to dismount 
 all the cannon on Kennesaw." 
 
 "Yes, Gosh dern 'em ! " was the response, "you 
 make out like you're a jokin'; but onbeknownst 
 you're tellin' the solidest kind of tacts and truth. 
 I tell ye what, when they first begun drappin' the'r 
 shells around, amongst the rocks, I laughed; yes, 
 I fairly haw-hawed. But after 'while I jest sorter 
 smiled, and then, when they commenced a rainin' 
 down bustin' bombshells, like fire and brimstone on 
 Sodom and Gomorry; and when the very rocks 
 seemed to be spittin' out flames, and when the 
 smoke from the whole mountain and the surround- 
 in' kentry went up like the smoke of a furnace, 
 I knowed the best place for me was on this side of 
 Kennesaw. I don't know how I got through the 
 gap, but I'm here to show I did." 
 
 "Yes, but you are not as badly frightened as 
 you pretend," laughed the captain; and added, 
 "true merit is always modest." 
 
 "Oh, I ain't skeered now; but I acknowledge 
 the corn I was then," replied Partridge, with a 
 grin. "But, hello, boys, what the mischief's the 
 matter?" he exclaimed, running forward amid a 
 group of soldiers who had jumped up in a confused 
 manner from behind a huge rock, one of them 
 pointing his musket toward the ground and firing it. 
 
 "Rattlesnake!" answered several in a bieath. 
 
 "But I done for him, consarn his rusty side," 
 said the one who had fired, pointing at the writh- 
 
WAKING UP THE BATTERIES. 105 
 
 ing reptile whose head was nearly cut ofi' by the 
 well-directed bullet. 
 
 "He came from under the rock right among us," 
 said a lieutenant to Major Storrs, who had stepped 
 forward to see what was the cause of the excitement. 
 - "We're in a nice trap," interjected a soldief, 
 "Yankees shooting at us in front, rattlesnakes 
 biting at us from behind, and cactus sticking our 
 feet from underneath." 
 
 "Yes, and the devil playing his pranks on every 
 side," said the lieutenant. 
 
 "And still we'll whip the fight," exclaimed Major 
 Storrs in a cheery tone. 
 
 " "Yes, that is, we'll undertake to whip the 
 rattlesnakes and the Yankees, and mash down the 
 cactus, if the Lord will manage the devil," added 
 Captain Ward, with a laugh. 
 
 The party then dispersed and went to their 
 several posts. 
 
 AVithin a few minutes one of Captain Hoskins' 
 pieces was discharged, and a shell was landed near 
 the Federal works below. 
 
 One of Ward's guns, aimed by Lieutenant Wil- 
 liam ("Billy") Richardson, who was one of the 
 crack marksmen of the artillery battalion, was next 
 fired, and its shell was seen, through the glasses, to 
 knock a small log cabin, just behind one of the 
 batteries, to pieces, causing a stampede by several 
 men who were in it. 
 
 Guibor's battery followed suit, and the enemy 
 
106 KENNESAW'S BOMBARDMENT. 
 
 was put on notice that the mountain was still held 
 by "the un terrified." 
 
 An irregular fire was now kept up from I^ittle 
 Kennesaw by the Confederates, "stealing a shot 
 now and then," as Major Storrs termed it, which 
 drew away the attention of the Federal batteries 
 to some extent from Great Kennesaw, and thus 
 accomplished the result sought by General French. 
 One of Hoskins' guns, aimed by Major Storrs him- 
 self, blew up a caisson right in the very midst of 
 the battery east of Tom McLellan's house. 
 
 But, after another furious bombardment of the 
 western crest from nearly all their guns, which was 
 comparatively barren of results, except in making 
 a magnificent display, the Federal fire gradually 
 slackened until at about sunset it ceased entirely. 
 
 The Confederates had drawn back their guns and 
 did not fire a single round from Little Kennesaw 
 during the last half hour, and from the higher peak 
 only an occasional shell was thrown in return. 
 They had too scant a supply of ammunition to use 
 it in mere artillery duels. * 
 
 Both officers and men watched the gradual cessa- 
 tion of the fiery tempest, and noticed how battery 
 after battery became silent on the hills below ; and 
 then, with the danger over, crowded on top of the 
 ridge again, standing in the open spaces, or mount- 
 ing the huge bowlders, to survey the inspiring 
 scgnes around and beneath them. 
 
 The sun was just disappearing beneath the hori- 
 zon. Yet not in the quiet majesty of a clear day 
 
WAKING UP THE BATTEKIES. 107 
 
 was his golden disc kissing the hill-tops, but, as 
 typical of the tumultuous events of the hours he 
 had illumined, the dazzling orb was sinking into 
 the embrace of a stormy sea of clouds whose con- 
 quering waves, dashed high into the air, his glitter- 
 ing rays were gilding with roses and fire. 
 
 From Lost Mountain on the right a column of 
 fleecy mists seemed towering far, far upward 
 toward the zenith ; and from out its ruddy sides a 
 thousand silvery banners hung their wavy pennons 
 of light which radiated from pearls, opals, dia- 
 monds, rubies and topazes garnishing their borders. 
 Circling in a majestic arch from north to south fold 
 after fold of golden fleece bounded the cerulean 
 expanse; while scattered in indescribable disarray 
 appeared castles, naountains, placid lakes, rain- 
 bows and surging billows of roseate hue. A myriad 
 clusters of light were playing around their sides 
 and crowning their crests. 
 
 Back of all these, in the sky above, thick inky- 
 hued masses of clouds were drifting together, as if 
 threatening another storm such as had pelted the 
 mountain and its occupants so dismally the night 
 before. 
 
 But no rain was destined to come "between suns' 
 now, although obscurity was drawing his misty 
 robes around Kennesaw and its rival armies, and 
 the clammy kiss of sable night was almost imprinted 
 upon the eastern forests below them. 
 
108 KENNESAW'S BOMBARDMENT. 
 
 CHAPTER VIT. 
 
 And now while, so far as regarded the tremen- 
 dous engines of war: 
 
 "Silence settled deep and still 
 
 O'er the lone wood and mighty hill," 
 
 the tender emotions of chivalrous manhood found 
 their homes in the hearts of Captain Ward and 
 those immediately around him. 
 
 Leaving his guns, he had gone behind the shel- 
 tering bowlder, where Miss Mary Harper had been 
 left with little Jack and John Minon to restore her 
 to consciousness from the fainting fit into which 
 she had gone in the midst of the terrifically thrill- 
 ing episode, in which Jack had figured as the hero. 
 
 The sun had scarcely disappeared when he step- 
 ped quietly around with the question, "Well, how 
 are the queen of Kennesaw and the champion of 
 the flag of Dixie?" 
 
 "Oh! Captain Ward," shouted Jack jumping 
 up, and running to his side, "we've whipped the 
 Yankees, haven't we? We've still got the moun- 
 tain and our cannon ; and our flag is still waving, 
 isn't it? Haven't we whipped 'em. Captain?" 
 
 "Yes, Jack," laughed the captain, taking the 
 
WAKING UP THE BATTERIES. 109 
 
 enthusiastic youngster up into his arms, "we've 
 kept off the Yankees, and we've got all of our can- 
 non and the mountain; and our flag is still waving 
 just where you had it. Ah! Miss Harper," he 
 added, turning to her and watching her as she was 
 wrapping a new bandage around the arm of Minon, 
 "was the poet referring to you when he wrote: 
 
 'A ministering angel thou!' " 
 
 "No, indeed! Captain," she quickly replied with 
 a merry laugh; "that was written some fifty or 
 s'xty years ago; and surely you don't mean to 
 insinuate that you think I look that old." 
 
 "Parish the thought! never, never, no, never 
 would I be guilty of an insinuation so utterly 
 devoid of foundation as that" he exclaimed, and 
 then added : 
 
 "But you know the language of prophecy some- 
 times reads like it refers to the day in which it is 
 given forth; and thus Sir Walter builded wiser 
 than he knew when he wrote the words which fit 
 her to whom I now speak. Minon, you are a 
 lucky chap. But for the anxiety it would give my 
 dear wife and little ones at home, I almost wish 
 I had been wounded, so that I too could have had 
 the attention of so fair a nurse, — one who seems to 
 have been wafted from the clouds into our midst to 
 cheer and to save." 
 
 "You say you almost wish; now. Captain, . I go 
 farther than that, and say that I am not sorry 
 I was wounded; because the privilege of having 
 
110 KENNESAW'S BOMBARDMENT. 
 
 such a nurse counterbalances the pain of the 
 wound." 
 
 "But| it does not counterbalance to our country 
 the loss of the power of your arm in this day of her 
 trial and need," said Miss Harper in a tone almost 
 of reproach, "therefore you should be very sorry 
 that you are disabled, while your brothers around 
 you are still strong and ready to battle for her 
 cause." 
 
 "Nobly spoken. Miss Harper!" exclaimed Cap- 
 tain Ward, clapping his hands, "I am glad to see 
 somebody besides myself turned down in your neat 
 manner; and then that is the correct doctrine for 
 this time and occasion." 
 
 "I surrender! " ejaculated Minon, "I am not only 
 defeated, but discomfited. There's no answer to 
 that except one." 
 
 "And," said Miss .Harper, "that is"— 
 
 "T© get well at the very earliest possible minute, 
 and scainper back to my place at the front." 
 
 "Well, no one will be more delighted to see you 
 get well than I," was the gentle answer; "and I am 
 willing to depend upon you to carry out the latter 
 part of your promise, when your strength and 
 health are restored." 
 
 "Te-ump, te-ump, te-ump, te-tump!" hummed 
 Captain Ward, in a tone of assumed indifference, 
 and with a comical twinkle in his eye; and added, 
 
 "Jack, it's getting rather close behind this rock; 
 hadn't Ave two better walk forward into the open 
 air? There's more room for us out there, I think." 
 
WAKING UP THE BATTERIES. Ill 
 
 "No, no indeed, Captain"! exclaimed the young 
 lady with a blush, "those were only such words 
 as every woman should speak to every Southern 
 gentleman." 
 
 "Yes, Captain Ward," said Jack springing to his 
 feet, "Let's go forward among the cannon, and see 
 what the old Yankees are doing. Our men whip- 
 ped 'em, didn't we?" 
 
 "Oh! we whipped them badly, Jack," replied the 
 captain. 
 
 "Hold on. Jack!" exclaimed his sister with a 
 start, "you shan't go forward into the jaws of 
 danger again. Come, we must return to Marietta 
 before any more trouble comes upon us. Mother 
 will be almost crazy about us, and we must go at 
 once." 
 
 "Oh! no. Sis," answered f Jack impetuously, as 
 tears gushed from his eyes, "there's no danger now, 
 and I do want to go and see over the mountain at 
 the Yankees. Captain Ward told me to come on ; 
 and he'll take good care of me." 
 
 "Yes, let us go for a minute. Miss Harper," said 
 the captain, "there is no danger just now. Come 
 with us, too, and survey the pomp of war, since 
 you have already seen and heard its^terrors." 
 
 "Well, I will go for a few minutes, and then 
 Jack and I must be getting away from here. This 
 is no place for women and children." 
 
 They started forward toward the parapet. 
 
 "Stop a minute," said Miss Mary, "do listen to 
 that red-bird. I thought every one of his kind had 
 
112 KENNESAAV'S BOMBARDMENT. 
 
 flown at least five miles away from the mountain ^ ') 
 after the terrible tumult which had surrounded it 
 to-day. But the little fellow has lit upon that tree, 
 and is singing as fearlessly and merrily as though 
 a, cannon had never been fired in Georgia." 
 
 "Yes," said Captain Ward, "he is a regular 
 Confederate. It takes something more than a 
 bombardment from Yankee batteries to demoralize 
 him." 
 
 "Ah!" interjected a soldier standing right by 
 them, "that's the right kind of talk; but I confess 
 that for awhile I felt like the fellow did up about 
 Chickamauga. He saw a dog skedaddling through 
 the woods as fast as his legs could carry him when 
 the battle was about at its worst. Stopping for an 
 instant, he looked at him, and then said in an 
 under tone, 'Run, dog, run, if I wasn't a man 
 I'd run too.' " 
 
 A hearty laugh ensued from the party, after 
 which Miss Harper remarked, "But our little red- 
 bird is made of more heroic stuff than the dog in 
 jour story." 
 
 The bright little winged songster, as if almost 
 conscious of the fact that he was receiving such 
 flattering attention, continued warbling forth some 
 of his gayest and sweetest notes. Then, stopping 
 for an instant, he arose from his perch, darted over 
 toward the right, and, alighting upon the very muzzle, 
 of one of the cannon of Guibor's battery, which was 
 now temporarily deserted, resumed his inspiring 
 little song. A hundred eyes beheld him, and there 
 
WAKING UP THE BATTERIES. 113 
 
 was apparently a general desire to applaud the 
 little Confederate prototype ; but all refrained until 
 after a couple of minutes' flow of his merriest notes, 
 he arose and flew still further toward the right of 
 the line. Then there was a general clapping of 
 hands and an enthusiastic cheer with shouts of 
 *'Hurrah for our game little Confederate!" and 
 Partridge shook his head and emphatically ex- 
 claimed, "I'll never shoot another red-bird!" 
 
 As they walked up toward ^the northern side of 
 the ridge, the sound of a banjo and the patter of 
 feet were heard near by, and, passing a huge bowl- 
 der, they suddenly came upon a group of soldiers 
 around a negro who was picking a banjo and sing- 
 ing, while a couple of other negroes were patting 
 and dancing a jig. 
 
 The soldiers, seeing the lady, immediately arose, 
 throwing off their air of abandon and carelessness, 
 and saluted her and her escort with respectful 
 deference. The darkeys, however, being so busily 
 engaged in amusing the party, did xiot notice what 
 was the cause of the uprising, and continued their 
 merriment. 
 
 As Captain Ward and the others passed along, 
 they caught one verse of the negro's song : 
 
 "Eabbit take his pipe to smoke, 
 'Coon eat turkey liash ; 
 'Possum try to crack a joke, 
 But wolf run off wid de cash.'' 
 
 Jack was immensely amused at this part of the 
 
114 KENNESAW'S BOMBARDMENT. 
 
 proceedings, and lingered to hear some more of it; 
 but the others passed on their way. 
 
 Within a minute or so, however, he came run- 
 ning forward and exclaimed in a pleading tone: 
 "O, Captain Ward, and Sis, please come back here 
 and listen to the singing; it's mighty funny." 
 
 Well, Jack," answered the captain good-humored- 
 ly, "I reckon we will have to hear a song or two 
 for your especial benefit, — a sort of mountain con- 
 cert in the open air by uneducated artistes." 
 
 They accordingly stepped back among the merry 
 makers who again rose to greet them. 
 
 Captain Ward then remarked, "Don't let us 
 break up the fun, boys; we have come to enjoy it 
 with you. And you have the most select audience 
 you ever rehearsed before. Now, Woodson, give 
 us one of your best, and do your best." 
 
 "All right, Marse John, we'll do our level best; 
 but what song does you want? How'll 'Susanna 
 do for yer?" said Woodson. 
 
 "That'll do finely," exclaimed the captain, "Now 
 do you play and sing, and we'll all join in the 
 chorus." 
 
 "Yes, sir," said Jack, "we'll all join in the 
 chorus." 
 
 "All right. Jack," added Miss Harper with a 
 laugh, "we'll all join in the chorus for your benefit." 
 
 The whole party formed a circle around Wood- 
 son, who began picking his banjo, and then sang: 
 
 "Ise come from Alabama wid de banjo on my knee, 
 Ise gwine to Louisiana my true love for to see ; 
 
WAKING UP THE BATTERIES. 115 
 
 It rain'd all night de day I left, de wedder it was dry, 
 De sun so hot 1 froze lo deaf, Susanna, don't you cry." 
 Then as Woodson threw back his head, walled 
 his eyes, patted his feet and slung his banjo around 
 in a serio-comic ecstacy, the entire line of officers, 
 privates, negroes and Jack and his sister stormed 
 out the chorus : 
 
 "O Susanna! 
 Don't you cry for me; 
 I've come from Alabama 
 With the banjo on my knee." 
 After picking his banjo nimbly for a minute, 
 Woodson wagged his head in what may best be 
 termed a zig-zag manner, and sang the second verse : 
 "I jump'd aboard de Telegraph an' travel'd down de river, 
 De 'lectric fluid magnified and killed four hundred nigger, 
 De bullgine bust, de boss run ofT, I really thought to die; 
 I shot my eyes to hold my breff"; Susanna, don't you cry." 
 Officers and men now joined "all hands 'round," 
 and with the patter of feet woke the welkin with : 
 "O Susanna! 
 Don't you cry for me; 
 I've come from Alabama 
 With the banjo on my knee." 
 Jack laughed till he almost choked ; and Wood- 
 son, after a broad grin had shown his big white 
 teeth, continued in a rather subdued tone: 
 "I had a dream de odder night when everything was still, 
 I thought I seen Susanna a comin' down de hill, 
 De buckwheat cake war in her mouf, de tear war in her 
 
 eye, 
 Says I, 'Ise comin' from de Souf, Susanna, don't you cry." 
 Just here every man put his hand to his mouth, 
 
116 KENNESAW'S BOMBAEDMENT. 
 
 after Captain Ward Lad whispered to Miss Harper, 
 and Jack found himself the only one singing the 
 
 chorus. 
 
 "O Susanna ! 
 Don't you cry for me — " 
 
 his childish voice rang out, shrill and clear; but, 
 hearing no others, and seeing a solemn look upon 
 the faces of all, and every one perfectly silent. 
 Jack exclaimed: 
 
 "Ob! ain't you going to sing the chorus? 
 Excuse me." 
 
 All were provokingly quiet for about twenty 
 seconds, while Jack's face became as red as a beet; 
 but then Captain Ward came to his relief by shout- 
 ing: 
 
 "O Susanna!" 
 
 and the entire circle joined in, and shook the air 
 with, 
 
 "Don't you cry for me ; 
 I've come from Alabama 
 With the banjo on my knee." 
 
 Woodson after an instant picked his banjo, and 
 continued : 
 
 "I'll soon be down in New Orleens, an' den I'll look all 
 'round. 
 An' if I find Susanna I'll fall upon de ground; 
 But if I do not find her dis darkey'll shorely die. 
 And when I'm dead and buried, Susanna, don't you cry." 
 
 AVoodson then jumped up, swung his banjo above 
 his head, and, as the other negroes patted vigor- 
 ously, began dancing an old-fashioned jig, while all 
 
WAKING UP THE BATTERIES. 117 
 
 of his audience swung their hats above their heads 
 and, marching around in a circle, sang: 
 
 "O Susanna! 
 Do^'t you cry for me-f 
 I've come from Alabama 
 With the banjo onjmy knee." 
 
 The echoes seemed to li^iger among the crags, 
 and Jack laughed himself almost hoarse. He then 
 turned to Captain Ward and said: 
 
 "O Captain, now get Sis to sing, 'O yes, I am a 
 Southern girl.' I know these soldiers would like to 
 hear it." 
 
 "Oh! no, indeed, Jack," exclaimed his fcister, 
 "you will be voted a first-class nuisance ii you don't 
 hold your tongue." 
 
 "Ah! but why not. Miss Harper? I like Jack's 
 suggestion, and dare say that all these gentlemen 
 would ieel honored and delighted if you would sing 
 for us. Pardon me for saying that you have illus- 
 trated the highest type of Southern womanhood 
 to-day, and I am sure we would all be charmed to 
 have you sing for us," 
 
 "Yes, please sing for us ; we should so much like 
 to hear you," came from at least twenty voices in 
 the throng. 
 
 "Well, this is more than I bargained for," said 
 the young lady to Captain Ward, while her face 
 was suffused with blushes, "But I am without an 
 accompaniment. " 
 
 "Ah, we will supply that," answered the captain. 
 "Here, Mr. Carnes, please bring your cornet." 
 
118 KENNESAW'S BOMBARDMENT. 
 
 "With great pleasure, sir," exclaimed the young 
 musician, who was a member of the division band, 
 and a superb master of his art. 
 
 Stepping forward, he bowed politely to Mi s 
 Harper, who smiled and said, "If 'twere done 
 'twere well 'twere done quickly." 
 
 Taking his cornet, he began playing the prelude 
 to the air, "The bonnie blue flag," and then, as its 
 clear, silvery echoes quivered around the mountain 
 top with the sweetest melody, Miss Harper sang: 
 
 "Oh! yes, I am a Southern girl, 
 
 And glory in the name, 
 And boast it with far greater pride 
 
 Than glittering wealth or fame. 
 We envy not the Northern girl. 
 
 Her robes of beauties rare. 
 Though diamonds grace her snowy neck. 
 
 And pearls bedeck her hair. 
 
 Chorus.— Hurrah ! hurrah! 
 
 For the sunny South so dear: 
 Three cheers for the homespun dress 
 The Southern ladies wear. 
 
 The homespun dress is plain, I know, 
 
 My hat's palmetto, too; 
 But then it shows what Southern girls 
 
 For Southern rights will do. 
 We've sent the bravest of our land 
 
 To battle with the foe. 
 And we will lend a helping hand; 
 
 We love the South, you know. 
 
 Hurrah ! hurrah ! etc. 
 
WAKING UP THE BATTERIES. 119 
 
 Now, Northern goods are out of date; 
 
 And since old Abe's blockade, 
 We, Southern girls can be content 
 
 With goods that's Southern made. 
 We sent our sweethearts to the war. 
 
 But, dear girls, never mind, 
 Your soldier-love will ne'er forget 
 
 The girl he left behind. 
 
 Hurrah! hurrah! etc. 
 
 The soldier is the lad for me — 
 
 A brave heart I adore ; 
 And when the sunny South is free, 
 
 And fighting is no more, 
 I'll choose me then a lover brave 
 
 From out the gallant band, 
 The soldier lad I love the best 
 
 Shall have my heart and hand. 
 
 Hurrah ! hurrah ! etc. 
 
 The Southern land's a glorious land, 
 
 And has a glorious cause; 
 Then cheer, three cheers for Southern rights, 
 
 And for the Southern boys. 
 We scorn to wear a bit of silk, 
 
 A bit of Northern lace : 
 But make our homespun dresses up. 
 
 And wear them with such grace. 
 
 Hurrah ! hurrah ! etc. 
 
 And now, young man, a word to you; 
 
 If you would win the fair. 
 Go to the field where honor calls. 
 
 And win your lady there. 
 Remember that our brightest smiles 
 
 Are for the true and brave. 
 
120 KENNESAWS BOMBARDMENT. 
 
 And that our tears are all for those 
 Who fill a- soldier's grave. 
 
 Chokus. — Hurrah ! hurrah ! 
 
 For the sunnj South so dear; 
 Hurrah for the homespun dress 
 The Southern ladies wear." 
 
 A tempest of applause succeeded, in the midst of 
 which one of the soldiers shouted, "Three cheers 
 for a Southern young lady who illustrates that song 
 by herself wearing a homespun drees ! God bless 
 her, and give one like her to every home in Dixie ! " 
 
 The whole mountain top rang with the enthusi- 
 astic cheers which followed; and Captain Ward 
 then remarked : 
 
 "Gentlemen, it is needless to say that we are 
 under a thousand obligations to our fair friend 
 who has made this mountain peak seem like the 
 home of the muses ; or better far, like one of our 
 sweet Southern homes; but as I wish her to enjoy 
 the view over the surrounding country before dusk, 
 we must bid you adieu." 
 
 Miss Harper then gracefully bowed to the throng, 
 exclaiming in an audible tone, "God bless our 
 Southern soldiers ! " 
 
 All hats were lifted, and every one politely 
 saluted them as the captain and his beautiful 
 charge passed on from their midst. 
 
 The party then walked forward to the parapet, 
 and looked upon the rolling hills, which bordered 
 the base of the great mountain on the north. 
 
 For a while they stood, viewing the dark forests 
 
WAKING UP THE BATTERIES. 121 
 
 below, with open areas of fields here and there. 
 Peering out of the first or whitenilig the latter were 
 the tents of the Federal army, in front of whicja, 
 like little red threads, ran the entrenchments. 
 Before even these they could in one spot and then 
 another see little pufis of smoke and hear faint 
 sounds of skirmish firing. 
 
 Just at this time Lieutenant Sam Kennard, of 
 Guibor's battery came up, and, after saluting the 
 party, remarked: "I see you are again taking a 
 view over the Yankee camps and the surroundings 
 in general. I have a copy of this morning's Atlanta 
 Intelligencer, in which is a most beautiful description 
 of it, and which I will let you have. " 
 
 "Thank you very much," said Miss Harper, and 
 Captain Ward, taking the paper, in compliance 
 with her evident desire read the article, as they sat 
 down under a small cedar tree. 
 
 "One of the most magnificent views to be seen on 
 earth is the scene exhibited from the summit of the 
 Kennesaw Mountain. From its base a valley on 
 all sides spreads off in billowy-like surfaces, rolling 
 higher and higher until it is lost on the south 
 on the blue outline of the southeastern spur of 
 the Alleghanies, on whose crests the white line of 
 houses and occasional spires of Atlanta are plainly 
 visible. Southward, beyond that regular line, a 
 smooth, blue cone lifts up its head above all the 
 ridges within view, and overlooks the eminences of 
 all the country. It is Stone Mountain, that barren 
 hill and wonderful curiosity that arises like a huge 
 loaf, and, though over twenty miles south of the 
 crests where Atlanta rests in her beauty, it seems 
 
122 KENNESAW'S BOMBARDMENT. 
 
 as though it was a helmet sitting on the brow of 
 this ffiaut ridge. 
 
 VEastward, and but a few miles from the base 
 of the Kennesaw, the lovely village of Marietta 
 gleams out from amid the luxuriant foliage which 
 embowers it like an emerald setting woven in a 
 cluster of diamonds. In its desolation it remains 
 beautiful. Its arbored shades look as inviting as 
 when the exquisite forms of beauty and the attrac- 
 tive eyes of lovely and loved women, and elegant 
 people charmed the visitor to remain and luxuriate 
 amid its endearments. The defacing touch and 
 destroying presence of an army are evident on 
 its face. Its citizens gone, its magnificent homes 
 deserted, its regal residences desolate, its church 
 bells quiet, its halls abandoned and its music 
 silenced, it remains but a warlike citadel on the 
 plain. The echoes of war, the fitful signal of the 
 clanging, spurred dragoons, the challenge of the 
 sentry, the snort of the war-horse, the shrieks of the 
 steam-engines, the rumbling of trains of cars and 
 long lines of wagons, and the shouts of teamsters 
 and workmen, swell aloud on the air at intervals, 
 and then the oppressive silence becomes more intol- 
 erable than the noise was bef )re. The destructive 
 finger of war is laid on the village, but it remains 
 beautiful in its ruins. Northeastward from the 
 slope of the mountain the billowy hills wave into 
 the dim, misty outline of the crests whose thin blue 
 brows stretch to the Catskills on the Hudson. The 
 Blue Ridge, with all its strange contour and fantas- 
 tic outlines, fades before us into a cloud, and into 
 the impenetrable depths where even distance does 
 not 'lend enchantment to the view,' by robing the 
 'mountain in its azure hue.' 
 
 "Brush Mountain casts up its shaggy head before 
 us, and like the hump of a camel sits a ragged 
 monster barrier, on whose sloping face an army 
 
WAKING UP THE BATTERIES. 123 
 
 defends the pathways that lead to the goal of our 
 enemy's ambition. At its feet a smiling, peaceful 
 valley shows its fair face, and, laughing in the sun- 
 light, its green fields and treasured homes reflect 
 back the scorched rays of the bright sun, shining 
 like the glorious gems that the}"^ are to the husband- 
 man. Far off northward their bosoms are bared to 
 grow the wealth that fills our granaries and store- 
 houses with their golden grain. The limit is 
 bounded by the hills along the Etowah. Skirting 
 the horizon, their broken backs are misty and dim. 
 Sometimes a dull red or barren sandy spot on the 
 iron hills gleams out on their sides or summits. 
 
 "To the north and westward the fertile country 
 presents a repetition of hills and valleys that are 
 studded with the beautiful farms of planters, whose 
 homes awhile since were busy hives of industry, 
 and where peaceful sounds of pastoral life only 
 broke on the ear. 
 
 "The great red banks of the Western & Atlantic 
 Railroad wind like the tortuous curvings of a huge 
 snake along over the surface — here on an enormous 
 bank, there through a deep cut. It winds back 
 and forth, binding the mountains and valleys with 
 links of iron, and transports the treasures of the 
 caverns on the Tennessee on its surface for the 
 necessities and luxuries of a people hundreds of 
 miles to the southward. 
 
 "Away over the tops of the peaked hills at 
 Allatoona, the dim outlines of the ranges of hills 
 along the Etowah and Oostanaula float in the mists 
 of the quivering sunlight We almost seem to see, 
 bounding the horizon, and shutting off the view, 
 the exquisitely beautiful and gracefully curved out- 
 lines of Lookout Mountain. 
 
 "The sparkling, glassy curves of Noonday Creek 
 glitter in the sun's rays. But to-day, instead of the 
 
124 KENNESA-VV'S BOMBARDMENT. 
 
 fairies that once sported beneath the silver sheen of 
 the moon's soft rays, armed men make night hideous 
 with their brawls, their hoarse challenges, and the 
 quick, sharp shot of their deadly rifles. 
 
 "Off" to the left, nearly in the track of the set- 
 ting sun, Pine Mountain shows its sombre sides. 
 Almost dark with the perennial verdure of its foli- 
 age, its cypress gloom frowns down black as a 
 funeral pall. It mourns that a deed of blood and 
 crime was done on its crown. There it stands, and 
 forever will remain a monument for legends and 
 history, to tell that a noble Christian, a gallant 
 warrior, a great champion, and a loved man died 
 in battle at the hands of our enemy. There Gen- 
 eral Leonidas Polk, the great bishop, the great 
 general, was killed. Even our enemies cannot 
 rejoice over the horrid deed. Our country mourns 
 his loss. History will weave about his crosier, his 
 sword and his tomb, and entwine with the chaplet 
 that adorns his memory, his many virtues and his 
 glorious, gallant deeds. 
 
 "South of the dark mountain a black and gloomy 
 forest presents its interminable and intricate lab- 
 yrinths of trees. They are overlooked by Lost 
 Mountain, which stands grim and frowning like a 
 huge grizzly monarch of the olden time. The very 
 air of antiquity seems to hang over it, and though 
 a wonderful curiosity, a monstrous freak of nature's 
 fantastic humor,* yet it stands a forbidding sentinel 
 and landmark to the hundred hills around. 
 
 "South and west are the bloody depths about 
 New Hope Church and Dallas. Eastward are the 
 yet ghostlier places of sepulchre about Gilgal, and 
 beyond the base of Little Kennesaw are seen the 
 
 •I'lt is said that Lost Mountain was so called because it wan- 
 dered away from all the other mountains and got lost. 
 
 From its summit one can easily look into Marietta, eight miles 
 distant, 
 
;. F WAKING UP THE BATTERIES. 125 
 
 ,' mazes'of the dark and bloody grounds where battle 
 has made fearful and horrid marks. 
 
 "Over the whole valley surrounding the base of 
 Kennesaw the arts and appliances of war have dis- 
 placed the humbler work of the husbandman. 
 Interminable lengths of earthworks and forts, 
 parallels and approaches, defenses and advance 
 lines, batteries and muskets and warrior foes 
 cover the land. Thousands of white spots declare 
 the tented field. The deep-mouthed bellowing of 
 brazen cannon, the chopping sound of the picket 
 shots, volleys of opposing musketry, shouts of 
 infuriated men, the yells of advancing foes, the 
 neighing of the war steeds, the bray of mules, 
 the shrill blasts of trumpets, the roars of mimic 
 thunder, answering the furious bursts of the battle 
 storm, the charge, the broken retreat, the cheer of 
 the victors — all echo up to our perch on the crown of 
 the giant that sits serene where no political tempest, 
 no national convulsion or continental earthquake 
 can shake its philosophic calm or its granite founda- 
 tion. The smoke of battle rises thick and in fetid 
 volumes. Hundreds of souls, the manes of the 
 dead, are floating to the skies on that sulphurous 
 vapor, and its incense arises from those battle-field 
 altars of sacrifice, and the sun hides its face behind 
 the white cloud, but tints the attenuated sheet with 
 gorgeous colors. Deep brown and red edges shade 
 the purple mists, and faint patches of blue open 
 like gateways to the fair and glorious heaven 
 beyond. 
 
 ' 'The battle still rages and roars its puny thunder- 
 strokes against the battlement that stretches its 
 rocky crest far up into God's own bright sky. 
 A violet glory rests over the western horizon. 
 Dim stretches of gold radiate from the far-oflP moun- 
 tains to the o'erarching zenith, crimson spots paint 
 
126 KENNESAW'S BOMBARDMENT. 
 
 and mottle the dim sapphire glow that casts its 
 glorious mantle over the earth. The gorgeous 
 scene slowly faints away beneath the sun's dying 
 rays. 'Tis sunset. 
 
 "Twilight comes on apace, and night. Then the 
 moon glides up the sky and over the mountain, 
 and looks down on a scene of blood, where proud 
 mortals cast the lives and pride of a province away. 
 It coldly frowns on the battle-field. It sadly smiles 
 on Kennesaw." 
 
 "That is indeed beautiful!'' exclaimed Miss Har- 
 per, "and how true, too." 
 
 "Yes," replied Captain Ward, "it is a very fine 
 piece of word painting,* But ah! listen." 
 
 In the still summer air, just before twilight, they 
 could hear the brass bands of the Federal army 
 playing the national airs, some "Hail Columbia, 
 happy land!" and others, "The star-spangled ban- 
 ner, oh, long may it wave!" 
 
 "Yes," exclaimed Miss Harper, after a pause, 
 "I wish we could hail Columbia as a happy land; 
 but we can't do it until our country's soil is free 
 
 '•'Another very graphic description of this imposing scene 
 IS found in the following extra<t from a letter by the correspondent 
 of the "Atlanta Register," published during June, 1864: 
 
 "Our object being to visit the mountain, we did not tarry long 
 in the city, which one can scarcely recognize as the quiet little 
 watering place of years gone liy. 
 
 ■:= '■.■■ ■:! It is three miles to the top of Kennesaw Mountain, 
 which looms up so plainly as you leave the city (Marietta) that 
 you would hardly imagine it half the distance. 
 
 * '-.■■ '■:■ Thought it wouldn't do to stand still, and kept on up 
 towards the mountain top. Hadn't gone far before another wicked 
 shell went crashintr through the trees overhead, and we went down 
 again. Got up again, however, and traveled along the rocky path 
 at a very lively pace, until we ensconced ourself behind the works 
 of the battery at the apex. After a little while, our ears becoming 
 less nice, we strolled outside of the battery, and took a good view 
 of the Army of the Cumberland spread out before us in the valley 
 below. It was a grand sight, and one worth risking more shells 
 than the Yankees can throw at Kennesaw to see. In the distance 
 the plains Were dotted with Yankee tents and wagons, here and 
 
MRS, harper's home. 
 
128 KENNESAW'S BOMBARDMENT. 
 
 from the invader's tread ; when it is, we can salute 
 her in pteans of joy and triumph." 
 
 "Ah!" said Captain Ward, "the Yankees say 
 the Southern women do more to bolster up the Con- 
 federacy by their tongues than the men do by their 
 arms. I see you are a true Southern woman ! " 
 
 "Yes, and I shall always remain so!" said his 
 fair comrade, "but listen to that Yankee band play- 
 ing the 'Star-spangled banner.' They appropriate 
 a Southern man's poetry just as they appropriate 
 our homes and our stores. And see those thou- 
 sands of tents of our enemies on Georgia soil. 
 Oh ! let us go away from here ; it makes me angry 
 to look at them; if I stay I shall think and say 
 what I ought not. Come, Jack, we must return to 
 Marietta." 
 
 "Well, I will go with you," said Captain Ward, 
 "and Minon, also, of course. I would detail Minon 
 for the special service; but he is not in ccmdition to 
 
 there, like little villages of Southern negro (quarters ; and nearer 
 their lines and fortifications were plainly visible, apparently not 
 over a mile distant. 
 
 With the aid of a glass we could see the gunners plainly as 
 they loaded their pieces, and nearer still could be discerned 
 plainly with the naked eye their sharpshooters down lower in the 
 valley, popping away now and then at our men. On Little Kenne- 
 saw, to our left, a battery of our guns was firing away at the Yankee 
 battery farther down to the left, and along both lines, as far as we 
 could see puffs of white smoke were ascending from time to time, 
 followed by the dull booming of cannon. 
 
 The smoke of the Yankee locomotives on the Western & At- 
 lantic Railroad went trailing along the tree tops, and their wagons 
 could be seen moving down towards the left of our line. We spent 
 some time in looking over the shoulder of a .soldier, who, with 
 paper resting on an idle gun, was sketching the scene as it lay, 
 like a picture, spread out before him. 
 
 It was hard to leave this mountain top, and the grand view 
 which it gives; but we clambered down tlie steep, rocky path, 
 dodging, it is true, as we came in full range of the shells again, 
 until we reached our horse, which we mounted, and wadecj back 
 again through the mud to Marietta. 
 
WAKING UP THE BATTERIES. 129 
 
 help you down the steep side of the mountain. 
 We will not go over to Great Kennesaw; but will 
 take this military trail down the ravine on the 
 south, between the two peaks, and I can arrange at 
 the foot of the mountain to send you in an ambul- 
 ance to Marietta. We had better go before it gets 
 dark." 
 
 "Yes, we had better go at once," replied Miss 
 Harper ; "we ought never to have come." 
 
 "Ah! don't say that," said Captain Ward, "for 
 if you hadn't come one of the pleasantest episodes of 
 a Southern soldier's life would have been unknown 
 to me." 
 
 "Then I withdraw the remark, because of the 
 mutual pleasure which has been allowed us even in 
 the midst of so many scenes of terror," answered 
 the young lady with a smile. 
 
 Just as they were turning to leave, they were 
 suddenly thrilled by the sound of a brass band but 
 a short distance from them, which had struck up 
 the inspiring notes of "Dixie." 
 
 It seemed as though the Yankee musical chal- 
 lenge met as quick and defiant response as had the 
 challenge from their cannon during the day. 
 High above the calm atmosphere around the moun- 
 tain top the glorious sound arose, and sent a feeling 
 of ecstasy into the spirit of every one who heard. 
 
 "Hurrah!" yelled Jack, throwing his cap fully 
 ten feet into the air, ' 'Hurrah for our brass band ! " 
 and then the soldiers seeing his enthusiastic caper, 
 joined and raised a similar shout. Almost like 
 
130 KENNESAWS BOMBAKDMENT. 
 
 lightning it ran down the whole line, and tremen- 
 dous yells arose from the entire division which 
 covered the mountain. 
 
 As one of the soldiers exclaimed, "It's almost 
 the same as if some one had have jumped a rabbit 
 in the midst of the camp." 
 
 The band continued playing, amid the uproarious 
 shouts of the soldiery, and soon finished T,he air, 
 "Dixie;" and turned to that of "The bonnie blue 
 flag." 
 
 "That is good," said Captain Ward, " 'Dixie' is 
 more than a match for 'Hail Columbia,' and 'The 
 bonnie blue flag' can cap 'The star-spangled banner' 
 any day." 
 
 And now again the wild and piercing "rebel yell' 
 arose above the mountain top. This was echoed 
 back from the hills below by the cheering of the 
 Federal soldiery, and thousands of them could be 
 heard joining the general shout which was sent to 
 meet the defiant "ear splitters" of the Confederates 
 on the mountain. Then from Walker's Confederate 
 division on the south a prolonged yell sprang forth 
 which ran down the line till it was taken up by 
 Bate's men in gray. Onward and onward it rolled 
 its wild billows of sound until "faint from farther 
 distance borne," it died away in a short, sharp 
 whoop from Cleburne's heroes. 
 
 For several minutes this continued on the sum- 
 mit, until Captain Ward began really to get appre- 
 hensive that some of the Yankee gunners might 
 open fire again, in order to make the scene livelier 
 
WAKING UP THE BATTERIES. 131 
 
 in other respects than that of sound. But his fears 
 were groundless, for they as well as the Confeder- 
 ates seemed to have concluded that there might be 
 a truce for awhile between the cannon. 
 
 But after the vociferous uproar had subsided, 
 suddenly the band on the summit of the mountain 
 began playing, "Home, sweet home!" and, what a 
 wonderful change ensued from the noisy demonstra- 
 tion which had followed the playing of the military 
 airs! 
 
 An fimpressive calm seemed to settle over the 
 entire mountain and forests below. The change 
 was so sudden, and all the surroundings made it so 
 touching that Miss Harper found tears gushing 
 from her eyes. 
 
 "Oh, Captain Ward," she exclaimed, "you must 
 pardon me; but how I do wish that this war was 
 over, and that all of our dear boys were again 
 around their firesides at their own sweet homes! 
 Oh! would that I could look down the vista of 
 years to the time when the bells of mercy shall toll 
 the knell of departed wrath ! " 
 
 "Beautiful words, well said ! I cannot blame a 
 lady for her tears when I find one dropping from 
 my own eye," exclaimed Captain Ward. "Ah! 
 when this war is over, may there be less woe amid 
 the homes in the south and the north than I have 
 sometimes considered there would be." 
 
 Jack came forward and took his sister's hand, 
 and whispered, "Sis, just look and see how those 
 soldiers are crying. I didn't think they would be 
 
132 KENNESAW'S BOMBARDMENT. 
 
 so sorry to hear 'Home, sweet home!' played. 
 I like to hear it. I think it's a pretty tune." 
 
 There was deep silence everywhere, except the 
 soft, sweet music from the band; and when this 
 ended, there followed for a few seconds a stillness 
 as of death; and then, from far down among the 
 Federal works was faintly heard the shout : 
 
 "When this cruel war is over, 
 Then we'll all come home again." 
 
 From thousands of throats it seemed to rise, and 
 then from the Confederate ranks amid the cloud- 
 swept crags was sent forth the good-humored 
 refrain : 
 
 "Yes, we'll all come home again!" 
 
 Ah! the immortal brotherhood of man. Oceans 
 may separate the persons, time may turn the hair 
 gray, bend the stout form and dim the lustre of the 
 eyes, hate may for an interval make them as tigers, 
 striving to rend to pieces and lap each other's blood ; 
 but let the still, small voice of sympathy speak to 
 them in the quiet moments, when passion's wildest 
 fury is spent, and they would cast aside the dead- 
 liest weapons of wrath and clasp hands as children 
 around their mother's knees. 
 
 Minon now remarked, "Well, Miss Harper, and 
 Captain Ward, I think we had better go before 
 it gets too dark." 
 
 "That's so," said Miss Harper, "let us go at once." 
 
 The party then, under Captain Ward's leadership, 
 walked along the crest until they reached the slope 
 
' WAKING UP THE BATTERIES. 133 
 
 leading down into the ravine, and there began the 
 descent. 
 
 They passed among the files of soldiers who were 
 cooking their supper, or sitting down in groups 
 among the crags, laughing and talking, and some 
 of them reading their favorite newspaper, "The 
 Rebel," which, originally published in Chattanooga, 
 had been refugeeing before the army, stopping for 
 a while in Marietta. 
 
 Sitting apart from these, on a rock, was Ward 
 Childs, a nineteen-year-old soldier boy from Mis- 
 souri, a member of Guibor's battery. He was 
 writing in his diary, and sad was his heart as his 
 hand pencilled the words that under the terrific 
 fire that day Caldwell Dunlap, brave fellow, had 
 lost his left arm, and that Bob Welch and J. B. 
 O'Reilly were also badly wounded. Childs was a 
 bright young soldier, and a general favorite. 
 
 Major Storrs was among the others, helping Pat 
 Quinn to broil some ham. The major, when off 
 duty, was always one of the boys, consequently he 
 made a personal friend of each of them. Seeing 
 the young lady, he immediately came forward and 
 shook hands with her, saying, "I was just starting 
 a few minutes ago to hunt you up when I was 
 informed that Captain Ward was with you ; and as 
 there is no one more competent than he to give you 
 every attention I remained back in the ranks; but 
 permit me now to express my most hearty con- 
 gratulations that you passed safely through what 
 was really quite an ordeal to veteran soldiers. 
 
134 KENNESAW'S BOMBARDMENT. 
 
 I hope I shall meet you again, but I should hardly 
 wish it were here. And, by the way, General 
 French has gone over to the extreme right of the 
 line. He said he hoped to see you before you went 
 down ; but that in case he did not, asked me if I met 
 you to extend to you his congratulations at not 
 being hurt to-day and also his sincere good wishes." 
 
 "Thank you so much, Major, for your kind words 
 of congratulation, and for a like message from Gen- 
 eral French ," answered Miss Harper. ' 'But does n't 
 it really seem too wicked to profane so beautiful a 
 place as this grand mountain top with the blood 
 seeking missiles of hate and death? Our noble old 
 Kennesaw ought to have been left to smile down on 
 perpetual scenes of peace and happiness. Ah ! the 
 Yankees, the home destroying Yankees !" 
 
 "Yes, it really does, "answered the Major; "and you 
 will appreciate the comparison when I say that your 
 remarks remind me of a humorous scene which 
 occurred when we were fighting before Cassville. 
 Captain Hoskins, some of whose guns you see right 
 behind you, had taken position on an eminence in an 
 open space in somebody's front yard. 
 
 "Just as they had gotten everything about ready 
 for the fray the old lady of the house came out, and 
 said to the captain, in a shrill and very severe tone: 
 'I think that things has come to a pretty pass when 
 soldiers has to fetch their horses and cannons right 
 up into a body's front yard for a fight.' 
 
 "And she stayed there, complaining, until our guns 
 opened and the enemy's shells began to whiz by, 
 
WAKING UP THE BATTERIES. 135 
 
 then she, unlike you, ran down the hill and into the 
 woods out of sight." 
 
 "Well," answered Miss Harper, with a merry- 
 laugh, "I don't know that I wa% so very much 
 unlike the old lady after all; for the only reason I 
 didn't run down the hill and far away was because 
 they would n't let me, I will have to admit that I 
 was in mortal terror for several hours." 
 
 "Yes, but I saw you run right into the midst of 
 a fire so severe that the bravest soldiers quailed 
 before its deadly fury," said the major. "Few 
 heroines have done the like." 
 
 "Ah! it was not heroism, but the responsibility 
 of love that forced me to do that," exclaimed the 
 young lady with a shudder at the terrible remem- 
 brance, and with a serious shake of her head at 
 Jack. 
 
 "Well, we put the flag up again, anyhow," said 
 Jack. 
 
 "That's true. Jack, you put the flag up again in 
 a very brave manner," said the major, patting him 
 on the head. "I wish we had more grown men who 
 would be as brave as you were." 
 
 After shaking hands with the major, again, the 
 young lady and her escort passed along from the 
 group of soldiers who were with Major Storrs. 
 
 All the others saluted the party with the cour- 
 tesy, which is innate with the men of the South; 
 and Miss Harper voiced her heart's sentiments 
 when she said in an undertone to Captain Ward, 
 '*0h ! our Southern soldiers are gentlemen, as well 
 
136 KENNESAWS BOMBARDMENT. 
 
 heroes. God bless them ! " 
 
 Down, down the steep sides of Kennesaw they 
 wended their way, until at length, just as darkness 
 was beginning to make the trail somewhat difficult 
 to follow, they reached the level ground at the base. 
 
 Here they found several ambulances which had 
 been sent to use in carrying the wounded men to 
 Marietta. 
 
 Captain Ward put the party into one of these, 
 and then exclaimed ; 
 
 "Ah ! I hear the tattoo beating on the mountain top. 
 Farewell, Miss Harper, I sincerely trust that we 
 may meet again under much more agreeable con- 
 ditions.* God bless you for your presence to-day! 
 Good bye, Jack, my dear boy, you are a hero 
 already; live for your country and for God! 
 Minon, I will see to it that you have a furlough 
 
 *To Captain Ward it was not vonchsafed to see the gratifica- 
 tion of this wish, as the following will show : 
 
 =;-. ::: =:•. "Captain Ward was killed at Atlanta. One morning 
 just after breakfast I went to General Ector's headquartprs, near 
 the line at Atlanta. It was about three-fourths of a mile east of 
 Ben Yancey's house and fish pond. The general said he would 
 like for me to fire a lew rounds at what he took to be new earth- 
 worlis for more batteries in tlie enemy's line to the right of his 
 front. Captain Ward's battery bore directly on these points, and 
 I requested him to fire about a half dozen rounds. He did so. 
 There was no reply from ihe new earthworks ; but from other and 
 distant points projectiles were, every few minutes, thrown near 
 our line and over us into the city. 
 
 General Ector, Captain Ward and myself were walking leis- 
 urely to the rear, Ward having ceased firmg, when Lieut. Cruse 
 asked me to sign a pass for him to take his washing to the rear. 
 
 I halfway sat down, and was signing my name when a spher- 
 ical case, or shrapnel, from (lie long range guns of the enemy 
 exploded just above the heads of Cruse and myself. 
 
 When I arose and handed the lieutenant his pafs, to my 
 astonishment I saw General Ector lying on the ground apparently 
 struggling to rise. We ran to him »nd found his leg shattered 
 at the knee. Litter-bearers with Major Redwine, of Henderson, 
 Rusk Co.. Texas, now dead, ran up and carried the general under 
 an arbor at the breastworks. 
 
 I had not seen Captain Ward until the litter-bearers came up, 
 
WAKING UP THE BATTERIES. 13 
 
 for at least two months. Go ahead to Marietta, 
 driver!" and then, after a courteous wave of the 
 hand, he turned and sought the way up the moun- 
 tain again. 
 
 Miss Harper wiped the tears from her eyes and 
 exclaimed: "There goes the perfect type of a South- 
 ern gentleman! God bless his noble soul!" 
 
 The clatter of the wheels of the ambidance 
 enlivened the evening air, and within about a half 
 hour's time the party had arrived at Miss Harper's 
 home. 
 
 And what need be added here? The reader can 
 guess the sequel. After the cruel war was over 
 a noble husband and a beautiful and sweet bride — 
 not unheard of by us — received the congratulations 
 of scores of friends. 
 
 Among the decorations of the church were fern 
 leaves gathered from the sides of Kennesaw Moun- 
 tain. 
 
 then I noticed the captain also down. A ball from the shrapnel 
 had lodged in his thigh It was too high up for the limb to be 
 amputated, and he died a few days afterward. 
 
 Gen. Ector's leg was taken off. He practiced law in Texas for 
 a number of years after the war; was elected Judge of the Court of 
 Appeals, and filled the office'with much credit to his integrity and 
 legal ability. ■' 
 
 Captain Ward was a man of remarkable nerve. I have seen 
 him under trying circumstances, and he was always cool and his 
 mind clear. He was perfectly calm for three days upon his death- 
 bed. 1 sat hy him much of the time, and at the request of Bishop 
 Lay, of the Episcopal Church, wrote out for the benefit of the 
 captain's wife and children an account of the manner of his death, 
 and giving my testimony as an eye-witness to the high order of 
 his patriotic and meritorious services."— Letter from Major Storrs 
 to the author. 
 
 "July 27th.— This morning when on the lines the enemy 
 opened fire on Ward's battery, which was responded to on our 
 part. As it was about ceasing a shell, exploding over the works, 
 severely woimded General Ector in the left thigh, rendering 
 amputation necessary, and wounded Captain John J. Ward, of the 
 artillery, mortally. Captain Ward was a fine soldier, and his loss 
 was severely felt.— From Gen. S. Q. French's official report of 
 operations in front of Atlanta. 
 
 Further on General French refers to Captain Ward as a "most 
 estimable gentleman and gallant officer." 
 
138 KENNESAWS BOMBARDMENT. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Night came on at length, and the thick clouds 
 which threatened another rain laid a pall of Egyp- 
 tian darkness over the mountain and the entire 
 country around. No moonbeam, not a single star's 
 ray broke through the canopy of gloom overhead. 
 
 From Marietta on the south and from the Federal 
 lines on the north not even the gigantic form of 
 Kennesaw was visible. 
 
 But by those upon its two summits the lights in 
 the windows of the beautiful little city were plainly 
 observed, as were the headlights of a couple of loco- 
 motives which were coming on the railroad from 
 Marietta up toward the Confederate entrenchments 
 at the foot of the mountain, while a magnificent 
 panorama greeted their eyes when they turned in 
 the opposite direction. 
 
 Beginning east of the railroad and extending 
 westward, in front of and apparently almost under 
 the two peaks, thence bending and sweeping south- 
 ward for miles, were the camp fires of the Federal 
 army. It was hardly an exaggeration to say that 
 ten thousand fires, like twinkling stars, blazed amid 
 
WAKING UP THE BATTERIES. 139 
 
 the camps of Sherman's hundred thousand veterans* 
 on the hills and among the forests around and 
 benea'h them. The myriad lights dazzled their 
 eyes; and, although they were widely scattered, 
 yet the general trend was a continuous one, and the 
 "milky way" seemed to have its counterpart in the 
 new firmament which war had spread out below 
 them. 
 
 Parallel to this, and separated from it at an 
 average distance of hardly half a mile, were the 
 Confederate camp fires. These, however, were 
 more irregular and not half so many in number, 
 their prettiest feature being the fires on the other 
 peak of Kennesaw, northeastward of them, which 
 blazed apparently amid air like a chain of veritable 
 stars in the sky. 
 
 The prototype of these was found in the Federal 
 camp fires on Lost Mountain, about six miles to the 
 west, which, through the misty darkness, shone like 
 a dimly discerned, but gigantic constellation. 
 
 "A wondrously magnificent spectacle, isn't it?" 
 exclaimed General French to Generals Cockrell 
 and Ector, as the three and a few others stood in 
 an open space on a large rocky knob, just where 
 the western end of Little Kennesaw began sloping 
 downward, and from which point they could com- 
 mand an unobstructed view of the Federal line, 
 
 * "I think all will be ready in three (3) days. I will have nearly 
 one hundred thousand (100,000) men."— Dispatch from Gen. Sher- 
 man to Gen. Grant, July 12, 1864. 
 
 This was fifteen days after the great battle of Kennesaw Moun- 
 tain in which Sherman's army met a disastrous repulse, with 
 heavy loss, conseauently his numbers before the battle must have 
 exceeded one hundred thousand men. 
 
140 KENNESAW'S BOMBARDMENT. 
 
 from the bright glare of the fires on the east and in 
 front of them, to where they grew fainter, until, 
 miles away, in the far south, their presence was 
 indicated only by a luminous haze which filled the 
 atmosphere above them. 
 
 "Beautiful! beautiful," exclaimed General Cock- 
 rell. 
 
 "What a pity that instead of the light of festive 
 lamps it is the blaze of the torch of war!" added 
 General French. 
 
 "And that it is war," said Major Storrs, "we 
 haraly need further confirmatory evidence than to 
 listen to that popping sound of the picket firing, 
 which we can even now hear, and the occasional 
 booming of cannon down on Hardee's front. Look 
 yonder; you can see the little flashes from small 
 arms, sometimes a hundred at once, and several 
 times a mmute from our batteries or the enemy's 
 the blaze of fire from the artillery and the quick 
 burst of light as the shell explodes. Even night 
 fails to ensure a cessation of the work of killing."* 
 
 For sometime they stood surveying the panorama 
 of splendors which engirdled the mountain, each 
 seeming awed beyond the desire of speech. 
 
 Colonel Barry then remarked to the commander, 
 "General, don't you think we would have the 
 advantage if our batteries were to open upon them 
 
 '"■ "The usual flank exteusion is going on. Troops on both sides 
 move to left, and now the blue smoke ff the musket discloses the 
 line by day trending away, far away south toward the Chattahoo- 
 chee, and by night it is marked at times by the red glow of the 
 artillery amidst the spark-like flash of small arms that looks m 
 the distance like innumerable fireflies."— From General French's 
 Diary during June, 1864. 
 
WAKING UP THE BATTEKIES. 141 
 
 to-night? We could see exactly where to fire, and 
 their aim would be literally in the air, as the night 
 is too dark for them to even see the mountain, and 
 their task would be like shooting at stars. They 
 would have nothing to fire at, except the flash of 
 our pieces, apparently away up in the heavens, and 
 that would die away before they could sight their 
 guns at it." 
 
 "I was just thinking," answered General French, 
 "as to whether that would work. They might, 
 while our attention was diverted by our artillery 
 practice, attenjpt to storm our position under cover 
 of the darkness. However, as a double precaution 
 I think I will have you and General Cockrell to 
 post two lines of skirmishers, one beyond the foot 
 of the mouniain, and the other — the regular one — 
 about half way down, to guard against that con- 
 tingency, and then let Major Storrs and his captains 
 treat them to a display of falling stars." 
 
 "That is perfectly agreeable to us," exclaimed the 
 major; "and now, while the infantry boys are taking 
 position, I will go back and have our guns run 
 forward in all the batteries, and make ready for a 
 simultaneous discharge, when the signal is given. 
 As those rascals down yonder are keeping our men 
 awake just for pure devilment we will give them 
 occasion to begin to do some lively dodging them- 
 selves." 
 
 "And we will arrange our part of it at once," 
 said General Cockrell to Colonel Barry, "and will 
 notify you very soon." 
 
142 KENNESAW'S BOMBARDMENT. 
 
 "Well, gentlemen," said General Ector, "my 
 picket line, which has been pushed down to the foot 
 of the mountain as soon as darkness came on, as is 
 the case every night, will protect me against sur- 
 prise. But, by the way. General Cockrell, didn't 
 the Yankee batteries worry you a good deal to-day 
 down yonder on the hill?" 
 
 "Well, I should say they did," remarked General 
 Cockrell. "As one of my artillerymen said, their 
 fire was perfectly abominable. It swept the hill 
 top like a tornado; and the only safety was in 
 lying close in the trenches. It was even worse than 
 it was the first day* we took position there. The 
 ground is now almost completely obstructed by a 
 
 ''=A gentleman who was a member of Hoskins' battery, says 
 of that day's events on the hill at the western end of Little Kejine- 
 saw: "About four o'clock, the same day, two rifle Parrott's of 
 Hoskins' battery were drawn up the back way of this hill, and 
 pulled around by hand, and put in position, in open view of the 
 enemy, about halfway up the hill, about forty feet back of Gen. 
 Cockrell's lines, or works, which would make us shoot over the 
 Missourians. [This open space of rock with huge bowlders scat- 
 tered loosely over its surface is easily found by the visitor. — 
 Author.] 
 
 The object, it was said, was to find the enemy. We opened fire, 
 which was the first gun from Kennesaw. 
 
 We found them. The smoke had not cleared away from the 
 guns before the enemy opened with at least thirty guns, and things 
 went to pieces, whde our men took shelter in the infantry pits of 
 Cockrell's brigade; but not until two men were shot down, and 
 a wheel taken away. This first fire in the valley killed two and 
 wounded three men of Hoskins' battery. The enemy's fire ceased 
 in about ten minutes, but it had made paths of destruction while 
 it lasted. 
 
 Orders were then given for ns to roll back the guns, which was 
 done, after making some repairs; but the strange thing was that 
 we were permitted to do this without being fired upon. 
 
 It reminded one of a bee gum, and no one was anxious to stir 
 them up." 
 
 Prooably the heaviest artillery fire at any one time by Sher- 
 man was here, and concentrated on so small a spot. Out of fifteen 
 of our cannoniers with these two guns, eight either sleep among 
 the neglected graves on Kennesaw, or are hobbling through life as 
 cripples. The slight wounds were not counted, as an arm or leg 
 must be gone to unfit our men for duty. — Letter from a member of 
 Hoskins' battery to the Author. 
 
WAKING UP THE BATTERIES. 143. 
 
 tangle of boughs which their shells have torn from' 
 the trees."* 
 
 The party then separated, and orders were at 
 once sent to all at interest. 
 
 Within a few minutes the "tramp, tramp, tramp" 
 of about a couple of hundred men from each 
 brigade echoed amid the crags, through the night 
 air; and soon they disappeared in the forest, down 
 the rugged steeps. 
 
 Major Storrs waited more than an hour, during 
 which the guns had been placed in position, the 
 ammunition distributed, and everything made fully 
 ready for the work appointed for his batteries, and 
 which the men were very eager for. 
 
 General French himself, also, personally went 
 from one end of the ridge to the other, inspecting 
 the arrangement of the artillery, and giving direc- 
 tions as to the execution of the plan, wherever the 
 location called for different details. He likewise 
 sent word to the Confederates on Great Kennesaw, 
 of the proposed bombardment. 
 
 During the interim before "the ball was to open" 
 the officers joined their several messes at supper. 
 Major Storrs, however, "dropped in to take a snack,"" 
 as he expressed it, with the boys of Hoskins' battery, 
 who were at the big rock at the eastern end of the 
 crest of Little Kennesaw. Games and Walker, of 
 the division band, were there, the latter with a new 
 
 ^^JuNE 25.— * * =:= "Went early to the left of my line ; could 
 not ride in rear of Hoskins' Battery, on account of the trees and 
 limbs felled by the shells."— From General French's Diary durine 
 June, 1864. •' * 
 
 10 
 
144 KENNESAW'S BOMBARDMENT. 
 
 song which he had found in the Atlanta Daily 
 Intelligencer, published the day before. 
 
 By general request he sang this, Carnes playing 
 his cornet, just before supper. The delicious 
 melody of the instrument, combined with the rich 
 baritone voice of the singer, afforded the hearers a 
 treat which was all the more highly enjoyed when 
 they realized what different kind of "music" they 
 would soon be hearing. Though the singer ha? 
 now passed away, though the newspaper which 
 published the song no longer makes its daily appear- 
 ance, though the banner and cause which inspired it 
 are respectively furled and gone into history, the 
 and under changed conditions is maintaining its 
 glory and is still as dear to its children, and the 
 song is as sacred to the heart now as then, and is 
 here reproduced : 
 
 THEY ASK ME TO DESERT MY LAND. 
 
 During our imprisonment at Point Lookout, every 
 prisoner was brought before an officer, and had several 
 questions propounded him, among which was, "Do you 
 wish to take the oath of allegiance ?" which caused me to 
 write these lines : 
 
 Air — Wait till the war, love, is over. 
 They ask me desert my land. 
 
 Its history and glory, 
 Whose faith is penned sublimely grand, 
 
 In thrilling epic story — 
 Whose strength is written on ploughed plains 
 
 By war's red, fiery finger. 
 Where crushing battle-shocks and stains 
 
 Of carnage ever linger. 
 Dear land, loved land, thou art my home forever. 
 
WAKING UP THE BATTERIES. 145 
 
 They ask me to desert my land, 
 
 Lee, Beauregard and Davis, 
 Bright names that fondest hopes have fanned, 
 
 Bright heroes that will save us ; 
 Johnston, Longstreet, Stuart, too, 
 
 From them they would me sever, 
 And in my country's hlood imbrue 
 
 My hands — I answer, never! 
 Dear land, loved land, thou art my home forever. 
 They ask me to desert my land. 
 
 My banner proud and peerless, 
 ..ind charge no more with blade in hand 
 
 Beside the brave and fearless — 
 Through battle clouds, 'mid fire and shell — 
 
 Fair freedom's land defending, 
 And hearing despot's dying knell. 
 
 With shouts of vict'ry blending. 
 Dear land, loved land, thou art my home forever. 
 They ask me to desert my land. 
 
 My tie of country sever. 
 Affix a traitor's deed and brand 
 
 Upon my name forever. 
 They do not know the heart that beats 
 
 Beneath my bosom's swelling — 
 I'd rather, in my winding sheets, 
 
 Sleep in my last clay dwelling. 
 Dear land, loved land, thou art my home forever. 
 
 They ask me to desert my land. 
 
 To which my life is given. 
 And with my spirit fear to stand 
 
 Within the court of Heaven. 
 Fair, sunny land you trusted me 
 
 Amid the shock of battle — 
 My arm shall strike to set thee free, 
 
 Again when cannons rattle. 
 Dear land, loved land, thou art my home forever, 
 
 J. J. Mc. C. 
 
146 KENNESAW'S BOMBARDMENT. 
 
 Ah! land of the South, thou hast been called 
 "imperial land," and well thou meritest the title, 
 for the iron of an empire's strength, and the gold 
 of an empire's wealth, the marble of an empire's 
 majesty and the harvests of an empire's life thou 
 givest forth from thy bosom; and in thy myriad 
 homes, by the rolling ocean, or amid plains mantled 
 by the evergreen pines, or where the oaks cover 
 the hills and quiet valleys, or upon the towering 
 mountains, thou nurturest a race of the fairest 
 women and the bravest men that e'er the sun shone 
 on. But a nobler glory is thine. Thy throne is in 
 the hearts of thy children. 
 
 The Briton's breast swells with pardonable pride 
 as he stands ready to boast or to fight for merry 
 England, the record of whose prowess has gone 
 through a thousand years of toil or of warfare. The 
 Russian, at the command of his sceptred tyrant, 
 follows with blind devotion the banner of his 
 grotesquely mis-named "holy Russia," regardless of 
 whether that banner leads to the defense of her 
 soil or the oppression of the weak. The German 
 fills his speeches and his songs with praise of his 
 "Fatherland," and then — leaves it for a freer coun- 
 try. The Frenchman glorifies each hill and valley 
 of "la belle France," and his heart thrills with 
 patriotic ecstasy, as he goes forth to do battle for 
 her fame ; but nowhere in all the world stands there 
 a country whose children love it with such heart- 
 brightening affection as do those of our sunny 
 Southland. To their minds she is the Queen-land, 
 
WAKING UP THE BATTERIES. 147 
 
 to their hearts she is the Mother-land, to their souls 
 she is the God-favored land ; and, though they have 
 been falsely called traitors to a government whose 
 laws have been mal-administered by unprincipled 
 partisans, yet they stand true to her, to her tradi- 
 tions and her glory; and shame be upon the hand 
 and heart of that one of her sons who would turn 
 back when she called him ! 
 
 At length couriers arrived from Colonels Thos. 
 M. Carter and W. H. Clark who commanded the 
 skirmish lines, — the latter having gone to the foot 
 of the mountain and the former having stopped 
 about half way down, — that they had relieved the 
 pickets, and assumed the positions assigned them, 
 and that the immediate neighborhood was free of 
 the enemy. 
 
 General French, who had not gone down to his 
 headquarters, which were near the foot of the 
 mountain on the south, and who was eating supper 
 with his staff behind a tremendous bowlder, (so 
 that the light of the fire would not be observed by the 
 Federals,) then remarked to Major Sanders, "Well, 
 it is now twenty minutes past nine o'clock; tell 
 Major Storrs to open tire from all the batteries 
 exactly ten minutes from now. The signal will be 
 the discharge of a musket from this point. Tell him 
 to order the men to fire rapidly ; but with as great 
 precision as possible. We want to punish the 
 enemy badly before they get ready to reply." 
 
 Major Sanders at once passed the orders to the 
 
148 KENNESAW'S BOMBARDMENT. 
 
 artillery captains, and within a few minutes 
 returned and reported all ready. 
 
 The general then called Lieutenant Mother- 
 shead, who was talking to Colonel Young, and said, 
 "Lieutenant, take that musket and fire it. It is 
 loaded with a blank cartridge; but I hope its dis- 
 charge will mean the utter confusion of the enemies 
 of our country and her institutions." 
 
 "General, here goes for a little discharge which 
 will rouse the entire Yankee army." 
 
 With that remark he aimed in the direction of 
 the Federal camps and fired. 
 
 A bright flash ensued and the sharp report of the 
 musket rang out amid the darkness. 
 
 For an instant afterward there was silence as 
 of death, then like the burst of a thunder-cloud, 
 almost simultaneously from nine cannon, darted 
 sheets of flame which lit up the whole summit of 
 Little Kennesaw and shot their glare athwart the 
 mist which overhung Noonday valley and its boun- 
 dary hills, and, immediately following, a deafening 
 roar shook the very crags, and, with terrific rever- 
 berations, woke the country for a dozen miles 
 around. 
 
 Its startling echoes had scarcely died away ere 
 from thousands of throats a tremendous yell leaped, 
 till even in Marietta it seemed that the whole moun- 
 tain was alive. 
 
 This was caught up by those of the soldiers on 
 Great Kennesaw, who were awake, and a sound 
 
WAKING UP THE BATTERIES. 149 
 
 "as of many waters" swept onward and onward 
 through the air around the grand peaks. 
 
 The next moment it was repeated by General 
 French's division, who seemed almost wild with|the 
 thrilling enthusiasm. Officers and men sprang up 
 and shouted as if mad, and, to cap the climax, 
 several soldiers fired their muskets off into the air. 
 The example was contagious, and from hundreds 
 arose the cry "That's right; let's give 'em a regular 
 Confederate salute!" and, grasping their guns, they 
 began firing, — the rattling explosions coming now 
 singly, then in bunches, finally in whole platoons, 
 until pandemonium seemed turned loose on Kenne- 
 saw. 
 
 The star-like flashes from the countless muskets, 
 to the eyes of those who saw it in Marietta and in 
 the Confederate and Federal trenches on the south, 
 presented a scene of wondrous btilliancy. Thou- 
 sands of men in Cleburne's and Walker's divis- 
 ions, and in the other Confederate divisions had 
 directed their gaze toward the mountain as soon as 
 the deafening reports of the first discharge had 
 burst like thunder from the sky, and now, as the 
 blaze of the cannon and the quick flashes of the 
 musketry firing burst out of the gloom some of the 
 soldiers exclaimed, "It is like myriads of fire-flies 
 playing around shooting stars." 
 
 They watched the bombardment with intense 
 interest, * although it was too dark for them to dis- 
 
 *"For the last three or four days (with the exception of to-day) 
 there hai been a furious artillery duel going on between our bat- 
 teries on Kennesaw and the enemy's. We have a beautiful view of 
 
150 KENNESAW'S BOMBARDMENT. 
 
 tinguish the mountain, and the whole scene for the 
 next few hours appeared like the play of fiery 
 meteors in the heavens. 
 
 But the artillery battalion on Little Kennesaw 
 wasted no time in cheering. They viewed the 
 explosion of their first volley of shells, whose blaze 
 lit up the forest wherever they fell, and then 
 hastened back to their guns, and began executing 
 with great zeal and energy the order to "fire 
 rapidly." 
 
 Generals French, Ector, Cockrell, Colonels 
 Young, Barry and Gates, and Majors Storrs, 
 Sanders and several others took position on top of 
 a tremendous bowlder to note the effect of the 
 bombardment from their batteries. 
 
 Of course, through the intense darkness no move- 
 ment of the Federals could be observed ; and there- 
 fore the principal interest was in watching the play 
 of their own fire. 
 
 For some minutes they stood, noticing the bright 
 light which would here and there suddenly dart 
 forth among or above the steady blaze of the Fed- 
 eral camp fires. 
 
 Soon, however, the latter began disappearing, 
 first one, then another, then scores, and the veil of 
 darkness was gradually being drawn over the entire 
 prospect below them on the north. 
 
 the mountain from our position, and amuse ourselves watching 
 the enemy's shells burst on the mountain, and see our guns reply 
 to the enemy's. They have been firing frequently after dark. 
 Then it is a beautiful sight to see the shells burst, and the long 
 stream of fire from our guns when they fire." — Letter from a 
 soldier in Walker's division, dated June 26, 1864, and printed in 
 Augusta Constitutionalist, July 1, 1864. 
 
WAKING UP THE BATTERIES. 151 
 
 "Ha! ha!" exclaimed Col. Gates, "our fire is 
 becoming too close and hot for them ; they are put- 
 ting out their own." 
 
 "Yes," replied Col. Barry, "they want to give us 
 as great uncertainty in aim as they will have at us," 
 
 "Never mind, gentlemen," said General French, 
 "whenever they get to their guns, and settle down 
 to business, they will do their best to knock some 
 of Colonel Barry's 'stars' out of the Kennesaw 
 heavens. But this is good work which is going on 
 now; and by the time they can open all their bat- 
 teries, and get the range of 'the stars' there will 
 be a sorry tale for them to tell among their own 
 luminaries. Keep it up, Major Storrs, I like the 
 way those shells of yours are lighting up the dark- 
 ness down yonder before us." 
 
 "Ah, this is superb!" answered the latter. 
 "This practice is as fine as I ever saw at night. 
 The Yankees will have been worried pretty badly 
 before they are able to reply." 
 
 For fully five minutes this continued without 
 interruption, during which the scene on the moun- 
 tain top around them was one long to be remem- 
 bered, — the flashes of the discharges lighting up 
 the clouds of smoke, and the silhouettes of the men 
 calling to mind the classic fables of the Cyclops 
 forging the thunderbolts for Jove. 
 
 Suddenly General French, who had been ever 
 and anon casting his eyes toward the crest of Great 
 Kennesaw, without a word, touched Major Storrs 
 
152 KENNESAW'S BOMBARDMENT. 
 
 and Colonel Gates on their shoulders, and then 
 pointed to the east. 
 
 "Hurrah!" exclaimed the colonel, "Major Pres- 
 ton has again followed suit in the right way. We 
 can always depend upon him to be on hand when- 
 ever his aid will do good." 
 
 Every one looked, and within a couple of min- 
 utes two bright flashes of light darted from the 
 high summit, and, as they lit up the clouds around 
 them of their own and the one whose discharge had 
 been first seen by General French, their sharp, 
 "boom! boom!" shook the air, and were plainly 
 distinguished amid the roar of the guns immediately 
 around the party. 
 
 The trail of the shells could be followed by the 
 eye, as the sparks from the burning fuses were 
 strung out behind them like a chain of shining 
 beads, and then their successive explosions, near 
 the Federal camps, told that the dogs of war were 
 on a keen scent for human blood. 
 
 From the throngs of soldiers who lined the top of 
 Little Kennesaw a deafening yell followed. 
 
 Their lusty cheering, however, had hardly ceased 
 enlivening the darkness ere a quick flash and sharp, 
 crashing sound about two hundred yards down the 
 mountain side told them that the Federals had at 
 length opened upon them. 
 
 "Aha! General," laughed Colonel Barry, "you 
 observe they are trying to knock my 'stars' out of 
 the Kennesaw sky; and, just as I told you, they 
 can't see very well how to get the range." 
 
WAKING UP THE BATTERIES. 153 
 
 "No!" replied General French, "we need not 
 fear that they will write of us in their bulletins 
 'driven from their guns' for quite a number of min- 
 utes yet. Look! three of Captain Ward's pieces 
 went off then at exactly the same instant; and 
 yonder the shells have exploded fully a hundred 
 yards apart each." 
 
 For about ten minutes thereafter there was a con- 
 tinued succession of stunning reports from the 
 summits of Great and Little Kennesaw, as the Con- 
 federates maintained a rapid and vigorous bombard- 
 ment upon the Federal positions, which were still 
 easily located by the camp fires and other lights in 
 their midst; and only the occasional explosion of an 
 answering shell was seen or heard, and these were 
 apparently fired rather wildly. 
 
154 KENNESAW'S BOMBARDMENT. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Suddenly, however, from the summit of Pine 
 Mountain, northwest of Little Kennesaw, the Con- 
 federates perceived a sky-rocket ascending the 
 heavens. 
 
 It hardly cleaved its glittering way upward, 
 through the canopy of gloom, and exploded, scat- 
 tering its thousand sparks in as many directions, 
 ere from the hill behind Noonday creek, east of the 
 Western & Atlantic Railroad, another was observed, 
 climbing upward, upward, upward, through the 
 drifting mists, and, like a child of the stars, seek- 
 ing the zenith to join its parents in splendor. 
 
 Almost as high as the great peak it rushed ; then, 
 as it burst with a sharp report, the head of this 
 messenger ot fire seemed crowned with a galaxy of 
 dazzling brilliants. 
 
 Its radiant sparks were still falling like a shower 
 of gold, when from near the Hardage house, and 
 from the Lattiraer place, two others shot aloft, each 
 dragging a chain of light behind it. Then from 
 Brush Mountain westward to the Wallace farm and 
 far to the south, the air seemed alive with blazing 
 serpents, darting upward, hissing, leaving a trail of 
 
WAKING UP THE BATTERIES. 155 
 
 fire behind, and spitting baleful embers at the 
 mountain, before the darkness breathed its chilling 
 breath upon them and, dissolving in convulsive 
 agonies, they sank from view.* 
 
 "Magnificent!" exclaimed General French, who 
 with his comrades was looking, almost entranced 
 with admiration, upon the awe-inspiring scene, 
 "I have never beheld so grand a spectacular drama 
 as this which is rising from behind and amid the 
 myriad footlights down before us." 
 
 "Yes," replied Major Storrs, "but our artillery is 
 throwing some of war's most poisonous bouquets 
 under the noses of those who seek to terrify us by 
 its display." 
 
 "The majesty on high!" ejaculated Lieuten- 
 ant Manning, "what a glittering panorama 'our 
 friends, the enemy,' are exhibiting to us ! " 
 
 "Oh, my! brother Manning," put in Lieutenant 
 Mothershead, "here we've caught you at the 
 theatre (of war); and, — who would have thought 
 it? — looking at a spectacular drama, as General 
 French calls it." 
 
 "Well, there's no ballet about it," said the 
 preacher-lieutenant with a laugh, "so you'll make 
 some allowance for me on that score." 
 
 *Some of the eitizenK of Marietta who were residing there 
 during the siege state that these displays of fireworks occurred 
 several nights before the great battle of June 27, and that on one 
 or two occasions they were grand and magnificent beyond expres- 
 sion. 
 
 A gentleman, who ;vas an officer in Sherman's army, has stated 
 to the author that these fiery demonstrations were made for the 
 purpose of alarmins: the Confederates with the apprehension that 
 night attacks were imminent, and thus by disturbing their rest at 
 night and constant fighting by day, to have them physically worn 
 out by the time the great assault was made along the entire line. 
 
156 KENNESAW'S BOMBARDMENT. 
 
 "Yes, but I fear it means that there will soon be 
 some bullet!" exclaimed Captain Canniff, with the 
 French accent on the last syllable of his last word. 
 
 "Boom! boom! boom! boom!" — like the roll of 
 the thunder of fate, from east to west the opening 
 roar of Sherman's cannon broke upon the ear. In 
 one grand volley, following the signal of the sky- 
 rockets, they hurled forth a howling tempest of 
 shells toward the crest of Little Kennesaw. 
 
 The next instant a shower of flashing lightnings 
 seemed to dart forth from the midst of miniature 
 greyish-colored clouds above the forests at the base 
 of the mountain, or far up its sides, or beyond 
 either end, and high in the air behind it, while the 
 rattling din of their explosion echoed and re-echoed 
 around the clifls and clear back to the ears of the 
 angry Federals who had sent them upward on their 
 futile errand of wrath. 
 
 "Ha! ha! ha! ha!" "Whoopee!" "Try it again, 
 Yanks!" "Shooting at the stars!" "Hurrah for 
 the night!" and scores of similar expressions burst 
 from the Confederates, as a peal of jolly and 
 derisive laughter rang from one end of the long 
 crest to the other, on perceiving that not one, out 
 of probably fifty shells, had struck within a hundred 
 yards of the parapets. 
 
 "AVhat was it I said about their shooting at the 
 stars, gentleman?" asked Colonel Barry with a 
 <3omical emphasis of tone. 
 
 "Oh, you are the hero of the prophecy!" General 
 French good-humoredly replied. 
 
WAKING UP THE BATTERIES. 157 
 
 "Yes," said Major Storrs, "I think this will be a 
 field night for us. We may not get much sleep for 
 the next few hours ; but I'll guarantee that our eyes 
 will not be as red as theirs to-morrow morning. 
 That was a grand pyrotechnic display they gave us 
 a few minutes ago; but before we get through with 
 this bombardment I opine their shells and ours will 
 make a grander and more tennble one." 
 
 "That's so," exclaimed Pat Qui nn, "I think the 
 chances are that we are all going to get on a 'grand 
 bvim' to-night, and that there'll be a good many red 
 eyes on both sides by daybreak." 
 
 "Well, we might draw straws," said Lieutenant 
 Richardson,* "for who among us will make the 
 best shots at that line of fire down before us ; and 
 the Yankees can toss coppers to guess at the one Oa 
 their gunners who will explode his shell the farthest 
 away from our perch up here. I'll bet a Confeder- 
 ate shin-plaster to a twenty-dollar gold piece that 
 our firing will be twenty times as true as theirs." 
 
 "There's not much risk of that bet bankrupting 
 you, Lieutenant, even if you lose it," interjected 
 Lieutenant Cruse with a hearty laugh. 
 
 "Well, I'm willing to reverse it, then," said 
 Richardson good-humoredly, "since you've caught 
 on, and won't let me have all the chances." 
 
 During all this period the batteries on both crests 
 
 * Since the first eight forms of this book have been printed, 
 a letter from a lady in Nashville, Tenn., vpho is well acquainted 
 with Lieutenant Richardson (who is now a resident of that city,) 
 informs the author that his name is Edwin R. Richardson, and not 
 William Richardson. These two gentlemen are brothers, hence, 
 probably the source of the error by our first informant. 
 
158 KENNESAW'S BOMBARDMENT. 
 
 of Kennesaw were maintainiDg a continuous shel- 
 ling, and their missiles were flying, frequently with 
 great precision, into the camps of the Federals. 
 
 The latter had by this time extinguished the 
 greater portion of their fires; but the incessant 
 flashes of light from the guns in all their batteries 
 were reflected against the smoke, and afforded even 
 a better mark for their enemy's aim than they pre- 
 viously enjoyed. To get the range of the nearest of 
 these they, in some instances, depressed their guns 
 considerably and reduced charges, while to reach 
 the farthest they elevated their muzzles by sinking 
 the trails into pits already dug behind them, which 
 they ordinarily kept filled with rocks easy to remove. 
 
 The intense darkness of the night was the source 
 of very great disadvantage to the Federals. They 
 could not even see the mountain; and the blaze 
 from the few guns the Confederates had, notwith- 
 standing the zealous energy with which they were 
 worked, was visible but two or three times a minute, 
 and then apparently darting out from the sky, 
 sometimes nearly a couple of hundred yards apart. 
 There was no comparative object by which to locate 
 their position, and Colonel Barry's remark was a 
 very apt one, as they seemed literally like stars in 
 the heavens; and so far as aiming at them was con- 
 cerned, they were even worse than stars, for their 
 flash, like lightning, was only seen for an instant 
 at a time, and, before the piece could be sighted 
 toward it, it had disappeared behind the clouds, 
 and even the explosion of their own shells was no 
 
WAKING UP THE BATTERIES. 159 
 
 accurate guide, as it was impossible to tell by look- 
 ing at the flash whether it was near the Confeder- 
 ate guns or two hundred yards before or behind 
 them. 
 
 ^^^^ • -^'— -' -.-i "i^^iij 
 
 KENNESAW'S BOMBAKDMENT. 
 
 Still with the pluck and indomitable perseverance 
 which are characteristic of the American soldier 
 wherever found, they gamely returned the fire 
 
160. KENNESAW'S BOMBARDMENT?/ 
 
 which was so annoy iagi to them, and, f]l(^ hfM^Vfti 
 after battery, over a hundred guns hurled the hj^; 
 sing l>olts of wrath against the mount of termors. , \ (,• 
 
 As during the day, their attention was principallyi 
 directed toward Little Kennesaw, and, as nearly as 
 they could determine it, their missiles thundered 
 around its crest. 
 
 Their aim, while at no time perfect in the dark- 
 ness, nevertheless gradually became better, until by . 
 about eleven o'clock the bombardment reached its 
 culmination, both as regarded its accuracy and 
 magnitude. 
 
 Those who surveyed it from the crest of Great 
 Kennesaw declared that it was impossible to describe 
 the terrible beauty and majesty of the scene. It was 
 a constantly changing panorama of splendors, whose 
 magnificence awed while it fascinated. 
 
 The rapid succession of brilliant flashes out of the 
 darkness which enveloped the other peak appeared 
 as lightning darting from a monstrous chain of 
 thunder clouds, while the tumultuous roar from 
 their midst caused, as it were, the very mountain ' 
 tself to quake. 
 
 But not here did the storm of warlike glories 
 exhaust itself. The most resplendent spectacle 
 it presented was in the meteor-like rush and the 
 dazzling explosions of the scores and hundreds of 
 shells which were poured forth from the Federal 
 batteries far below them. As they rushed upward 
 frequently the sparks from their fuses like fiery,. 
 rainbows arched through the gloom, and, to use,. 
 
WAKING UP THE BATTERIES. 161 
 
 ,9, soldier's words,— "each scattered a bag of gold," 
 "as it burst with blinding blaze and terrific detona- 
 (tions against the mountain ,^ifie .or, high ,ip itlje air 
 
 ^a,lj>o,ve or beyond it. i, ;, ,- , .iiiv . 
 
 f^ ;VLool^!" e?:ciaijned Majpr Prestpni,^ (General 
 
 Reynolds, who was with him on the summit of the 
 
 great crest,, "it is, like a shower of falling stars! " 
 
 t,f.4tl^?s,",i^aptlie,, response, "and it is hardly more 
 
 "pernicious to our boys. The Yankees, somehow 
 
 or other, don't seem to be able to get the range of 
 
 .^Ijhe summit with any certainty. You see, nearly 
 
 .(forty of their shells explode down against the slope, 
 
 ,.or pass over the ridge and light up the southern 
 
 ^^4^,jt)Pr,\?Jiere one strikes near the parapet. I have 
 
 ""been watching the level of our guns as shown by 
 
 the blaze when they fire, and that of the bursting of 
 
 {the enemy's shells. The honors to-night are clearly 
 
 ..ours. The Yanke^,,,bpinb^rd^9^1(,.^^.^si^lX3^ 
 
 ..magnificent display.", .,...j+ ,,[.(.,{. c>t{t Tihau hm 
 
 r "Ha! see that!" exclaimed Major Preston, "one 
 
 of our shells and a Yankee Parrott shell met 'mid 
 
 ''jair and es;ploded almost simultaneously ; by concus- 
 
 J sion with each other. Such a scene isn't witnessed 
 
 "once for every te^^^thpu^nd ^helkjred.^^ Wasn't 
 
 it a grand sightr ^^rj .^^ nc'f^r.tijgm eidT ^ 
 
 "It was as brilliant as a collision between two 
 -sky-rockets," answered G eneral Reynolds, _ _''only 
 
 p^t was more terrific." ^^^'Z.'oi xii^avui^t/l M ^'rf-rf 
 
 In Marietta during this time hundreds ot anxious 
 
 \citizens and soldiers crowded the streets and highest 
 
 iills and the bridge over the railroad south of the 
 
162 KENNESAW'S BOMBARDMENT. 
 
 depot, having been awakened by the astounding 
 uproar of the artillery. 
 
 All eyes were turned toward Kennesaw Moun- 
 tain, which was soon determined as the battle 
 center, and with breathless interest they watched 
 the incessant play of fire, apparently in the sky; 
 but, as all knew, really upon the summit. 
 
 But at one point in the edge of town, at least, 
 the signal of encouragement and of hearty "good 
 cheer" was exhibited to the view of the dauntless 
 heroes on the mountain top. This was at the 
 Georgia Military Institute. The cadets were tem- 
 porarily in reserve, and at their old headquarters in 
 the college building, which was on a commanding 
 hill on the southern border of Marietta. 
 
 For years the soldier boys had been trained up 
 here; and from all parts of the state the flower of 
 its young manhood had within these classic walls 
 and under the noble trees, studied the upper 
 branches of finished education, and been instructed 
 thoroughly in the school of Mars, not only from 
 books, but also by drilling on the college grounds 
 and in open fields, where they were taught all the 
 evolutions practised by the finished veteran. 
 
 This institution was the pride of the state, 
 and yearly, at its "commencement" exercises, the 
 beauty, culture and wealth of the state assembled 
 here at Marietta to see the boys graduate. And 
 not only from Georgia, but from the Carolinas, 
 Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and other southern 
 fctates came their wisdom, beauty and fashion to at- 
 
WAKING UP THE BATTERIES. 163 
 
 tend these exercises; for from several southern states 
 was the Institute's patronage drawn. 
 
 Governor Brown, of Georgia, always made it a 
 special point to be personally present on "Commence- 
 ment day ; " and other governors before him gave it 
 the official sanction of their presence. Ah ! those 
 were palmy days; shall their like ever be seen again? 
 
 When the step of the hostile invader was at 
 length upon the soil of Georgia and the bullet and 
 torch were doing their work of destroying the lives 
 of her sons and the homes of her women and babes, 
 the cadets threw aside their books, and, under their 
 commander, Major F. W. Capers, went to the front. 
 They took part in the desperate battles above 
 Rome and at other points, and were afterward 
 placed on detached duty of great importance. 
 
 Temporarily at their old quarters, when the first 
 sounds of the firing echoed through the darkness of 
 the night, the long roll of the drum (beaten by 
 the diminutive old negro, Cornelius, whom every 
 cadet remembers,) startled and called them to arms. 
 Formed on the campus within a few minutes, amid 
 the music of Cornelius' drum and pompous old 
 black Charley's fife,'^' they beheld the play of the 
 warlike fires around the summit of the mountain. 
 
 They stood in line for some time, and then, 
 at the suggestion of several, by consent of their 
 
 -;One of the former cadets, in talking to the author about the 
 Institute, and the days when he was there, laughed very heartily 
 about old Cornelius and Charley. The former, he said, was a 
 Small sized negro, pretty well up in years, and the very personifica- 
 tion of dignity. He never met a cadet but that he gave him the' 
 military salute and always e.xpected one in return. While thor- 
 oughly and almost oppressively deferential to the "seasoned ca- 
 dets," Cornelius nevertheless considered himself really far supe- 
 
commander, they broke ranks, and, hastening mi6- 
 the college building; 'an4*''€*thei's, secured- ail' tb^e' 
 candles and lamps which Were available, and soon 
 had every window on the north side illuminated. 
 Huge bonfir(8S wfere also built iii the open space fii' 
 front of the Main building, and thus the bo^s' 
 signaled their good wishes and applause to the gun- 
 ners on Ken nesawi^ij*i'->ijE ^^^^ '^^> *P^8 dill ayd// 
 
 ;,im V, :',*,■ f^'-iTf^an Mj-i [/(.s 'Ai\^ ri.u; Hil'lvrt^r 
 
 * 'lom -Dussey, who was noted for always having 
 I3i1e cleanest gun of any of the cadets, and who is 
 nbV engineer of the Marietta and Atlanta accomtab- 
 (fdtion train of the Western and Atlantic Railroad, 
 and as jolly and full of life as when he was in the 
 Military Institute, ran into his room and got a sky- 
 rocket, which he had been saving up for months. 
 Coming into the yard, again, he touched it off, and 
 up, up into the heavens, amid the cheers of the 
 boys, it shot, leaving a stream of fire in its course. 
 
 This was first noticed bv Major Storrs, who 
 called General French's attention to it. Botti 
 readily surmised its meaning, and that of the illu- 
 rninatiou of the building and campus, and the major 
 remarked, "I wish we had some way to show our 
 high appreciation of their true soldierly greeting." 
 
 "I think," answered the general, "that the steady 
 roar of your guns is lall the evidence they want." . 
 
 rjor in wisdom and rank to one newly matriculated. 
 
 Old Charley was the antipode of Cornelius in size, being very 
 tall and large ; but even Cornelius <30uld scarcely hold a candle to 
 him in being pompous. When the wind from old Charley's expan- 
 ded jaws went into that fife of his there was bound to be a sound 
 which everybody around could hear. There is not a former cadet 
 who does not smile when he remembers this universally petted aiftd 
 mpoitant old pair. .'i,,|, 
 
WXKfi^t^'tJf^^'P&je: BATTERIES. ^^ 
 
 Others around tliem saw the lights, and '^odh 
 from hundreds of throats went up the yellj "Hur- 
 Tah for the Georgia soldier boys!"'* '^"'•~* '-''-^ *"''^ 
 
 While this was going on, not only f^oto^^'Golkge 
 Hill," but also from every height in Marietta the 
 soldiers and citizens could plainly see the enormous 
 clouds of thick smoke which had clustered around 
 the two crests, whenever the discharge of the Con- 
 federate guns would, like lightning, shoot a bright 
 glare over the entire surface, gilding it with splen- 
 dors, and reflecting back even into the valleys 
 between the surrounding hills. Then the sudden 
 flashes amid the sulphurous mists high in the air 
 toward them, and the sharp, ringing reports would 
 tell of the presence of the shells from the Federal 
 batteries. Sometimes these would burst out singly, 
 then a score of them, almost at the same instant, 
 would light up the sky and deafen the ear with 
 their angry explosions. jdJ lot dnriuil .bold^aib ?.r 
 
 Occasionally one from a Parrott gun would fall 
 in the very outskirts of the town, and, as its 
 startling "boom" shook the atmosphere and' rattled 
 the windows around them, there would be a rush of 
 the frightened citizens, ladies and children, from 
 the neighborhood. Several of the death-dealing 
 missiles landed as far as amid the grove in General 
 Hansen's front yard, (now Mr. G. H. Camp's,) by the 
 Western & Atlantic Railroad in the northern edge 
 of the town. It was a night of terror in Marietta. 
 
 Thus until nearly midnight they stood surveying 
 the awful magnificence of the scene, and listening 
 
166 KENNESAW'S BOMBARDMENT. 
 
 to the tumult; and were congratulating themselves 
 that the Yankee fire seemed sensibly slackening 
 and the Confederates still held the mountain with- 
 out great difhculty, when suddenly a cry of horror 
 and amaze burst forth from nearly every tongue. 
 
 As from a volcano, a tremendous sheet of flame 
 shot up into the air, lighting the clouds for miles 
 around, and illumining the entire mountain. 
 Then, as it faded away amid the darkness, a terrific 
 crash smote the ears, and almost stampeded the 
 crowd. 
 
 "What is it?" came from every lip. 
 
 "The mountain's blown up! We're ruined!" 
 exclaimed a panic-stricken citizen. 
 
 "Oh, no! bosh!" retorted an officer, in a con- 
 temptuous tone, "a shell has exploded one of 
 our artillery caissons. Our boys ain't frightened! 
 Don't you hear them still firing? Only one battery 
 is disabled. Hurrah for the Southern Confederacy ! " 
 
 "Hurrah for the Southern Confederacy! The 
 Yankees can't whip us ! Listen at our cannon still 
 firing on the top of Kennesaw ! " yelled the crowd 
 in a frenzy of enthusiasm, 
 
 A dreadful rumbling interrupted their shouts, 
 and, with blanched cheeks, every one stood con- 
 founded with amazement and terror. Like the roll 
 of thunder it came on, and amid the yells of 
 thousands upon the mountain, a crashing, tearing 
 sound told that ruin was rampant. 
 
 For almost two minutes this continued, and then, 
 in the forest at the base of the great height, it died 
 
WAKING UP THE BATTERIES. 167 
 
 out, and stillness again enfolded everything for an 
 instant. 
 
 The surmise of the officer in Marietta was nearly 
 correct. A shell had fallen into an ammunition 
 chest behind Captain Ward's battery, and exploded 
 it with fearful display. 
 
 An enormous column of flame darted like light- 
 ning far up into the air above the mountain's crest, 
 whirling the clouds like foot balls, and shooting its 
 dazzling glare like a burst of daylight over the 
 country for hundreds of yards around. 
 
 The whole of the gigantic mass of Kennesaw was 
 wreathed in splendor, and for an instant the curtain 
 of night was withdrawn from over Marietta and 
 the Federal batteries, and they were revealed to 
 the gaze of the men amid the crags, — the one 
 smiling in classic beauty and the other smoking and 
 frowning with grisly horrors. 
 
 Immediately accompanying the infernal flash a 
 deafening roar rang out above the wildest tumult of 
 battle, and, like an earthquake, shook the entire 
 summit. 
 
 A tremendous bowlder was blown from its base, 
 and hurled over the mountain side on the south. 
 With a thunderous sound and with fearful velocity 
 it rolled down the steep slope, knocking huge crags 
 from their resting places, breaking tall trees like 
 pipe stems and whirling them before it, crackling 
 and whizzing, and like an Alpine avalanche gather- 
 ing force and volume, until at length with a dull 
 heavy moan it died away amid the night. 
 
168 KENI^TESAW'S BOMBARDMENT. 
 
 Anotber immense mass ot rock, which jutted up 
 nearly a dozen feet above the summit, was between 
 the buried chest and the guns, the former having 
 been placed there for the double purpose of being 
 duslb^ reach of the Federal shells and of being 
 unable to damage the guns should any mishap 
 explode it. The fatal missile which in part upset 
 these calculations had struck a tree and glanced off 
 at right angles, and darted into the chest. ,i uf!// 
 
 The gigantic rock, however, sheltered the'^iftilP 
 lerymen from ' t}Wi> €ff^s : M 4h^ calamity, and, 
 although the dazzling flash almost blinded them, 
 none of the men near the parapet were prostrated 
 by ^he concussion or Struck by the falling debris. ^" 
 
 One man, however, who had gone for a charge, 
 and had just lifted the cover off of the chest, was 
 blown to pieces, and sfevetalof the infaiitry ih' ilib' 
 immediate vicinity werfe thdie^'dtie^ 1ii3^/''6tfc 
 none seriously, -n^Muroo^. -Motnlfoiaml 
 
 ^ "tiis ihe iand o^God which has pr 
 
 who were around it!" exclaimed Lieutenant Manning, 
 
 "let us render thanks for His wonderful grace." 
 
 ^{"Yes,";9,nswerfid Gien^r^il Fri^nchft//it ^^^ ;f{?6ci^J. 
 Providence.", ,.,;j rbr/^ hiiR banoa suo'iQhcwdi m rfJiY/ 
 Then as Generrals French, Ector and Cockreltand^ 
 Major Storrs, with a score of other leading officers 
 and hundreds of men, who had rushed to the scene 
 of the wreck, reverently bowed their heads, the 
 noble "preacher-lieutenant," raised his hands, and, 
 amid the thunders of guns from the crest before and 
 
WAKING' ¥F I THE BATTERIES. 169 
 
 behind him,* and with the ^enemy's shells rending 
 the air above him, prayed in wob xiarf^'B^i io issrls b 
 . !'God of battles! God of mercy I we' thank Th^6^ 
 for this Thy mercy which has triumphed over the 
 poiyer/'of battlek Thy mercy is Thy delight and 
 our glory! Over us this day Thou hast held the 
 shield of Thy protection, and by Thy grace have 
 we been saved. Grant that through this life the 
 mountain of Thy salvation may be to our souls a 
 greater place of refuge than to-day Thou hast made 
 this mountain to our bodies. And now we ask 
 Thy blessing upon our great commander and his 
 chieftains, and upon every soldier, however humble, 
 and that Thou wilt adorn our sunny country with' 
 the robes of prosperity, happiness and peace, and' 
 make it the center of worship, and of Thy glory 
 here on earth ; and to Thy holy name be all the" 
 praise, through Christ, our Redeemer. Amen !" v: 
 ,-.i^'Amen!" arose in a fervent tone from officers 
 and men alike. 
 
 This had scarcely been said ere, like a curtain, the 
 clouds above them separated, and the moon shot 
 the splendor of her silvery rays upon the battle- 
 crowned mountain and the smoking hills before it. 
 The sulphurous fog, which clustered around the 
 crest, it gilded with a brilliant whiteness which rad- 
 iated upward again, filling the sky with a halo of 
 iridescent glory. ifiioru.; ,11" 
 
 -This noble son of the south was killed is th^feattji: otK^i^^ 
 saw Mountain four days after the occurrence herein described, as 
 is shown in the following extract from General Cockrell's reportiti 
 
 "Lieutenant ArehibCld D. Manning, a minister of the Cumber- 
 land Presbyterian church and a most exemplary Christian, is 
 among the killed " 
 
170 KENNESAW'S BOMBARDMENT. 
 
 Above the Federal batteries it appeared to spread 
 a sheet of feathery down, and even the dark forests 
 mirrored back its glittering beams from their myriad 
 dew-sprayed leaves. 
 
 It seemed an ideal dream of ethereal beauty, the 
 reflex of the smile of gracious heaven, revealed to 
 inspire men's hearts with love for each other and 
 reverence for God. 
 
 As if written in the sky, its lesson was one whose 
 words to the soul whispered, "Peace on earth, good 
 will to Dien !" 
 
 For a minute only this continued, then the drift- 
 ing clouds rolled together again, and naught could 
 be seen or heard but the baleful glare and angry hiss 
 of the war-serpent. 
 
 Suddenly General French remarked : * 'Let every- 
 body go to his post, and be prepared for any emer- 
 gency. The Yankees are yelling in great triumph 
 over what they think is a serious calamity to us, 
 when really it is a misfortune merely local to this 
 part of the line." 
 
 All listened attentively, and from far down in 
 the darkness, from east to west, was heard the cheer- 
 ing of thousands of men. 
 
 "Huzza! huzza ! huzza !" swept up from the abyss 
 of gloom to the lofty perch on the mountain's crest. 
 
 "Here, General Cockrell," said General French, 
 "I'll conscript you up here for a minute; and 
 Colonel Barry and General Ector, form all your 
 men, who are available, upon the summit, and give 
 the Yankees a regular Confederate salute !" 
 
WAKING UP THE BATTERIES. 171 
 
 "Yes, give them a salute!" arose from all sides. 
 
 The sound of bugles and the roll of drums were 
 heard around the mountain top by even the Fed- 
 erals below, and thrilling even to them was this 
 warlike music, coming at such a time and apparent- 
 ly out of the very thunder-clouds, or from amid 
 the stars. 
 
 Within a few minutes nearly two thousand men 
 stood in line along the ridge, facing the north, and 
 then from Major Storrs' batteries all the cannon 
 were simultaneously fired with an uproarious report, 
 and the reverberations of their discharge and of the 
 explosion of their shells below, had hardly died 
 away ere from the three brigade commanders was 
 heard the shout: "Make ready! take aim at the 
 Yankees! FIRE!!" 
 
 From one end of the long summit to the other, 
 with sharp, crashing reports which were almost co- 
 ordinate in time, a blaze of fire burst forth from the 
 entire division front, illumining the ridge as though 
 it were crowned with lightning. 
 
 Succeeding this a wild and defiant yell arose 
 from the men, and, ere the deafening echoes had 
 subsided it was repeated again and yet again, until 
 old Kennesaw seemed the house of uproar. 
 
 Of this demonstration a Federal officer, who was 
 captured a few days later, said : 
 
 "When we saw the brilliant flash, and heard 
 the startling sound of the explosion, we thought 
 we had blown up your magazine; and the idea at 
 once occurred to us that if we would make a rush 
 
172 KENNESA W'S rBOMBARDMEN^T. 
 
 .isI)S;ti!<5Dg loolunana, \ve could seize the mountain 
 ^iiile yiour terortps were in a state of demoralization ; 
 but when we listened to the boom of your artillery 
 continuing almost without interruption, and within 
 the next few minutes heard the blare of bugles and 
 the roll of drums, calling the men to dress parade 
 apparently up in the clouds a thousand feet above 
 U8, and saw the chain of musketry fire dart 
 through the pitchy darkness from one end of the 
 crest to the other, with a rattling din like thunder, 
 and then were greeted by the infernal racket of 
 your rebel yells, we knew that we had better stay 
 where we were and let you alone; fbr no troops 
 ■could be caught napping who recovered themselves 
 so soon from the effects of a catastrophe such as we 
 thought you had suffered. It 'was' admirable ; and 
 told us a tale wonderfully creditable to your men." 
 The infantry demonstration having proven an 
 entire success in restoring the morale of the soldiers, 
 which the explosion had to some extent threatened 
 to impair. General French issued orders for them 
 to be again withdrawn to the southern side of the 
 iCrest, out of reach of the Federal fire. 
 lijf.The bombardment, however, continued vigor- 
 ously for about an hour longer, and then gradually 
 lost force, until by two o'clock in the morning 
 it ceased entirely ; and, as the exhausted artillery- 
 men sought rest in slumber, one of the grandest 
 j scenes of one of th^ mightiest Iwars o|\th£.ii3entacy 
 jjeapae. to an end. suixHgBiir luo^ qu avf old bsid 9w 
 jfaiii a siuin biuow aw li ffidf en of benuooo aoao 
 
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