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(copyrighted, all rights reserved.)
BY JOSEPH M. BROWN.
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 bad 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 in w I must hurry back,” he added, bowing
to Miss Harper.
“God shield you from all harm!” she replied
clasping her hands.
“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 w 7 bat 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
tcct them as much as possible from the explosion
of shells. I think we are going to have a good
many of them singing 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 y now the patches of smoke above the
plain showed that the Confederates had turned their
attention to several of the Federal challengers.
But over hill and forest from beyond the slopes
lining Nconday valley east of the railroad, to and
beyond the Wallace 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 Jarrett
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;
THE KENNESAW GAZETTE.
“I think this will be merely a bombardment from
the batteries, and our men should not be needlessly
exncsed.”
“Yes, sir,” answered Colonel Barry, and then
sent orders for Sears’ brigade to defile behind the
breastworks toward the ravine on the cast, so as
to be sheltered by the mountain from the shells.
The command was obeyed in perfect order, and
within a lew minutes there was no exposure to the
Federal site, 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
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AND VICINITY. !
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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
at 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 bieathless
interest at the smoking n ountain, 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
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 th.
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
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.
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 rooks which had been,
with patient Jailor, piled before the guns as a para,
pet, and, exploding, spread destruction on every
side.
Here a poor fellow in Ward’s battery had h : s
head blown.off, and beside* him were two
others wounded by a bursting shell. A
solid shot tore Pff the arm of a ma., in
Guibor’s battery, while Hoskins’ battery
had two wounded within a few minutes.
Henry O’Hara, of this battery, was with
one of the two guus which were on the
summit of the mountain. He had gone to
the ammunition chest, and was bringing
forward three charges of fixed ammunition
when a shell burst so close to him as to
explode the n no 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!”
His comrades rushed forward, seized
him, and 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 days 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 Federate on the hills
below. The roar of th»Ar batteries from amid the
clouds of smoke which enveloped the mountain top
found its counterpart in the explosion of shells
which darted like thunderbolts amtng the Federal
camps and into the midst of the batteries which
were hurling storms of destruction against them.
Just at this period, GeneralhFrench, who was
talking with Major Storrs and Col. Barry, noticed,
coming toward them, the sergeant who had been
sent down to General Sears’ headquarters.
“Well, you’ve got back, I see,” be 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
Fri nch I’m not a mountain billy-g< at to be jumping
from cliff to cliff.’”
A roar of laughter followed from the party, after
which General French remarked:
“If that message 1 ad frmm,a lieuten
ant or a private, it would have Gin-called insub
oidination; but all We’il say a bow* it now is that
Sears is sick, anil consequently irritable.”
Suddenly a wild, thri ling yell arose from the
infantry in the ravine. It was taken up by those
who were tereel on the southern slope behind
the batteries; anil Lieutenant Harris, peering
through the battle smoke in that direction, swun<'
his hat above his heael ami shouted: “The big guns
on Big Kennesaw have joined us. Now, boys, fire
fast, and let the Yankees have a regular Confeder
ate concert.”