Battery D First Rhode Island Light Artillery in the Civil War

by George C. Sumner

To be continually upon the alert, prepared to dodge a shell, never forgetting to keep your head down and your body out of sight, lest some sharpshooter should get a bead upon you which would certainly end your earthly career; the constant screaming of the shells and the whirring of the minie balls, all have such a wearing effect upon the nerves of a man that he wishes something would happen that would make the other fellow quit and give him a rest. With us something had happened—the other fellow had gone, and for the first time in weeks we could straighten our backs and walk erect.

Among the very few pleasant recollections of that disagreeable time is the writer's remembrance of the affection entertained by the men of the Army of the Ohio for their commanding general. His appearance at any time, day or night, along the rifle-pits, or in the forts, always aroused their enthusiasm to the highest pitch. His interest in, love and sympathy for them in their sufferings, conveyed to them in orders, conversations and kindnesses, quite won their hearts.

Many are the stories in circulation illustrative of the kindness of his heart towards his army; true or not, they found ready believers among the men. Personally, the stories were accepted as truthful by my young mind, and to-day I would not willingly listen to any argument or story which had for its object the lessening of my faith in the great humanity of my beloved general, Ambrose E. Burnside.

On Dec. 6th the battery was paid, and for the first time in our experience we took no interest in receiving money. We had received pay more frequently since entering Tennessee than at any previous time during our service. There was very little to buy, and our stock of greenbacks had accumulated. It was said that the government's liberality toward us was occasioned by the fact that our paymasters had found themselves at the beginning of the siege with a large supply of money, and desiring to be relieved of part of the responsibility, allowed the men to share it with them.

After a careful searching for information, I am fully assured that the following brief account of the Confederates' movements from ten o'clock on the evening of the 28th to half-past eight on the morning of the 29th, is substantially true:

At dark on the 28th, Gen. Longstreet sent a dispatch to Gen. McLaw ordering him to double his pickets, and as soon as the moon had risen sufficiently to throw a little light upon the movement, to press our pickets back as far as possible. After having successfully accomplished this, he was to move the three brigades of his division chosen for the assault, to a depression occurring in the topography of the glacis in front of the northwestern bastion of Fort Sanders, where they were to lie down until the signal gun should be discharged.

At daylight Anderson's brigade, of Hood's division, was ordered to take position about one hundred yards to the left—our right—of the fort, and in case of the success of McLaw's column, to break over our breastworks, wheel to the left and force their way through the ravine of Second Creek to the rear of Fort Sanders. If, however, McLaw was unsuccessful, Anderson was to wheel to the right after passing our breastworks, and take the fort by an attack in reverse.

At the appointed time, as we have seen, the signal gun was fired. Wofford's brigade sprang to their feet, closely followed by Bryan's and Humphrey's brigades; the Seventeenth Mississippi, of Humphrey's, and Phillips' Georgia, of Wofford's brigade, leading the assaulting column, dashed forward to the fort.

Wofford, who was to attack the northwest bastion, with his left well extended along the northern face of the fort, was so disturbed by the physical difficulties, including the wire entanglement through which he was obliged to pass, that he took so much distance to the right that the attack extended only about twelve feet upon the northern face, or to the first embrasure, occupied on that side by the fourth gun of Battery D.

Humphrey's brigade, with Bryan on his right, moved to the assault on the right of Wofford's, meeting with all the physical difficulties of the last-named, in their endeavor to get to the ditch.