On the 7th, at four a. m., our company took position in the advance pits. We were advancing our works well. I was one of the three vedettes who were stationed in the extreme advance, two hundred yards from the fort and eighty yards from the rebel sharpshooters. During the day five bullets cut the sod above the loop hole through which we were shooting, but we escaped their deadly message. After dark we crawled out and advanced fifty yards and established other pits. But we discovered just now that we were running into a nest of torpedoes, and they were dangerous things to dig around.
We were relieved at nine p. m. At twelve our artillery opened all along the line, and the rebels soon replied. The two artilleries had quite a duel.
On the morning of the 8th there was a general engagement all around the line. Some heavy shells which were thrown by the rebels’ gunboat fell in the rear of our rifle pits. They went ten feet into the ground and exploded, throwing up a cloud of dust and leaving quite a hole in the ground. We had a simple recruit in our company by the name of Murray. He jumped out of our pit and stepped up to the edge of the hole.
Captain Taylor called out, “Murray, get down from there! You will get your fool head blowed off.”
He answered. “Guess not. Captain; they can’t hit that hole again.”
But several more shots were put in too close to feel comfortable.
Four of our thirty-two pound Parrot guns, manned by the Twenty-first Indiana, had an hour’s engagement with two rebel gunboats. One of the boats was disabled and drew off down the bay. The other one took warning and did not stay long. Our regiment began digging quarters pits and received marching orders to go to Fort Spanish, but they were countered. We then lay in the pits all night and supported the Pioneers.
An assault was made on Fort Spanish at six o’clock in the evening. A desperate struggle, which lasted four hours, followed. General Granger’s brave boys then charged over the rebels’ strong fortifications and captured seven hundred prisoners and one hundred heavy guns. This put a damper on the rebel army at Blakely.
April 9th, 1865, everything was quiet in the fort. Some rumors were going that the rebels were evacuating the fort. At three o’clock all of us fell in line and moved into our advance rifle pit. The colored troops made a charge on our right, and the rebels opened concentrated fire on them. They were repulsed with heavy slaughter. They fell back to a deep hollow and were not able to make a second attack.