t rays of the setting sun illumined the grim walls
and shattered mounds of Wagner with a flood of crimson
light, too soon, alas! to be deeper dyed with the red blood
of struggling men.

"Our men halted, and formed their ranks upon the beach, a
mile and more away from the deadly breach. Quietly they
stood leaning upon their guns, and awaiting the signal of
attack. There stood, side by side, the hunter of the far
West, the farmer of the North, the stout lumber-man from the
forests of Maine, and the black Phalanx Massachusetts had
armed and sent to the field.

"In this hour of peril there was no jealousy, no contention.
The black Phalanx were to lead the forlorn hope. And they
were proud of their position, and conscious of its danger.
Although we had seen many of the famous regiments of the
English, French, and Austrian armies, we were never more
impressed with the fury and majesty of war than when we
looked upon the solid mass of the thousand black men, as
they stood, like giant statues of marble, upon the
snow-white sands of the beach, waiting the order to advance.
And little did we think, as we gazed with admiration upon
that splendid column of four thousand brave men, that ere an
hour had passed, half of them would be swept away, maimed or
crushed in the gathering whirlwind of death! Time passed
quickly, and twilight was fast deepening into the darkness
of night, when the signal was given. Onward moved the chosen
and ill-fated band, making the earth tremble under the heavy
and monotonous tread of the dense mass of thousands of men.
Wagner lay black and grim in the distance, and silent. Not a
glimmer of light was seen. Not a gun replied to the bombs
which our mortars still constantly hurled into the fort. Not
a shot was returned to the terrific volleys of the giant
frigate Ironsides, whose shells, ever and anon, plunged into
the earthworks, illuminating their recesses for an instant
in the glare of their explosion, but revealing no signs of
life.

"Were the rebels all dead? Had they fled from the pitiless
storm which our batteries had poured down upon them for so
many hours? Where were they?

"Down deep beneath the sand heaps were excavated great
caverns, whose floors were level with the tide, and whose
roofs w