ere formed of huge trunks of trees laid in double
rows. Still above these massive beams sand was heaped so
deeply that even our enormous shells could not penetrate the
roofs, though they fell from the skies above. In these dark
subterranean retreats two thousand men lay hid, like
panthers in a swamp, waiting to leap forth in fury upon
their prey.

"The signal given, our forces advanced rapidly towards the
fort, while our mortars in the rear tossed their bombs over
their heads. The Fifty-fourth Massachusetts [Phalanx
Regiment] led the attack, supported by the 6th Conn., 48th
N. Y., 3rd N. H., 76th Penn. and the 9th Maine Regiments.
Onward swept the immense mass of men, swiftly and silently,
in the dark shadows of night. Not a flash of light was seen
in the distance! No sentinel hoarsely challenged the
approaching foe! All was still save the footsteps of the
soldiers, which sounded like the roar of the distant surf,
as it beats upon the rock-bound coast.

[Illustration: AT FORT WAGNER.

Desperate charge of the 54th Mass. Vols. in the assault on Fort Wagner,
July 18, 1863.]

"Ah, what is this! The silent and shattered walls of Wagner
all at once burst forth into a blinding sheet of vivid
light, as though they had suddenly been transformed by some
magic power into the living, seething crater of a volcano!
Down came the whirlwind of destruction along the beach with
the swiftness of lightning! How fearfully the hissing shot,
the shrieking bombs, the whistling bars of iron, and the
whispering bullet struck and crushed through the dense
masses of our brave men! I never shall forget the terrible
sound of that awful blast of death, which swept down,
shattered or dead, a thousand of our men. Not a shot had
missed its aim. Every bolt of steel, every globe of iron and
lead, tasted of human blood.

"'Forward!' shouted the undaunted Putnam, as the column
wavered and staggered like a giant stricken with death.

"'Steady, my boys!' murmured the brave leader, General
Strong, as a cannon-shot dashed him, maimed and bleeding,
into the sand.

"In a moment the column recovered itself, like a gallant
ship at sea when buried for an instant under an immense
wave.

"The ditch is reached; a thousand men leap into it, clamber
up the shat