gling wire, but then in the fog and smoke, it was not possible to
tell why it was that nearly every man in the first rank fell.

To those brave men it seemed death to advance or retreat, and by force
of numbers they pushed on, and some got into the ditch in front of the
fort, it being some eight feet deep and twelve feet wide; to the top of
the parapet was at least twenty feet, and the outside of the parapet was
covered with smooth ice. When they gained the ditch they were sheltered
from our fire. It was not an agreeable duty for our infantry to peer
over the top of the parapet to shoot the rebels below, so Lieutenant
Benjamin took a number of his shells, lighted the fuses and rolled them
over the parapet into the ditch among the enemy. A half dozen explosions
of these shells brought them to terms, and soon something as white as
anything they had, was raised upon a ramrod. They were told to enter by
a certain embrasure, leaving their arms in the ditch. They came along
rapidly, about 300 of them, and were marched into Knoxville. The rest of
the charging columns fell back, and the battle was at an end. Four
brigades, consisting of nineteen regiments, from 4,000 to 6,000 men,
were sent forward against Fort Saunders.

News soon came that General Grant had won a decisive victory at
Chattanooga, and that General Sherman was rapidly coming to our relief.
Joy reigned in Knoxville, and in all the hearts of the thousands of
loyal people in East Tennessee.

APPENDIX.

INCIDENTS (PERSONAL).

At Campbell's Station Sergeant Gideon Spencer, of the fourth piece, had
a close call. He was taking his piece from its position and passing
along the Knoxville road. A high worm fence was standing by the side of
the road and one of the slanting stakes in it hung out over the road so
that the sergeant on horseback had to turn his head over to the right in
order to avoid a collision. Just as he turned the head, a 20-pound shell
came from the Washington artillery and cut off the stake, opposite the
sergeant's head. In this case, dodging paid.

During the siege of Knoxville Private William Oakes was down in a ravine
near the teams. A bullet fired from the rebel lines came over and passed
through his head just above the tongue, carrying away two or three of
his teeth. He was in a hospital a short distance away, and the next day
after he was wounded I went to see him. I found him with his cheeks
swollen to an enormous size. I shook his