e
ramparts.

At 4.40 A.M., while still dark, a gray light in the east being
barely discernible, Fort Fisher boomed forth a single shot. All
suspense here ended. Simultaneously the command, "_Forward_," was
given by all our officers, and the storming column moved promptly;
the advance line, with bayonets fixed, guns not loaded, the other
line with guns loaded to be ready to fire, if necessary, to protect
those in advance while passing the trenches. A few only of the
officers were on horseback. The enemy opened with musketry and
cannon, but the column went on, sweeping down the _abattis_, making
use of it to aid in effecting a passage of the deep ditches and to
gain a footing on the berme of the earthworks. Muskets and bayonets
were also utilized by thrusting them into the banks of the ditches
to enable the soldiers to climb from them. Men made ladders of
themselves by standing one upon another, thus enabling their comrades
to gain the parapets. The time occupied in the assault was short.
Colonel Prentiss with his Marylanders penetrated the fortifications
at the opening mentioned. They surprised the enemy by their presence
and a flank fire, and, as anticipated, caused him to fall back.
The storming bodies swarmed over the works, and the enemy immediately
in their front were soon killed, wounded, captured, or dispersed.
Ten pieces of artillery, three battle-flags, and General Heth's
headquarters flag were trophies of my command. The Third Division
gained an entrance first, owing to the shortness of the distance
it had to pass over. Getty's division (Second), however, promptly
obtained a foothold within the fortifications to the right of the
angle, followed on its right closely by Wheaton's division. The
fort at the salient angle was quickly evacuated, and the corps
charged forward, taking possession of the enemy's camps. Some hand-
to-hand fighting occurred on the ramparts of the fortifications
and in the camps, in which valuable lives were lost. A Confederate
soldier emerged from a tent, shot and killed Captain Henry H.
Stevens (110th Ohio), and immediately offered to surrender. One
week before a like incident occurred in my presence, where a
Confederate officer shot, with a pistol, a Union soldier, then
threw down his arms and proposed to surrender. Officers seldom
restrained soldiers from avenging, on the spot, such cowardly and
unsoldierly acts. Such incidents were, happily, very rare.

Though thus