against the northern
front of the eminence, where McClellan had his artillery pointing to
the east, and where the Confederates massed to sweep the field as Lee
advanced his infantry. The object of Lee was to concentrate all his
artillery on the flank of McClellan's artillery, then by an enfilade
fire from his own, he could destroy that of his enemy, and advance his
infantry through the broad sweep of lowlands, separating the forces,
without subjecting them to the severe cannonading. He gave orders
that as soon as the enemy's batteries were demolished or silenced,
Armstead's Virginia Brigade, occupying the most advanced and favorable
position for observation, was to advance to the assault, with a
yell and a hurrah, as a signal for the advance of all the attacking
columns. But the condition of the ground was such that the officers
who were to put the cannon in position got only a few heavy pieces
in play, and these were soon knocked in pieces by the numbers of
the enemy's siege guns and rifled field pieces. Some of the brigade
commanders, thinking the signal for combat had been given, rushed at
the hill in front with ear piercing yells without further orders. They
were mown down like grain before the sickle by the fierce artillery
fire and the enemy's infantry on the crest of the hill. Kershaw
following the lead of the brigade on his left, gave orders, "Forward,
charge!" Down the incline, across the wide expanse, they rushed with
a yell, their bayonets bristling and glittering in the sunlight, while
the shells rained like hail stones through their ranks from the cannon
crested hill in front. The gunboats and ironclad monitors in the James
opened a fearful fusilade from their monster guns and huge mortars,
the great three-hundred-pound shells from the latter rising high in
the air, then curling in a beautiful bow to fall among the troops,
with a crash and explosion that shook the ground like the trembling
of the earth around a volcano. The whole face of the bluff front was
veiled by the white smoke of the one hundred belching cannon, the
flashing of the guns forming a perfect rain of fire around the sides
of the hill. It was too far to fire and too dense and tangled to
charge with any degree of progress or order, so, in broken and
disconnected ranks, Kershaw had to advance and endure this storm of
shot and shell, that by the time he reached the line of the enemy's
infantry, his ranks were too much broken to offer a very for