f the Third South
Carolina, had good protection in the way of stone walls, this being
the sole occasion that any of Kershaw's troops had been protected
by breastworks of any kind during the whole war. The Second was in a
sunken road leading to the city, walled on either side with
granite, the earth on the outside being leveled up with the top. The
maneuvering into position had taken place while Hancock was making the
first assault upon the wall defended by Cobb. Howard was now preparing
to make the doubtful attempt at taking the stronghold with the point
of the bayonet, and without firing a gun. But with such men as the
Georgians, South Carolinians, and North Carolinians in their front,
the task proved too Herculean. Howard moved to the battle in beautiful
style, their line almost solid and straight, their step in perfect
unison with the long, moving columns, their guns carried at a trail,
and the stars and stripes floating proudly above their heads. The shot
and shell plunging through their ranks from the hills above, the two
siege guns on Lee's Hill now in beautiful play, the brass pieces of
the Washington Artillery firing with grape and shrapnel--but all this
made no break nor halt in that long line of blue. The double column
behind the stone wall and the Third South Carolina on the crest of the
Hill met them in front with a cool and steady fire, while the Second
South Carolina directed its attention to the flank. But the boldest
and stoutest hearts could not withstand this withering blast of
bullets and shells without returning the fire. The enemy opened
upon us a terrific fire, both from the columns in front and from the
sharpshooters in the housetops in the city. After giving us battle
as long as human endurance could bear the ordeal, they, like their
companions before them, fled in confusion.

Before making the direct attack, Howard attempted a diversion by
endeavoring to turn Cobb's left. Passing out into the plain above
the city, he was met by some of Cooke's North Carolinians, and there
around the sacred tomb of Mary Washington was a hand to hand encounter
between some New York and Massachusetts troops and those from the Pine
Tree State. Sons of the same ancestry, sons of sires who fought
with the "Father of his Country" in the struggle for the nation's
independence, now fighting above the grave of the mother for its
dissolution! Thrice were the Confederates driven from the position,
but as often retaken, and