y Mr. Bernard in his
"War Talks of Confederate Veterans."

In a few minutes the enemy in the ditches up to fifty yards of the
"Crater" were killed or captured. The whole battlefield of three acres
of ground became suddenly quiet comparatively.

Mahone in an hour's time sent in the Georgia Brigade, under General
Wright. There was such a heavy fire from the "Crater" the brigade was
forced to oblique to the left and banked on Mahone's men. In a few
minutes after they landed at the foot of the "Crater" in their second
charge.

Sanders' Alabama Brigade came up at this time. Besides his Alabamians
were Elliott's Brigade and Clingman's Sixty-first North Carolina.
The charge was made about one o'clock P.M., and the Federal artillery
poured all its fire on the "Crater" for some minutes, slaughtering
many of their own men. At this charge Lieutenant Colonel Gulp, who was
absent at the explosion, being a member of a courtmartial, came up and
took charge of the Seventeenth in the ravine, where Captain Steele had
them. In the charge of the "Crater" under Sanders were Colonel
Gulp, Colonel Smith and Lieutenant Colonel J.H. Hudson with the
Twenty-sixth, and a large number of privates, especially from the
Seventeenth Regiment, which also had a good many in Mahone's charge.

A good many of the Twenty-third joined in the charge, and Private W.H.
Dunlap, Company C, Twenty-third Regiment, now of Columbia, was the
first man who got in the "Crater" on the south side.

While the men were piled up around the "Crater" Adjutant Fant heard
some Alabama soldiers picking out the fine banners within, and he was
lucky to get two of them. He laid them down, and in a minute they were
spirited away.

A little incident recited by Honorable George Clark Sanders, Adjutant
General, illustrates how true politeness smoothes the wrinkled brow of
war. He says that he saw a fine looking Federal officer making his
way out of the "Crater" with much pain, using two reversed muskets for
crutches, seeing one leg was shot off. He said I'm very sorry to
see you in so much pain. The soldier replied the pain occurred at
Spottsylvania a year ago. This is a wooden leg shot off to-day--then
gave his name as General Bartlett, but Colonel Sanders kindly helped
him out.

The horrors of war are sometimes relieved with incidents which amuse
us. Adjutant Fant tells an amusing incident of Joe Free, a member of
Company B. The Adjutant had gone In the afternoon to the wagon