Fusillade

“ A slackening in the fusillade and a terrific outburst of yells showed that the enemy were breaking cover in force. In an instant the compound seemed to become alive with armed negroes, many of whom had already discarded their modern rifles for the more familiar matchet and spear. ”

“ The sharp report of a rifle came from the front, followed by another and another. A bullet hissed through the forest and struck a tree near by. The men sprang from the ground and even before the captain's high, clear voice was done intoning the command "At-ten-tion!" had fallen into line in rear of the stacked arms. Again—and now through the din of a crackling fusillade—sounded the strong, deliberate sing-song of authority: "Take ... arms!" followed by the rattle of unlocking bayonets. ”

“ Presently on every side the Indian prowlers opened sharp fire on the troops, a long-range and hap-hazard fusillade, for what with logs and earth, sand, trees, and river-banks and little wooded isles, the defence was well covered, only some of the horses being where they could be plainly seen. ”

“ Each company will detach its cannon, escorted by a company of voltigeurs. These companies will commence the fusillade, covering themselves with the hedges. Meanwhile the artillery officers will plant their batteries, and fire grape-shot on the battalions and troops with which the enemy will not fail to oppose our passage. ”

“ None of the enemy troops were to be seen, but, on the other hand, civilians, firing from a number of windows. I am also convinced that I noticed a machine-gun served by civilians at the first-floor window of a house some twenty paces from myself. I observed with my own eyes that a considerable number of our soldiers were wounded by this fire. We were obviously dealing here with a concerted co-operation of the inhabitants, for it was after the two first shots that a simultaneous fusillade broke out throughout the village. ”

“ How they passerl the thick-strewn wires and the rows of closelv-sunken pits is more than I can tell. They were surging up the hill.
Oh, the horror of it all! With wildly swaying arms, men staggered and fell, clutching madly at the arass roots in ihe a2'swor ds were thrown aside and men rolled down the slope, tripping those who came behind. From the trenches above poured a rain of lead, the seemingly unbroken line of flashes showing the fierceness of the fusillade. And ever the din of human voices seemed to rise above the roll of musketry. ”

“ An infantry charge reminds you of a moving wall that cannot be resisted; a charge of cavalry stirs the blood; but I have never known excitement to equal that of a battery of artillery going into action on a full run under fire. Over the top of the hill came these two guns, a cloud of dust almost hiding them, the horses straining every muscle, the men hanging to the horses or any part of the gun on which they could hold, those of the men that were mounted riding at full speed. When the top of the hill was reached there seemed to be no stop. ”

“ Crashing into the solid squares with one wild British hurrah, the rattle of bayonets and the clash of sabres are awful evidence that the death-struggle between cavalry and infantry has fairly begun. But little firing is heard beyond an occasional shot from an officer’s revolver (the best of all firearms in close conflict) ; the smoke is not so dense, and you can plainly see the whites of your enemies’ eyes, which have a strange supernatural appearance, many rolling in the agonies of death. ”

“ So I shouted to them to follow, and on we went roaring again, Battle-tuned and exultant, on in the leaden rain. Then all at once a machine gun barks from a bit of a bank, And our Major roars in a fury: "We've got to take it on flank." He was running like fire to lead us, when down like a stone he comes, As full of "typewriter" bullets as a pudding is full of plums. So I took his job and we got 'em. ”

“ With heads bowed, and limbs moving wearily, guns held at will, they swept by in unbroken column--cavalry, artillery, infantry--scarcely a face lifted to glance toward the house, with here and there a straggler limping to the roadside, or an aide spurring past--just a stream of armed men, who had been plodding on since daylight, footsore, hungry, unseeing, yet ready to die in battle at their commander's word. ”

“ For two more days we carried on this most tiring of all kinds of fighting: for the infantry, hourly scraps with a watchful plucky foe; for the gunners, perpetual readiness to fire protective bursts should the enemy suddenly seek to shake our grip on this most fateful stretch of front; in addition to day and night programmes of "crashes" that allowed the gun detachments no rest, and at the same time demanded unceasing care in "laying" and loading and firing the guns. ”

“ Encouraged by this presage of victory, the Fusiliers marched sternly onward in line, over heaps of killed and wounded, to encounter three heavy columns of French infantry, supported by cavalry and artillery, and each column mustering about twice the numbers of the Fusilier Brigade.
Gallantly issuing from amidst the smoke and broken fragments of discomfited corps, the Fusiliers marched [57] with a firm and solemn step over the carcases of men and horses which obstructed their way, and their bearing was that of men determined to decide the fortune of a battle. ”

“ The regular regiments of foot were composed, at this period, of Musketeers,—men armed with muskets and swords; Pikemen,—armed with long pikes and swords; and Grenadiers,—armed with hand-grenades, muskets, bayonets, swords, and small hatchets; but in the Ordnance Regiment every man carried a long musket called a fusil, with a sword and bayonet, from which peculiarity in the arming, the regiment obtained the designation of "Fusiliers;" and the King being desirous of appearing publicly to patronize this new corps, conferred upon it the title of "Royal Fusiliers." ”

“ Troops of the enemy are moving to the left, our left, to outflank us, and we lengthen out correspondingly; and now the blue smoke of the musket discloses the line by day trending away, far away south toward the Chattahoochee, and by night it is marked, at times, by the red glow of the artillery amidst the sparklike flashes of small arms that look in the distance like innumerable fireflies. ”

“ It is indeed difficult to conceive that any one should expect half-a-dozen expert gunners, each shut up in an iron box with a gun, to stop the rush of a thousand men, even by day. But imagine the feelings of the gunner on the night of a big attack, alone in his box, his nerves already strained by a preliminary bombardment and nights of watching. ”

“ Some of the houses being set on fire lit up by their lurid glare the horrors of the night attack. Taken completely by surprise, many of the French were fighting in their shirts and breeches, and were mingled in wild mêlée with the 20th and Highlanders, using their bayonets and clubbed muskets, without time to load or fire, so closely were they wedged together; but some who were in the houses opened an indiscriminate fusilade on friends and foes. ”

“ The gun discharged shot until the troops were within a short distance, when it fired grape. In went the corps, led by the lieutenant, who still steered steadily on the gun’s muzzle until it was mastered by a rush of the 64th.’ It is difficult for civilians adequately to comprehend the cool courage required in an act like this; where a soldier walks his horse directly up in front of a large piece of cannon which is loaded and fired at him and his comrades as rapidly as possible. ”

“ The fort has gone, and if under its ruins [360] there are left a few guns and gunners the bulk of the guns are firing from outside. The machine guns are coming up and getting in position, and our men are moving on in numerous waves. I find a rifle belonging to a comrade who has fallen and join the Chasseurs with the fifty cartridges that I have left. What a fight it is, and what troops! From time to time a man falls, rises, shoots, runs, shoots again, keeps on firing, fights with his bayonet, and then, worn out, falls, to be tramped on without raising a cry. ”

“ Where our cannon had mauled their retreating cavalry, the horses lay in close ranks, with their long necks stretched out, and their riders beneath them, all torn, brained, or disembowelled alike by the iron storm of grape-shot that had swept through the squadron. In some places we saw only a red, muddy pulp, composed of flesh and bones, where the enemy's brigade of guns had traversed the ground.
"War!" says a French writer; "those by whose will war comes—those who make men resemble the savage beasts—will have a fearful account to render to the righteous Judge above!" ”

“ The hail of the assailants' bullets ceases; already the artillery of the attack has desisted lest it should injure friend as well as foe. The word runs along the line and the clumps of men lying prostrate there out in the open. The officers spring to their feet, wave their swords, and cheer loudly. The men are up in an instant, and the swift rush focussing toward a point begins. ”

“ On came the rebels with their dreadful battle yell, as deafening as the roar of their artillery, and with fixed bayonets charged forward, a sea of gleaming, death-dealing, blood-stained steel, upon the noble, patriotic band, who met their attacks with unfaltering courage, and hand to hand fought them to the death, while the artillery rained a perfect torrent of shot and shell along the whole line. ”

“ But our greatest peril was from our own line, a quarter of a mile in the rear of us, for there were several pieces of artillery continually sending shells and solid shot over our heads into the enemy’s lines, and some of them were too near us for comfort and safety, for we were on slightly rising ground in front of them, and the gunners, to do more execution, depressed their pieces so much that every now and then a shot or shell would skim by, or over us, as we hugged the ground. ”

“ The attack was a little late, as we heard after from prisoners—perhaps the Night Bombers, and their upsetting of road and rail transport timetables with high-explosive bombs and showering machine-guns, had some word in that lateness—and our fire caught it in the act of deploying. And when such a weight of guns as was massed on that front catches solid battalions on the roads, or troops close-packed in trenches, the Lord ha' mercy on the men they catch. ”

“ The British regiments met the storm of war with unshaken firmness, and breaking in on the front of the advancing columns, and assailing their wings with a heavy fire, forced them back with a terrible carnage: the Royal Fusiliers rushed gallantly forward to the muzzles of the French artillery, and, after an obstinate resistance, captured seven guns, which the enemy endeavoured to re-capture, but in vain. ”

“ The infantry tramplings, the heavy rumbling of the artillery, made the earth speak of gigantic preparation. Guns on distant heights thundered from time to time with sudden, nervous roar, as if unable to endure in silence a knowledge of hostile troops massing, other guns going to position. ”

“ And then, from over to the left, startlingly sudden to every one of those hardy young Americans, had come the sound of firing, the crack and crackle of firearms, followed presently by the tearing, resonant fusillading of a machine-gun that, at a distance, reminds one of the rapid rolling of a barrel down hill over stony ground. ”

“ The rebel sharpshooters, too, appeared active, for as we looked up at them we could see hundreds more venturesome than others sally out rifle in hand, advance some distance in front, and with long, sustained aim, fire. ”

“ Of his guns on the suffering foe;
And the infantry close up, and again
They a devastating fire pour,
And the bicycle corps and quick-fire guns
Added their fierce and incessant roar.
And from the crimson clouds his aerial ships
Hurl their cruel and deadly rain,
Shattering the foe in the lines below
And rending the stormswept plain.{290}
A grand coup de main he had prepared—
A thousand electric motor cars,
With a hedge of spears on their outward shields
That flashed like countless silver stars;
Each with a quick-fire gun, and a score of men
Held with the reserves in the rear. ”

“ While we were closely hugging the intrenchments, to avoid as far as [Pg 258] possible the enemy's fire, every man grasping his musket, and waiting for the word of command, a staff officer, possessing more courage than discretion, came along, with pistol in one hand and sword in the other, and gave the order to commence firing. In an instant the men were on their feet, and the utmost confusion prevailed. ”

“ Sharp is the fire of assault, better aimed are your flank fusilades; Twice do we hurl them to earth from the ladders to which they had clung, Twice from the ditch where they shelter we drive them with hand grenades—, And ever upon the topmost roof our banner of England blew. ”

“ When I first reached the battlefield my attention was attracted to a number of horsemen dressed in Federal uniforms. These were evidently rebel cavalrymen who had dressed themselves in the uniforms of our dead soldiers. In every part of the field was evidence of the terrible havoc of war. Bursted cannons, broken gun carriages, muskets, bayonets, accoutrements, sabres, swords, canteens, knapsacks, haversacks, sponges, rammers, buckets, broken wagons, dead horses and dead men were mixed and intermingled in a heterogeneous mass. ”