The negro prisoners were very much alarmed, and vociferously implored for their lives. One old cornfield chap exclaimed: "My God, massa, I nebber pinted a gun at a white man in all my life; dem nasty, stinking Yankees fotch us here, and we didn't want to come fus!"

The appearance of this rough, irregular hole beggars description. It was estimated that it contained 600 bodies. The importance of reconstructing this broken line of earthworks at once prevented the removal of all of these dead men, therefore 233 of the enemy's dead were buried as they had fallen, in one indiscriminate heap in the pit. of the Crater. Spades were brought in, and the earth thrown from the sides of the excavation until they were covered a sufficient depth. By 3 o'clock P. M. all was over, and we were enjoying a welcome truce. The extreme heat of the sun had already caused putrefaction of the dead to commence, and the bodies in our front and rear, and especially the blood-soaked earth under our feet in the trenches, exhaled such a nauseating smell that I was forced to abandon my supper, although I had not tasted a morsel of food since the previous night.

The reports of the losses on the Federal side vary, but as above quoted, it is put down from all the five corps which aided in the assault at 4,400 total; but their loss was estimated at the time to be between 5,000 and 6,000. General Burnside says in his report that his 9th corps lost twenty-three commanders of regiments, four killed, fifteen wounded, and four missing; two brigade commanders, General W. F. Bartlett and Colonel E. G. Marshall, prisoners; fifty-two officers and 376 men killed; 105 officers and 1,556 men wounded; eighty-seven officers and 1,652 men missing; total 3,828.

SHOOTING RAMRODS AT THE ENEMY.

There were thousands of captured arms around us, and during the night some of our men would shoot ramrods at the enemy, just for the fun of hearing them whiz. One that was shot over, drew from a Federal soldier the exclamation, "Great God! Johnnie, you are throwing turkey spits and stringing us together over here. Stop it!"

A correspondent of one the New York daily newspapers, writing a description of this battle from accounts obtained from wounded officers, who arrived in Washington on the 2d of August, 1864,

says:

"Two steamers arrived here yesterday from City Point.

They brought up a large number of candidates for medical and surgical attendance.

"The wounds of the wounded are ghastly.

'They were inflicted by the enemy in front of Petersburg, on Saturday, the 30th of July—a day that will be memorable as witnessing the failure-the utter and disastrous failure-of the great plan that was expected to scatter or destroy the army of General Lee. A large number of the wounded are officers who participated in the assault on the enemy's lines. * * *

"Statements from such sources are worthy of attention if not full faith. * * *

"At forty minutes after four the earth began to tremble.

"Then a great mass of clay and debris was thrown about one hundred feet in the air.

"Then a heavy sound, deep and rumbling, differing from any ever before heard by the Army of the Potomac, was borne five miles around.

"For a few moments the air was thick with dust, and then the great yawning gap was visible.

"The mine had done its work.

"Then the artillery opened. Never on the American continent was heard such an awful roar.

"It commenced on the right and extended to the left, gun after gun joining in mighty chorus. Gettysburg, Malvern Hill, Spotsylvania, Cold Harbor-these were as nothing. It was dreadful and unparalleled. * * *

"Often have the Confederates won enconiums for valor, but never before did they fight with such uncontrollable desperation.

It appeared as if our troops were at their mercy, standing helpless or running in terror and shot down like dogs.

"The charge of the enemy against the negro troops was terrific. "With fearful yells they rushed down against them.

"The negroes at once ran back, breaking through the lines of white troops in the rear.

"Again and again their officers tried to rally them.

"Words and blows were useless.

"They were victims of an uncontrollable terror, and human agency could not stop them."

Such was the testimony of the Federal wounded of the terror and carnage of the battle! This correspondence estimated their loss at 5,000.

THE AWFUL EXPLOSION.

Captain George L. Killmer, of Marshall's Brigade, says: "The awful explosion, when it came, confused our men more than it did the Confederates, except the few Confederates who were blown up. We were in a state of expectancy, awaiting orders, when suddenly the ground rocked under foot and an immense mass of earth, timbers, cannon and soldiers in gray, enveloped in dust and powder smoke, leaped into the air, and hung there, as it seemed, ready to fall and bury our lines in the ruins. Hundreds shrunk back, appalled and unmassed. Colonel Elisha C. Marshall, who was also colonel of my regiment, sprang upon the wall in front, and waving a signal, shouted Forward.' Officers and soldiers, to the number of a couple of hundred, joined him instantly, climbing the barrier by the help of bayonets and upon one another's shoulders. Without looking to see how many followed, the party dashed forward to the pit, and there found a great hole encircled by a wall made of the falling earth and debris. We struck the left flank of the breach and planted our flag there."

Then after describing intervening events, Captain Killmer says:

PANDEMONIUM IN THE PIT.

"In the pit pandemonium reigned. Men shot on the crest tumbled in upon the wounded, lying in torture at the bottom. The day was hot. Sulphurous gases escaped from the debris and there was no water at hand, the way back to the Union lines was swept by fire and was corduroyed with dead. Refusing to retreat, men sought death by charging forward. Officers threw away their lives by mounting the walls to inspire the men to move out and relieve the horrible jam in the pit. One of these martyrs was a mere boy, Lieutenant Pennell, an aid to General Thomas. So many bullets struck him that his body whirled around like a top before it fell.

Lieutenant-General U. S. Grant, commanding the United States Army, in his report to General Halleck, under date of August 1, 1864, at City Point, Va., says:

"The loss in the disaster of Saturday last foots up about 3,500, of whom 450 men were killed and 2,000 wounded.

"It was the saddest affair I have witnessed in the war.

"Such opportunity for carrying fortifications I have never seen and do not expect to again to have.

"The enemy, with a line of works five miles long, had been re

duced, by our previous movements to the north side of James river, to a force of only three divisions. This line was undermined and blown up, carrying a battery and most of a regiment with it.

"The enemy were taken completely by surprise and did not recover from it for more than an hour.

"The Crater and several hundred yards of the enemy's line to the right and left of it, and a short detached line in front of the Crater, were occupied by our troops without opposition.

"Immediately in front of this, and not 150 yards off, with clear ground intervening, was the crest of the ridge leading into town, and which, if carried, the enemy would have made no resistance, but would have continued a flight already commenced.

"It was three hours from the time our troops first occupied their works before the enemy took possession of the crest.

"I am constrained to believe that, had instructions been promptly obeyed, Petersburg would have been carried, with all the artillery and a large number of prisoners, without a loss of 300 men.

"It was in getting back to our lines that the loss was sustained. "The enemy attempted to charge and retake the lines captured from them, and were repulsed with heavy loss by our artillery. Their loss in killed must be greater than ours, whilst our loss in wounded and captured is four times that of the enemy."-Official Records, Serial Number 8o, page 17.

"The enemy" which took possession of the crest was evidently Mahone's Brigade, and the charge repulsed mentioned by General Grant must have been that of Wright's Brigade.

Next morning was a bright and beautiful Sabbath, and nothing worth noting occurred. Many of the Federal dead remained on the field, putrefying under the scorching rays of the sun.

I remember a negro, between the lines, who had both legs blown off. He crawled up to the outside of our works, struck three muskets with bayonets in the ground, and threw a small pice of tent cloth over them to shelter his head from the hot sunshine. After awhile, in an interval, when the shots from the enemy had slackened, one of our soldiers managed to push a cup of water to him, which he drank and immediately commenced to froth at the mouth, dying in a very short time after.

He had lived in this mangled condition for nearly twenty-four hours and for a part of the time almost baking under the hot sun.

DEAD BODIES SEVERAL LAYERS DEEP.

On Monday morning a truce was granted, and the Federals sent out details to bury their dead between the lines. They dug a long ditch and placed the bodies crosswise, several layers up, and then refilled it. After they had finished burying their dead and were moving off, General Mahone noticed that they had left the dirt piled high enough for breast works on the slope of the hill, midway between the two lines of battle. He quickly discovered the danger of this, as it would have afforded shelter for another assaulting column. He stopped the burial detail and made them level the ground, as they found it.

General Pendleton, Chief of Artillery of General Lee's army, was standing near, and paid a high compliment to Mahone's foresight.

THE LAST ACT IN THE GREAT BATTLE.

This was the last act in this celebrated battle-a battle won by the charge of three small brigades of Virginia, Georgia and Alabama troops, numbering less than 2,000 muskets, with the aid of the artillery, which rendered effective service to the charging columns, over an army of 70,000 men behind breast-works, which surrendered to this small force nineteen flags.

General B. R. Johnson, who commanded the lines which were broken by the explosion and upheaval of the Crater, in his report of the battle, said: "To the able commander and gallant officers and men of Mahone's Division, to whom we are mainly indebted for the restoration of our lines, I offer my acknowledgments for their great service."

Secretary of War James A. Seddon said: "Let appropriate acknowledgment be made to the gallant general and his brave troops. Let the names of the captors (of the flags) be noted on the roll of honor and published."

Nowhere in all the history of war were greater odds driven out of fortifications and defeated. The charge of the three brigades of Mahone's Division is a record of triumph unsurpassed in warfare.