ARMY OPERATIONS. 



On the 16th four Federal batteries of light 

 artillery, under C'apts. Ayres, Mott, Kennedy, 

 and Wheeler, opened furiously upon the oppo- 

 site work, and soon drove the enemy's cannon- 

 eers to shelter. Detachments consisting of 

 companies E, F, D, and K, of a Vermont regi- 

 ment, were ordered forward through the woods 

 to capture the Confederate work. These brave 

 men pushed forward firmly under a scattering 

 fire of musketry, and were struggling through 

 the creek, when the enemy, in superior force, 

 opened upon them a galling fire of rifles and 

 musketry. They still went forward unfalter- 

 ingly, and their ranks were rapidly thinning, 

 when they were recalled. Not more than half 

 their number had crossed the stream. They 

 reluctantly obeyed, but soon it became more 

 difficult to return than it had been to advance. 

 The enemy suddenly opened a sluice above, 

 and almost overwhelmed them with a flow of 

 water which reached their armpits. They 

 maintained their order firmly, however, under 

 cover of the batteries, which with the sharp- 

 shooters kept the enemy within their intrench- 

 ments, and in a short tune extricated them- 

 selves, bringing away all their dead and wounded 

 except six. The casualties exceeded one hun- 

 dred and fifty. The attempt to force through 

 the enemy's line was afterward abandoned, 

 having presented unforeseen difficulties. 



Sharpshooting was a feature of the early 

 part of the campaign on the peninsula. An 

 officer thus describes one or two scenes : 



' The operations of our fellows were extreme- 

 ly interesting. One man was securely posted 

 behind an embankment with a glass, and upon 

 discovering an enemy, he signalized the active 

 riflemen. The latter, covered by rifle pits or 

 trees, were constantly blazing away, and at 

 each successful" shot would make some satisfac- 

 tory sign. One of them afforded considerable 

 amusement by his daring antics. Depositing 

 his rifle overy now and then behind a tree, he 

 would dash across the field from his cover to our 

 bastion and back again quickly, courting a shot, 

 while his comrades watched for a victim. He 

 must have made twenty trips while we observed 

 him. Once or twice the enemy's balls knocked 

 up the dust a few feet from him, -and quicker 

 than thought a leaden messenger would be sent 

 after the unlucky enemy. We left the saucy 

 fellow continuing his hazardous pranks." 



The siege of Yorktown was now commenced 

 in earnest. The Federal army was encamped 

 before it in line of battle order. The arrange- 

 ment of the columns, however, was influenced 

 by the nature and topography of the position 

 invested. It is thus summarily described by 

 Prince de Joinville : 



" The last operation, like that on Gloucester, 

 not being accomplished, nothing remained but 

 to begin a regular siege against Yorktown. All 

 this wandering in the dark had, unfortunately, 

 consumed much time, and the siege itself would 

 consume much more, although it should be 

 pushed with the greatest energy. Ten thou- 



sand laborers were unceasingly employed cut- 

 ting through the woods and forming roads, 

 trenches, and batteries. It was a curious spec- 

 tacle. A straight arm of the sea, fringed by 

 a thick and strong vegetation, mixed with trees 

 of all kinds, living and dead, entangled with 

 withes and moss, approached in a serpentine 

 form to the front of the attack. The first par- 

 allel was made. The wood which surrounded 

 us was an admirable protection. This arm of 

 the sea was covered with bridges. Roads were 

 cut along its margin in the midst of tulips, flow- 

 ers of Judea, and azaleas in full bloom. From 

 this natural parallel others were formed by the 

 hands of man, and we rapidly approached the 

 place. The defenders opened a terrific fire on 

 those works that they could see, as well as upon 

 those which they supposed were in progress. 

 Shells whistled on every side through the large 

 trees, cutting down branches, frightening horses, 

 but otherwise doing very little harm. Nobody 

 cared about it. In the evening, when all the 

 laborers returned in good order, with their ri- 

 fles on their backs, and their shovels on their 

 shoulders, the fire became more furious, as if 

 the enemy had marked the hour of their return. 

 We went to this cannonade as to a show ; and 

 when, on a beautiful night in spring time, the 

 troops gayly marched along to this martial 

 music through the flowering woods ; when the 

 balloon, with which we made our reconnois- 

 sances, was floating in the air, we seemed to be 

 spectators at a fete, arid for a moment were 

 made to forget the miseries of war. 



" The siege, however, still went on. Power- 

 ful artillery, with great difficulty, had been 

 brought up; 100 and even 200-pounder rifled 

 cannon, and 13-inch mortars were ready to bat- 

 ter the pl;ice. Fourteen batteries were con- 

 . structed, armed, and appointed. If our fire 

 had not been yet opened, it was because it was 

 designed to open all our batteries together 

 along the whole line ; and for this reason we 

 waited until nothing was wanting to complete 

 all our preparations. We could not, however, 

 resist the desire to try the 200-pounders. These 

 enormous pieces were handled with incredible 

 ease. Four men sufficed to load and aim them, 

 without any more difficulty than in the work- 

 ing of our old 24-pounders. At a distance of 

 three miles their fire was admirably precise. One 

 day one of these immense pieces had a kind of 

 duel with a rifled piece of somewhat smaller 

 caliber, in position on the bastions at Yorktown. 

 The curious among us mounted on the parapet 

 to see where the missiles might fall, and, while 

 they communicated their observations to one 

 another, the sentry on the lookout would an- 

 nounce when the enemy was about to fire in 

 turn ; but the distance was so great that, be- 

 tween the discharge and the arrival of the pro- 

 jectile, everybody had time to descend without 

 any hurry, and to place himself under the shel- 

 ter of the parapet. Such, however, was the 

 precision of the fire that we were sure to see 

 the enormous projectile passing over the very 



