'^ 



114 



THE ILLINOIS FAKMEK. 



April 



two pounder, located on the island about a mile 

 distant ; the birds were singing merrily of spring, 

 the opening leaves of the forest that walled in 

 these river homesteads gave a fairy look, the 

 river pouring its muddy current swiftly by, the 

 long belt of primeval forest festooned with grape 

 and trumpet vines, and sprinkled with the green 

 misletoe that parasite of genial skies, the 

 soft spring-like air, the Bcreaming of the 

 shells as they winged their way to deal out death, 

 the sharp note of the rifled cannon and the deep 

 throttled mortars, all lend an enchantment, a 

 mixture of the beautiful, the wonderful and the 

 fearful to the scene. Slowly plodding on, with 

 glass in hand, now looking at the falling shell, 

 now at the opposing batteries, where we could 

 see the gunners load and fire at our men who had 

 strolled beyond us, and who were in groups of 

 two or three, throwing themselves on the ground 

 whenever the battery belched forth its volley of 

 death, and whose messengers plowed up the 

 ground often in fearful proximity —we pass 

 among these squads of soldiers, knowing, yet 

 not heeding, any danger, when, within fifty feet 

 above, and directly over us, go one of these un- 

 welcome visitors, passing on sixty or eighty rods 

 near the outskirts of the field, it sends up a 

 shower of earth and rests in a grave of its own 

 making. The warning was heeded, and we were 

 soon out of this dangrrous position, gaining a 

 position more favorable to a view of the huge 

 iron-clad battery that lay against the shore of 

 the Island, and, as we supposed, out of the no- 

 tice of the rebels ; but being joined by two sol- 

 diers with their glittering weapons that flashed 

 back the sun, the mark was too tempting, and 

 without further no'ice, a thirty-two pound shot 

 gave its significant warning within twenty-five 

 feet of aur heads, striking the earth a few rod^ 

 beyond us. This was enough ; the enemy had 

 obtained our range, and reloading the gun and 

 giving it a less elevation — we turned around in 

 time to see its column of smoke curling np, and 

 knew that the messenger of death was after us 

 — the soldiers threw themselves on the ground, 

 while we two members of the press concluded to 

 go, and not to stand upon the order of our going, 

 for but seven seconds is no long time for the 

 ball to speed its way, half of which had 

 already elapsed, and consequently the distance 

 that our willing legs had carried us before the 

 well-known sound added, if possible, to our 

 speed, was so limited that It appeared just at 

 our heels, fanning the prostrate soldiers with its 

 uapleasant bieath, and striking the earth within 



a hundred feet, making a ditch thirty feet long 

 and at one end three feet deep, where it rested 

 in quiet, looking as innocent as though it had 

 never been set to music by the aid of six 

 pounds of powder. The music of the birds, of 

 the deep forests, the balmy air with its harbin- 

 gers of spring, the flying shells, the river, all, 

 lost their poetry, and we incontenently took to 

 sober prose, and vowed that the readers of the 

 Farmer should not run another risk of losing 

 their Editor by these dastards. Sending a sailor to 

 remove the shot, which is a thirty-two pounder, 

 we shall lay it ia our sanctum as a memento of a 

 moving incident of the siege of Island No. 10. 

 Returning to the mound City, we found her three 

 bow guns busy in leveling the parapet of the up- 

 per battery, receiving an occasional shot in re- 

 turn, none of which struck her. The firing con- 

 tinued through the night, one in every fifteen 

 minutes. Our bed, as usual, was laid in the pi- 

 lot house, just over this music of the rifles, that 

 send their conical shot with a force of fifteen 

 pounds of powder, — no gentle place to lull one 

 to sleep, as with the regularity of the clock the 

 bass notes of our friend Dominy comes up from 

 below — ready — fire! followed with a crash that 

 shakes the firm timbers of the ship, and whose 

 echoes reverbrate from shore and headland, and 

 die away in the long reaches of the river. 



Wednesday, March 19. — The morning breaks 

 upon us with a dull leaden sky and high wind, 

 lashing the river with foam and strongly con- 

 trasting with yesterday. It is now certain that 

 this seige will now continue days if not weeks, 

 we therefore pay our respects to Commodore 

 Foote, and a^k leave on the next transport going 

 north. At noon the Commodore's Tug called for 

 us, and while passing around the fleet for the 

 mail, a hundred and twenty-eight pound shot 

 from the enemy plunged into the river within 

 fifty feet of the tug, it having been intended for 

 a transport passing near us. Returning our 

 thanks to Commodore Foote, and the officers 

 and men on board the Mound City, whose kind 

 attentions will always have a green spot in the 

 exciting memories of the past ten days, we 

 stepped on board of the tug E rub us at 1 p. m., 

 bound for Cairo, where we arrived at 10 o'clock, 

 and a few hours thereafter found us opposite our 

 home, with breaks down, and conductor Scott 

 handing us our baggage in that happy style that 

 is so becoming when he puts a man of our size 

 off his train, just here when several pair of 

 anxious eyes are looking on with deep interest. 



