150 Voices for 150 Years: An Autobiography of Us The entry that follows describes a scary scene of pure chaos, written by soldier and diarist William Norrell of the 63rd Georgia. May 25--Wednesday. [1864] Soon after our Line was formed arms stacked, the men were soon busily engaged in cooking, drying clothes, blankets, etc. and many spread out for a sleep which all needed so much. Our march yesterday must have been all of 20 miles. I was completely broke down and had to fall out and rest several times. Commenced my march yesterday with a severe headache. Our backward move this morning was about 5 miles. About 4 oclock we moved in the direction we came toward the enemy but by a different road. Cannonading had been heard nearly all day at times. Our march was continued till about 11 oclock p.m. when we were encamped along the slope of a hill on the road side. Our camp was not pitched however before a scene of confusion occurred which I never witnessed before. We had been coming up what appeared to be a narrow defile between two hills, but it was not so all the way, particularly at the place this occurred. We had been waiting some moment for a move after a short halt, when it ran down the rank that the Colonel had lost the way. This was unpleasant news particularly as the enemy was known to be about. Soon a rumbling sound was heard like the rumbling of Horses Feet or a runaway team. The idea seemed to flash across the mind of every one simultaneously of a charge of cavalry, and as it was so dark that we could scarcely see our comrades, a start was made by a few at the head of the column, which increased the sound and appearing to approach nearer until it seemed to be in our midst. The panic ran through the whole Brigade, I believe, and in 5 minutes such a scramble and dodging, tumbling and crawling for a safe place was never seen. Some lost their guns, some their hats, etc. and many came out with a bruise. In a few minutes, however, it was all over, and all thoroughly convinced that a very small force of Cavalry could have scattered us to the winds in the position we then were--in the dark--lost and guns unloaded. More entries from William Norrell are soon to come. #150VoicesOfUs #HashtagHistory
Posted on: Sun, 25 May 2014 10:00:00 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015