A Stillness at Appomattox (94 page)

General
Grant
had
said
that
they
would
use
the
spade,
and they
did.
Each
regiment
in
the
line
would
dig
a
broad
trench, and
on
the
side
facing
the
enemy
there
would
be
a
solid
wall of
logs,
with
dirt
banked
up
beyond
it.
Several
yards
in
front of
this
there
would
be
a
ditch,
six
feet
deep
by
ten
feet
wide, with
the
earth
that
came
out
of
it
added
to
the
pile
in
front of
the
logs
until
the
embankment
was
six
or
eight
feet
high and
a
dozen
feet
thick.
Sandbags
or
logs
would
be
arranged on
top
of
the
embankment,
with
slits
or
loopholes
for
men
to stick
their
rifles
through,
and
just
behind
the
log
wall
there would
be
a
fire
step—a
low
ledge
of
packed
earth,
built
so that
a
man
who
stood
on
it
could
put
his
musket
through
the loopholes.
At
intervals,
leading
to
the
rear,
there
would
be covered
ways,
which
were
deep
trenches
zig-zagged
to
take advantage
of
the
ground,
built
so
that
men
could
walk
to
the firing
line
from
the
rear
without
being
exposed.

Out
in
front
of
the
trenches,
fifty
or
one
hundred
yards nearer
to
the
enemy,
there
was
an
abatis.
Much
of
the
ground had
been
timbered,
and
the
trees
were
felled
with
their
bushy tops
pointing
toward
the
foe.
The
butts
were
embedded
i
n shallow
trenches
to
hold
them
in
place,
and
the
branches were
sharpened
and
bound
together
so
that
it
was
almost
impossible
to
get
through
them.
In
places
there
were
several rows
of
these
entanglements,
with
narrow
lanes
cut
here
and there
so
that
pickets
could
go
out
to
their
stations.
This
abatis was
supplemented
very
often
by
what
were
called
chevaux-de-frise:
heavy
logs
laid
end
to
end
and
bound
together
with chains,
bristling
with
six-foot
stakes
sharpened
to
a
point
and projecting
in
such
a
way
that
a
man
who
tried
to
scramble over
was
certain
to
find
his
person
or
his
clothing
jagged
and held
fast.

On
every
hill
or
knoll
there
was
a
fort,
a
square
enclosure of
earth
and
logs
with
openings
for
the
guns.
These
were
ar° ranged
so
that
there
was
no
place
in
front
of
the
trenches
that could
not
be
reached
by
artillery
fire.
Farther
to
the
rear
there were
pits
like
unroofed
cellars
where
coehorn
mortars
were mounted.
In
these
forts
and
pits,
and
adjoining
all
of
the trenches,
there
were
bombproofs—square
holes
in
the
earth roofed
with
logs
and
dirt,
in
which
the
men
could
hide
when the
enemy
fired
shells.
²

That
was
the
front.
It
was
five
miles
long
and
the
Rebel line
was
exactly
like
the
Union
line,
and
there
was
not
the
remotest
chance
that
any
part
of
either
line
could
be
taken
by storm
so
long
as
a
handful
of
defenders
remained
on
duty and
stayed
awake.
The
dust
and
the
sickening
air
and
the killing
sunlight
lay
on
everything,
and
the
sharpshooters
and the
gunners
were
always
alert,
and
by
day
and
by
night
there was
intermittent
heavy
firing.
A
good
many
men
were
killed and
wounded
every
day,
to
no
particular
end
except
to
warn the
survivors
that
they
had
better
dig
deeper
and
stronger trenches
and
hide
in
them
every
moment
of
their
lives.
⁸

On
most
of
the
line
the
trenches
were
not
far
apart,
and In
front
of
Burnside's
corps
there
were
hardly
150
yards
between
them,
and
the
firing
there
was
almost
continuous.
On each
side
sharpshooters
with
long-range
rifles
found
vantage points
a
little
behind
the
lines
and
kept
their
weapons
trained on
the
firing
slits
in
the
opposing
trenches,
so
that
a
man
who looked
out
to
see
what
he
could
see
was
quite
likely
to
get
a bullet
in
the
face.

Toward
the
southern
end
of
the
line,
however,
where
the V
Corps
was
stationed,
the
works
diverged.
Here
the
Rebel trenches
curved
over
toward
the
west
and
the
Federal trenches
continued
in
a
southerly
direction,
and
the
rival lines
were
half
a
mile
apart,
and
so
there
was
much
less
shooting.
Along
here
the
pickets
had
made
their
usual
arrangements
with
each
other,
and
between
the
lines
there
was
a
little stream
to
which
men
from
both
armies
came,
in
full
light
of day,
to
fill
their
canteens.
When
an
officer
came
down
the enemies
would
warn
each
other,
because
most
officers
had strong
ideas
about
the
need
for
keeping
up
a
constant
fire, and
the
general
feeling
was
that
officers
were
interlopers
who ought
to
stay
farther
in
the
rear.
One
day
the
Union
General Crawford
came
out
to
the
picket
line
and
stood
up
on
a
parapet
and
began
examining
the
Rebel
line
through
field
glasses. A
Reb
scribbled
something
on
a
sheet
of
paper,
wrapped
the paper
around
a
stone,
and
tossed
it
over
into
a
Union
rifle
pit. The
Federal
soldier
who
picked
it
up
found
that
the
Southerner
had
written:
"Tell
the
fellow
with
the
spy
glass
to
clear out
or
we
shall
have
to
shoot
him."