l Burnside and his staff, who were
present, kneeling around the bed. When the prayer was ended, General
Sanders took General Burnside by the hand. Tears--the language of that
heartfelt sympathy and tender love belonging to all noble souls--dropped
down the bronzed cheeks of the chief as he listened to the last words
which followed. The sacrament was now about to be administered, but
suddenly the strength of the dying soldier failed, and like a child he
gently fell asleep. "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay
down his life for his friends."

The enemy did not seem inclined to attack our position at once, but
proceeded to invest the town on the north bank of the Holston. He then
commenced the construction of a line of works. The four companies of the
Thirty-sixth Massachusetts which had been detailed for picket duty on
the morning of the 17th, remained on post till the morning of the 19th.
Thenceforward, throughout the siege, both officers and men were on
picket duty every third day. During this twenty-four hours of duty no
one slept. The rest of the time we were on duty in the trenches, where,
during the siege, one third, and sometimes one fourth, of the men were
kept awake. The utmost vigilance was enjoined upon all.

Meanwhile, day by day, and night by night, with unflagging zeal, the
troops gave themselves to the labor of strengthening the works.
Immediately in front of the rifle-pits, a _chevaux-de-frise_ was
constructed. This was formed of pointed stakes, thickly and firmly set
in the ground, and inclining outwards at an angle of forty-five degrees.
The stakes were bound together with wire, so that they could not easily
be torn apart by an assaulting party. They were nearly five feet in
height. In front of Colonel Haskins's position, on the north side of the
town, the _chevaux-de-frise_ was constructed with the two thousand pikes
which were captured at Cumberland Gap early in the fall. A few rods in
front of the _chevaux-de-frise_ was the abatis, formed of thick branches
of trees, which likewise were firmly set in the ground. Still farther to
the front, were wire entanglements stretched a few inches above the
ground, and fastened here and there to stakes and stumps. In front of a
portion of our lines another obstacle was formed by constructing dams
across First and Second Creeks, so called, and throwing back the water.
The whole constituted a series of obstacles which could not be passed,
in face of