d in case our men were driven in from
the outer line. Between these pits and the Fort were wire entanglements,
running from stump to stump, and also an abatis. Sand-bags and barrels
were arranged so as to cover the embrasures. Traverses, also, were built
for the protection of the men at the guns, and in passing from one
position to another. In the fort were four twenty-pounder Parrotts
(Benjamin's battery), four light twelve-pounders (of Buckley's battery),
and two three-inch guns.

Early in the evening of the 27th there was much cheering along the Rebel
lines. Their bands, too, were unusually lavish of the Rebel airs they
were wont occasionally to waft across the debatable ground which
separated our lines. Had the enemy received reinforcements, or had Grant
met with a reverse? While on picket that night, in making my rounds, I
could distinctly hear the Rebels chopping on the knob which they had so
recently occupied on the opposite bank of the river. They were clearing
away the trees in front of the earthwork which they had constructed the
day before. Would they attack at daybreak? So we thought, connecting
this fact with the cheers and music of the earlier part of the night;
but the morning opened as quietly as its predecessors. Late in the
afternoon the enemy seemed to be placing his troops in position in our
front, and our men stood in the trenches, awaiting an attack; yet the
day wore away without further demonstrations.

A little after eleven o'clock, P. M., November 28th, I was aroused by
heavy musketry. I hurried to the trenches. It was a cloudy, dark night,
and at a distance of only a few feet it was impossible to distinguish
any object. The men were already at their posts. With the exception of
an occasional shot on the picket-line, the firing soon ceased. An attack
had evidently been made on our pickets; but at what point, or with what
success, was as yet unknown. Reports soon came in. The enemy had first
driven in the pickets in front of Fort Sanders, and had then attacked
_our_ line which was also obliged to fall back. The Rebels in our front,
however, did not advance beyond the pits which our men had just vacated,
and a new line was at once established by Captain Buffum, our brigade
officer of the day.

It was now evident that the enemy intended an attack. But where would it
be made? All that long, cold night--our men were without overcoats--we
stood in the trenches pondering that question. Might not this