antry would take us
in fifteen minutes after Pegram's Battery was gone. But the Wright
Battery was a complete surprise. It was constructed just behind
Ransom's Brigade, about one hundred yards. General Hunt never could
locate the place, and shot at short range above five hundred shells
doing no damage, but honeycombing the surrounding ground.

Wright's Battery was in five hundred yards of the "Crater," and
Colonel Coit informed me he shot about six hundred rounds of shell and
shrapnel at short range.

In my opinion it did more damage than all our guns put together. Its
concealed location gave it a great advantage overall other guns.

Davidson's Battery had only one gun, which only could shoot in one
line. But it created more anxiety amongst the enemy than any other.
The infantry officers constantly alluded to its destructive power,
and they dug a trench to guard against its fire. Major Hampton Gibbes
commanded it until he was wounded, and then Captain D.N. Walker for
the rest of the day did his duty nobly, and no doubt killed many
Federals. General Warren was ordered to capture this gun about 8.30,
but at 8.45 he was ordered to do nothing "but reconnoitre." This was
before Mahone came up.

The most interesting of our guns were the two coehorns of Major John
C. Haskell, because all of his shells were emptied into the "Crater,"
which was packed with men. General Mahone says: "In the meantime
Colonel Haskell, a brilliant officer of our artillery, hunting a place
where he could strike a blow at our adversary, presented himself for
any service which I could advise. There were two coehorn mortars in
the depression already referred to, and I suggested to him that he
could serve them. I would have them taken up to the outside of the
'Crater,' at which place he could employ himself until one o'clock,
as perhaps no such opportunity had ever occurred or would be likely
to occur for effective employment of these little implements of war.
Colonel Haskell adopted the suggestion, and the mortars being removed
to a ditch within a few feet of the 'Crater,' they were quickly at
work emptying their contents upon the crowded mass of men in this
horrible pit."

Lieutenant Bowley, a Federal officer, says: "A mortar battery also
opened on us. After a few shots they got our range so well that the
shells fell directly among us. Many of them did not explode at all,
but a few burst directly over us and cut the men down cruelly."
He also sp