Four guns...opened on us and a thousand rifles from the pits

Four guns...opened on us and a thousand rifles from the pits. Dyer Hitchcock, private, 23rd Wisconsin Infantry. A bitter winter rain had turned the ground to mud. But the Confederate soldiers had to keep digging. These rifle pits, lying just a few feet from where you stand, were far from finished. Though exhausted and hungry, the soldiers were ordered to tear down their quarters, the huts they had just built, using the logs to reinforce their defensive line. The men had to use boards as shovels. A Texan recalled, "Each man working fully impressed. . . that every shovel of dirt he piled in his front might save his hide." , Sunday morning dawned bright and clear, but not peaceful. The ground shook as the cannons roared. The Confederates fiercely defended their line. Though ordered to fight to the last man, that afternoon white flags appeared from the rifle pits to the surprise of their leaders. "It was the only intelligible thing we could do," explained a Texan. "The next charge would have annihilated us." , The men in the ditches fought like so many tigers... , Clinton W. Gerard, sergeant, 83rd Ohio Infantry, {Background photo caption}: Fort Hindman , The rifle pits extended 700 yards across the peninsula, reaching from the fort on one end to an impassable swamp on the other.