It Was All Too Much For Even Demons

It Was All Too Much For Even Demons. Unknown private in the 203rd PA Infantry, describing the Union assault on Fort Fisher. , The signal was given and the line[,] despite the storm of bullets and cannister which strewed the interval with dead and wounded, [we] rushed forward like a tempest, through the stockade and up the parapet. Dr. James Mowris, 117th New York, The Union breakthrough into Fort Fisher occurred in front of you. The division of Gen. Adelbert Ames, consisting of three brigades totaling 3,700 men, assembled on the ridge behind you, awaiting the order to move forward. The first brigade to attack was commanded by Col. Newton Martin Curtis. Once his men had a foothold, Ames ordered Colonel Galushia Pennypacker's second brigade to join the fray. The Union forces broke through the stockade fence and climbed up the traverse of Shepherd's Battery. Fierce hand-to-hand combat took place within the first three gun traverses. This breakthrough came at a heavy cost to the Union attackers., The naval bombardment created a few openings in the stockade, but not enough space to allow a quick passage through it. Members of Curtis' brigade used axes to make the opening bigger. They then entered the fort under heavy fire form Confederates. Four were awarded the Medal of Honor, including Pvt. Bruce Anderson of the 142nd New York. Anderson was originally from Mexico, but listed as a mulatto in an otherwise all-white regiment., Capt. Albert G. Lawrence of Ames' Division heroically led the charge of his part of the brigade. He was the first through the palisade and, while reaching for a guidon flag to plant on the first traverse, his hand was shot away, and he was mortally wounded in the neck., According to the 1st Brigade Commander, Gen. Newton Martin Curtis, "The first forty or fifty through the stockade climb3ed up the parapet and met the enemy between the first and second traverses. In this space were two Columbiads, one disabled, the enemy loading the other. The charge had been sent home, but the ramrod not withdrawn, when we overpowered the gunners. The man at the breech put out his hand with a primer to discharge the piece, after his surrender had been demanded. A sharp blow from a saber on his outstretched hand quickly dissuaded him...", Clamorous harbingers of blood and death. It was a soul-stirring signal both to the besiegers and the besieged. Col. William Lamb, My whole soul was wrapped up in the idea of taking that fort. Lt. Frank Lay, 117th New York, (captions) , Flag of the 203rd Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania Capital Preservation Committee, Ax men enlarging the openings in the palisade to assist the Union advance on Shepherd's Battery. Le Monde Illustré, February 25, 1865, Given by Alan and Beverly Hunsberger , In memory of Col. John W. Moore, 203rd Pennsylvania Infantry, killed on the parapet near Shepherd's Battery