The soldiers slept in the main trench.  At times of heavy rains the lower part of the trench ran a foot deep in water.  The officers slept in burrows dug in the sides of the rear ditches.  There were traverses, narrow ditches, cross ditches and a few mounds over officers’ dens, so that there is no wonder that one of the Federal officers said the quarters reminded him of the catacombs of Rome.

An ordinary mortal would not select such a place for a three mouths’ summer residence.

About ten days after the battle, and while I was acting Brigadier General and occupying General Elliott’s headquarters, a distinguished Major General visited me and requested me to go over the lines with him.  I gladly complied with the request.  He asked me where the men rested at night.  I pointed out the floor of the ditch.  He said, “But where do the officers sleep?” We happened then to be in the narrow ditch in front of my quarters, and I pointed it out to him.  He replied, in language not altogether suitable for a Sunday School teacher, that he would desert before he would submit to such hardships.

* * * * *

THE “CRATER.”

The explosion took place at 4.45 A.M.  The “Crater” made by eight thousand pounds of gun powder was one hundred and thirty-five feet long, ninety-seven feet broad and thirty feet deep.  Two hundred and seventy-eight men were buried in the debris—­Eighteenth Regiment, eighty-two; Twenty-second, one hundred and seventy, and Pegram’s Battery, twenty-two men.

To add to the terror of the scene the enemy with one hundred and sixty-four cannon and mortars began a bombardment much greater than Fort Sumter or battery were ever subjected to.  Elliott’s Brigade near the “Crater” was panic stricken, and more than one hundred men of the Eighteenth Regiment covered with dirt rushed down.  Two or three noble soldiers asked me for muskets.  Some climbed the counterscarpe and made their way for Petersburg.  Numbers of the Seventeenth joined the procession.  I saw one soldier scratching at the counterscape of the ditch like a scared cat.  A staunch Lieutenant of Company E. without hat or coat or shoes ran for dear life way down into Ransom’s trenches.  When he came to consciousness he cried out, “What! old Morse running!” and immediately returned to his place in line.

The same consternation existed in the Federal line.  As they saw the masses descending they broke ranks, and it took a few minutes to restore order.

* * * * *

FEDERAL CHARGE.

About fifteen minutes after the explosion General Ledlie’s Corps advanced in line.  The cheval-de-frise was destroyed for fifty yards.  Soon after General Wilcox’s Corps came in line and bore to Ledlie’s left.  Then Potter’s Corps followed by flanks and was ordered to the right of Ledlie’s troops.