Sanders’ Alabama Brigade came up at this time.  Besides his Alabamians were Elliott’s Brigade and Clingman’s Sixty-first North Carolina.  The charge was made about one o’clock P.M., and the Federal artillery poured all its fire on the “Crater” for some minutes, slaughtering many of their own men.  At this charge Lieutenant Colonel Gulp, who was absent at the explosion, being a member of a courtmartial, came up and took charge of the Seventeenth in the ravine, where Captain Steele had them.  In the charge of the “Crater” under Sanders were Colonel Gulp, Colonel Smith and Lieutenant Colonel J.H.  Hudson with the Twenty-sixth, and a large number of privates, especially from the Seventeenth Regiment, which also had a good many in Mahone’s charge.

A good many of the Twenty-third joined in the charge, and Private W.H.  Dunlap, Company C, Twenty-third Regiment, now of Columbia, was the first man who got in the “Crater” on the south side.

While the men were piled up around the “Crater” Adjutant Fant heard some Alabama soldiers picking out the fine banners within, and he was lucky to get two of them.  He laid them down, and in a minute they were spirited away.

A little incident recited by Honorable George Clark Sanders, Adjutant General, illustrates how true politeness smoothes the wrinkled brow of war.  He says that he saw a fine looking Federal officer making his way out of the “Crater” with much pain, using two reversed muskets for crutches, seeing one leg was shot off.  He said I’m very sorry to see you in so much pain.  The soldier replied the pain occurred at Spottsylvania a year ago.  This is a wooden leg shot off to-day—­then gave his name as General Bartlett, but Colonel Sanders kindly helped him out.

The horrors of war are sometimes relieved with incidents which amuse us.  Adjutant Fant tells an amusing incident of Joe Free, a member of Company B. The Adjutant had gone In the afternoon to the wagon yard to be refreshed after the labors of the day.  There was a group of men reciting incidents.  The Adjutant overheard Free say He had gone into an officer’s den for a few minutes to shade his head from the heat of the sun, as he was suffering from an intense headache, and as he began to creep out he saw the trench full of negroes.  He dodged back again.  Joe says he was scared almost to death, and that he “prayed until great drops of sweat poured down my face.”  The Adjutant knew that his education was defective and said, “What did you say, Joe?” “I said Lord have mercy on me! and keep them damned niggers from killing me!”

It was an earnest and effective prayer, for Mahone’s men in an hour afterwards released him.