Blowing up of Fort Hill by Annie Wittenmyer
General Logan secretly mines Fort Hill during the siege, while Confederates detect the digging and begin a countermine. Fearing delay, the Union loads the tunnel with powder and detonates it, hurling earth and timbers into the air. Logan’s men rush the breach but are driven back by Confederate bayonets, and grenade fighting fails to secure an entrance. A slave boy in the Confederate tunnel is blasted into the Union lines, where Williams’s Battery finds him frightened but unharmed. He describes being thrown upward as everything fell around him and says his master, commander of Fort Hill, was going up as he came down. Logan keeps the boy at his headquarters, and after the war he goes to Washington.
By Annie Wittenmyer · First published 1895 · Genre: Civil War History, Historical Nonfiction, War Literature · 805 words
First lines
Along the lines of Vicksburg during the siege, there was no stronger point than Fort Hill. The land stood high, and the approach was almost perpendicular at some points. In the assignment of troops to positions, General John A. Logan's division was placed in front of Fort Hill. General Logan was a man of energy, and a great fighter. With the consent of his superiors in command, he planned to mine Fort Hill. The work was begun at a distance in the rear, behind a bluff, so as to hide the operation from the Confederates. General Logan's engineers, with scientific precision, directed the tunnel toward Fort Hill. There were weary days and nights of digging before they reached the foundation of the fort. But there came to the ears of the Confederates at last, even amid the thunder of the cannon and the screaming of shells, the sounds of the mining. Night after night they listened with their ears to the ground to the sound of the Union picks. The Confederates soon began to countermine, and it was not long before the toilers in the Union tunnel heard the thud of the Confederate picks nearly over their heads. They were too high to strike the Union tunnel, but it was evident that no time must be lost in blowing up the fort. Tons of powder were carried in, and one bright afternoon about two o'clock the slow fuse was lighted and the tunnel was cleared. The regular firing of the battle was going on. There was nothing in the movements of the army to indicate that anything unusual was about to occur.
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Genres
- Civil War History — The work recounts a specific military incident during the Siege of Vicksburg, involving Fort Hill, Union and Confederate forces, General John A. Logan, and General James B. McPherson.
- Historical Nonfiction — It presents an eyewitness-style factual narrative of a wartime event, emphasizing military operations, named historical figures, and the consequences of combat.
- War Literature — Its central subject is the violence, strategy, suspense, destruction, and human cost of battle, including tunneling, artillery fire, an explosion, and a failed assault.
- Military History — The narrative closely describes siege warfare tactics: mining beneath a fortification, Confederate countermining, explosive charges, battlefield timing, and the infantry attack following the blast.
Tags
American Civil War · Siege of Vicksburg · Vicksburg, Mississippi · 1863 · Union Army · Confederate Army · General John A. Logan · Fort Hill · military mining · countermining · tunnel warfare · fortification assault
What this Textopian page supports
Blowing up of Fort Hill is listed on Textopian as a historical account by Annie Wittenmyer, dated 1895 CE.
This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.
- Work type: Historical account
- Author: Annie Wittenmyer
- Date: 1895 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Civil War History, Historical Nonfiction, War Literature, Military History, Personal Recollection
- Length: 805 words
- Structure: 1 section, 17 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)
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