THE VICKSBURG MINE.
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EXPLOSION OP THE MINE UNDElt TIIE CONPEOEEATE PORT ON TIIE JACKSON 1IOAD.PROM A SKETCH MAIIE AT TIIE TIME.
The foreground allows the Union sap near tile WhiteHouse , where stand Generals McPherson, Logan, andLeggett with three other officers. In the distance is seen
three reliefs. On the night of the 22d these men,properly equipped with drills, short-handled picks,shovels, etc., under the immediate command ofLieutenant Bussell of the Yth Missouri and Ser-geant Morris of the 32d Ohio , commenced thejoining operations by driving a gallery, four feetin width by five feet in height, in at right anglesto the face of the parapet of the fort. Eachrelief worked an hour at a time, two picking,two shoveling, and two handing back the grain-sacks filled with earth, which were deposited in theditch until they could be carried back. The maingallery was carried in 45 feet, and then a smallergallery extended in on the same line 15 feet, whilefrom the end of the main gallery two others were
I Coonskin’s Tower , according to Brevet Brigadior-Honernl William E. Strong, was built under the directionof Second-Lieutenant Henry C. Foster, of Company B.
2 -id Indiana Volunteers. A newspaper slip sent to theeditors by General Hiclcenlooper contains tlie followingaccount of “Coonslnn” (Lieutenant Foster), which W.f ■ Davis, who was Lieutenant-Colonel of the 23d Indiana ,8il ysis substantially correct:
“ Do was an uinu-ritnr shot, and wore a cap made of rnc-roonfur. From tliislie was called ‘ Coonskin’ the Seventeenth"Dm through, and wherever lie was, woe to the Confederateu ‘ad flint appeared above a parapet. ‘ Coonslcin ’ went nutin the night-time, crept up toward the Confederatedefenses ami built himself a burrow in the ground, with a ,eeep-holc in it,. There lie would frequently take provisionsv ltli him, and stay several days at a time, watching for
“ Coonskin’s ” Tower , J a lookout and perch for sharp-shooters, adjoining Battery Hiekenlooper, near whichwere massed the troops that charged into the crater.
run out oil either side at angles of 45 degrees fora distance of 15 feet. The soil through which thisgallery was driven was a reddish clay of remark-able tenacity, easily cut and requiring but littlebracing. So rapidly was this work executed thaton the morning of the 25th the minors commenceddepositing the powder, 800 pounds at the extremeend of the main gallery and 700 pounds at theend of each of the lateral galleries, making a totalof 2200 pounds. From each of these depositsthere were laid two strands of safety fuse,— ob-tained, as was the powder, from the navy,— thisduplication being made to cover the possible con-tingency of one failing to burn with the desiredregularity and speed. These six strands were cut
Confederates. -At length he built ‘ Coonskin’s Tower .’ TlioJackson and Vicksburg railway had been torn up for milesin the rear of Vicksburg , and railway iron and cross-ties layall about. Taking .advantage of the night hours, Ooouskinhnilt himself a tower of the loose railroad ties. Learned inbackwoods lore, he knew how to construct tlio genuinepioneer log-cabin. Working several nights, ho at lengthbuilt the tower so high that by climbing toward its top liecould actually look over the Confederate parapets. He couldsee the men inside the works. Then, taking aim through thechinks of the logs, ho would pick off the enemy. Tlio towerwas a terror to the Confederates. They could not use theirartillery against it, that having been already quite silencedby the Union batteries. All they could do was to fire musket-balls at it, which whistled around its corners or buried them-selves in its logs.” Editors.