artillerists would certainly have thrown one in five. After the advance upon fort Harrison the rebel navy habitually lay in the reach near the grave-yard in plain sight of our lines, occasionally firing upon them. A surprise was planned for them by General Butler, whose chief engineer, Major Michie, erected a battery commanding their position.

During the night of October 21 three 30-pounder Parrots, served by Company C, First Connecticut Artillery, and Ashby's battery of four 20-pounder Parrotts, the whole under command of Captain Pierce, First Connecticut Artillery, were placed in position, and at daylight opened suddenly upon the fleet at a range of about 1,500 yards. The effect was excellent. The rebel papers admit that a gun-carriage was hit on the gun-boat Drewry by a shell, which wounded five men; that the smoke stack of the ram Fredericksburg was considerably perforated, and six men on her wounded, and that a plate was started on one of the iron-clads. It is believed from the number of times the wooden boat was hit (sixteen) that her injuries were more serious than admitted. Certain it is that the fleet all steamed away as fast as possible, and that the wooden boats have not again exposed themselves in the reach. Our batteries were heavily fired upon by the rebel land batteries, but no damage was done, except to wound one man.

On September 29 the Army of the James crossed the James River, and the Eighteenth Corps captured several guns, thirteen of which were brought to the rear, in large measure through the exertions of Major Cook and Lieutenants Gillett and Pond, First Connecticut Artillery. The following is a list of these guns: Seven iron 6-pounders, old model; one iron 6-pounder, new model, resembling our 3-inch ordnance gun; one 8-inch columbiad; one 32-pounder Navy smooth-bore; one Army 32-pounder (old model, banded and rifled); one 12-pounder iron gun, made in Richmond, banded and rifled, throwing a shell weighing about forty pounds, it weighed 6,700 pounds, and was mounted on a siege carriage; also one 30-pounder Richmond gun, banded like the rest, and like our 30-pounder Parrott, except that the front end of the re-enforce was beveled off; it had a swell of the muzzle and weighed 4,700 pounds; date 1864; a caisson for its ammunition was also captured. This gun and the captured ammunition were retained for our own use. The other guns were sent to Fort Monroe. Considering the large amount of firing the injuries suffered by our guns have been unusually small, being limited to the blowing off the muzzle of the 30-pounder Parrott, about a foot from the face, probably by a premature explosion of the shell-it was cut through with a cold chisel, and the accuracy of the piece seems not at all impaired-and to the bursting of the 3.8-inch Sawyer gun, which occurred on August 5, after firing ten rounds. The gun had already been fired a large number of times at Fort Monroe. It burst into four principal parts, the largest, including the trunnions and all in front of them, remained in its place on the carriage; the next piece, forming the bottom of the bore near the breech, fell between the cheeks; the left half of the top, which split as usual through the vent, fell upon the top of the return of the parapet a short distance from the gun; the right half was thrown some 200 yards entirely outside the fort. The vent was evidently defective, showing a double cavity much enlarged. The strength of the gun being doubtful, it was fired by quick match, consequently no one was injured. The only novelty in the service of the siege artillery requiring special notice has been the method of mounting the 13-inch mortar, the extreme weight of which (17,000 pounds) renders it unmanageable. Major-General Butler conceived the idea of serving it upon a railroad ca, and ordered