Having
disposed of that, exhausted Nature could do no more; they lay down in
the mud where they stood, and slept so soundly that even the firing
which occurred that night did not arouse them from their slumbers.
They were not disturbed until Best's Battery began to occupy this hill
about four o'clock in the morning. They were then aroused and the
Gatling guns were drawn down, and the whole battery moved to the
salient occupied by the Rough Riders, because their position was at
that time closest to the enemy, and, as was determined by the previous
day's reconnaissance, offered a chance to enfilade several of the
enemy's trenches with machine gun fire.
To dispose of the subject of artillery, it may be said that Best's
Battery and some other artillery occupied the ground vacated by the
Gatlings on the morning of July 2d, fired four shots, and then
withdrew with more haste than dignity. They remarked, "This is the
hottest fire to which artillery has been subjected in modern times,"
and lit out to find a cooler place. They found it--so far in rear that
their fire was almost equally dangerous to friends and foes on account
of the close proximity of the two firing-lines.
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