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.There would be no burial for him, as there was not a remnant left of his body.Continuing on their way, the fragments of the now exploded shell found their next victim in the watching soldier.As the hot pieces of metal tore through his body, it severed his extremities, as well as buried molten metal into his own chest.Deflected, yet still deadly, the fragments found other victims all around the location of impact, sending blood, torn limbs and other shredded body parts into their fellow soldiers.For a lucky few who escaped the initial impact, the concussion from the shockwave of the explosion ruptured their eardrums, disorienting them and rendering them useless.As other shells exploded into and around the stunned, helpless soldiers, the same gory results affected the devastating loss of the entire company.Along the waterfront, the Confederate soldiers that were unloading supplies met with the same fate as their drilling comrades.Shells fell around them, exploding into thousands of fragments and tearing through their bodies, killing the closest to impact while maiming and impairing others further away from the epicenter.Cries of agony could be heard as they fell.As the Union sharpshooters unleashed their hail of shot, balls of lead sailed through the air with an awful shrill, telegraphing their intentions.The bullets found their mark, tearing through gray cloth, violently ripping through flesh and bone, and creating large, gaping wounds for germs and disease to enter the body unrestricted.Collapsing to the ground, many screamed out in agony, clutching their bleeding wounds in a desperate attempt to relieve the pain as death quickly overcame them.Others lay in torment as hypovolemic shock quickly enveloped their bodies from the loss of blood.All around the city, that first barrage of munitions inflicted devastating damage.Not only was the Confederate encampment targeted: loading docks on the river, telegraph offices, livery stables and blacksmith shops were also targeted.Anything that could be used to further the Confederates’ cause was targeted in the first volley of Union fire.Within seconds of the first discharge from the Union rifles and cannons, another round quickly sounded, followed by a third and fourth volley.The murderous fire seemed un-repulsed at first, but slowly, the Confederate soldiers that had not been wounded, and others that had not been targeted, withdrew and regrouped to form a defensive line at various points around the city.With determined anger, positioned behind a breastwork of wagons and supplies, a band of Confederates located both sources of gunfire coming from the opposite side of the river and higher up in the foothills.They unleashed their first of many volleys of retaliation and repel.As Union soldiers lay on their stomachs and reloaded, they heard the sound of lead crashing through the branches and thickets above them as the Confederates searched for their targets by trial and error.With the next round by the Union sharpshooters, more Confederates lay dead and wounded, but with this volley came a pinpointing of the Unions’ exact positions.With orders to aim low, the Confederates returned fire into the lower banks of the river.Cries of pain and agony testified to the Confederates’ skill, as several Union soldiers now lay dead and permanently maimed, slowly reducing their effective force.Just as with the Confederates, the Union soldiers now were on the defensive, and scrambled for a moment, regrouping into a smaller fighting force.Unbeknownst to the Union command, out beyond the city limits, the Confederates loaded several cannons.Tucked away in a grove of tall oaks for protection from the elements, they were easily missed by their opposing force.Quickly, the three-man teams loaded their cannons and took careful aim at the Union battery.With the command to fire at will, the Confederates opened up on the Union forces staged in the foothills of Signal Mountain.With visibility drastically reduced by the repeated cannon fire, the Union forces struggled to see targets.By the time the Union artillery brigade saw the heavy smoke from the Confederate volley, it was too late.As the scream of the fragmentation canisters telegraphed their arrival, the Union soldiers could only stand and watch in horror as the tiny projectiles grew larger in their vision, the speed leaving them little else to do but stand and watch their impending death.The first of the four canisters roared into camp and impacted the ground between two cannon batteries, immediately exploding into tiny shards of twisted and molten metal
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