John D. Billings, The history of the Tenth Massachusetts battery of light artillery in the war of the rebellion

[159] Hearing the report, and turning, we see the puff of smoke and catch sight of a black speck rising against the sky. It increases in size until finally it drops on the slope in our front and ricochets over our heads. In like manner we saw nearly every shot fired by the enemy before it reached us. They have a perfect range at once. A second shell whistles over us, and a third crashes through a fallen tree in our rear. We accept their challenge without loss of time, and return their greetings with interest. One of our shells explodes between their pieces, and in the shout that follows, another of their iron globes ploughs up the ground between two of our limbers. So the fun goes on, but we have the advantage: first, in a superior position; and second, in having rifled guns—theirs are smooth-bores,—and they are soon compelled to withdraw. This was the first Rebel battery to test our mettle. It was by no means the last, however, to test it, with a similar result. We have a ‘record’ in this respect of which we are rather proud. Never were our guns silenced or driven from position by Rebel artillery.

This adversary disposed of, we turn our battery once more on the village and those whom it harbors.

At sunset our attention is diverted by distant firing up the river, and casting our eyes in that direction we see, at a distance of some six miles, the smoke of the battle of Rappahannock Station,¹ where the right wing was successfully combating