A Perfect Storm of Shot and Sh

<i>...[the Yankees] opened a perfect storm of round and shrapnell shot and shell...[the ground] was literally ploughed up by cannon ball...It is a perfect miracle that any of us ever came out.</i><br>John J. Good, captain, Dallas Texas Light Artillery, Good's Battery<br><br>Here two armies lined up for a second day of fighting after a long, bitterly cold night. Confederate artillerists set up their guns along the edge of these woods. The Union battle line was only 500 yards away - a 5-minute walk - across wide open fields.<br><br>At 8:00 a.m. the Union cannon bellowed out their first volley, concentrating first on the Confederate artillery positions here. Confederate gunners fired back. The roar of big guns was heard more than 50 miles away. The Yankee barrage went on nonstop for two hours.<br><br>It was the largest artillery shelling of the Civil War up to that point. The unrelenting bombardment forced the surviving Confederate cannoneers - by then low on ammunition - back to safety at Elkhorn Tavern.