Leon Uris Read Online Free PDF

him, Lieutenant Boone checked every man’s kit, ammunition, and water, and his potential courage.
    “Stack your rifles and packs and gather around.”
    The men fanned the sweat from their faces with the newly issued broad-brimmed campaign hats. The company dog, Ugly, panted with thirst, but knew it was time to be silent.
    “The land yonder,” Ben said, “is the entrance to Charleston Bay. At dawn tomorrow the Marines of K Company have been honored to lead the invasion to recapture Fort Sumter.”
    The cheer was piercing and in a few moments they could hear rally cries from ship to ship.
    Ben went over the drill one more time . . . naval bombardment . . . we are restricted to quarters . . . keep your ears plugged at all times . . . aweigh all boats at 0300 . . . whalers row to portside so our ship will give us protection from enemy fire . . . steam launch will hook up all Tuscarora whalers . . . we will be towed to a place behind the breakers . . . we will unhook from steam launch when naval bombardment lifts . . . most crucial maneuver is rowing through the surf . . . unload, secure whalers, form a perimeter, move toward Lizard’s Gate, stop out of rifle-fire range . . .
    . . . ammunition and water will not arrive for over an hour, so fire and drink with great care . . .
    . . . bear in mind that thirst and exhaustion are as much the enemy as the Rebels . . .
    . . . and fucking remember that the noise will be like a herd of bulls getting their nuts cut off . . .
    . . . we will have to depend greatly on hand signals . . . keep plugged . . . I don’t want any deaf Marines coming out of this battle . . .
    “Letters for home will be collected at seven bells tonight,” Paddy said. “Kindly help any brothers who have difficulty writing. Anything else, sir?”
    “Get Ugly a hatful of water and gather around close.”
    Ben took an envelope from his pocket, opened it, and read it.
    To the officers and men of the mid-Atlantic squadron:
    Our armies are performing gallantly inside Confederate territory. Fort Sumter is where this conflict began. Its recapture will sound a clarion call to rally the Union toward our inevitable triumph, as well as sounding a clarion call to ourcitizens in the South to forsake their odious cause. May God keep you and return you safely to the arms of your loved ones.
    —A. Lincoln, President.
    In the stillness that followed, Ben handed the letter to the men to be passed around.
    “I am a Virginian,” Ben said, “but remember that one-third of all slaves brought to our country passed Fort Sumter on their way to the slave block in Charleston.”
    The company was dismissed, but the midday heat clung tight. It became still, so very still, as the ships deployed and land loomed larger. Paddy found a wistful Ben Boone staring hard at infinity.
    “How is it?”
    “Looking good, Lieutenant. Some of the men are even managing to nap. Rest of them are writing letters or having old letters read to them. May I smoke up here, sir?”
    “Please, with care. Bloody Tuscarora is a floating bomb.”
    “How’s it going to go tomorrow, Lieutenant?”
    “Depends on how much damage the navy can inflict.” Ben looked away, but Paddy’s curiosity was sharp on him. “Navy has a propensity to believe that their gunfire will devastate any given target. A few pissy-ant forts have surrendered without resistance, but Sumter is not a pissy-ant fort.”
    “We’ll be shooting a hell of a lot of guns at them. There’s got to be three or four hundred cannons in the flotilla,” Paddy said.
    “Yeah, and if I was the Rebel commander, I’d just evacuate the fort during the bombardment and come back tomorrow, assess the damage, and make the defense from there.”
    “We going to reach Lizard’s Gate?”
    “Paddy, I argued all morning for scaling ladders. They said there won’t be a Lizard’s Gate left and there will be a dozen breaches in the wall to choose from.”
    “Yeah,”