About six o'clock
Nobody seemed inclined to run any risks by betting on the other side of so likely a proposition . This talk took place late in the afternoon , near the head-quarters of the commanding General ; and the men directly scattered to prepare for the work of the evening : some to clean a bayonet , or furbish up a rifle ; others to chat and laugh over the chances and to lay plans for the morrow , -- the morrow which was for them never to dawn on earth ; and yet others to sit down in their tents and write letters to the dear ones at home , making what might , they knew , be a final-farewell , -- for the fight impending was to be a fierce one , -- or to read a chapter in a little book carried from some quiet fireside , balancing accounts perchance , in anticipation of the call of the Great Captain to come up higher . Through the whole afternoon there had been a tremendous cannonading of the fort from the gunboats and the land forces : the smooth , regular engineer lines were broken , and the fresh-sodded embankments torn and roughened by the unceasing rain of shot and shell . About six o'clock there came moving up the island , over the burning sands and under the burning sky , a stalwart , splendid-appearing set of men , who looked equal to any daring , and capable of any heroism ; men whom nothing could daunt and few things subdue . Now , weary , travel-stained , with the mire and the rain of a two days ' tramp ; weakened by the incessant strain and lack of food , having taken nothing for forty-eight hours save some crackers and cold coffee ; with gaps in their ranks made by the death of comrades who had fallen in battle but a little time before , -- under all these disadvantages , it was plain to be seen of what stuff these men were made , and for what work they were ready . As this regiment , the famous Fifty-fourth , came up the island to take its place at the head of the storming party in the assault on Wagner , it was cheered from all sides by the white soldiers , who recognized and honored the heroism which it had already shown , and of which it was soon to give such new and sublime proof . The evening , or rather the afternoon , was a lurid and sultry one .