lodging the enemy, themselves sheltered behind it. General Kirkland had been wounded in this charge, and Lieutenant-Colonel Martin, the ranking officer of the force at the embankment, finding, after a painful suspense, both flanks exposed, and that the enemy had posted a battery on the railroad to his left to enfilade his line, and no reinforcements appearing, reluctantly ordered a retreat, which was made under a galling fire from behind. A number of the men shrank from crossing the open field, and were captured at the railroad. Colonel Martin was twice shot down and severely wounded in this retreat, and the command of the regiment passed to Captain Grier, the ranking officer present. The loss of the regiment in this illjudged attack was four killed and eleven wounded, with an unknown number captured. Had the strength of the enemy been recognized, and an adequate force put in, what became a disaster, might have been a victory, and General Meade might even have been brought to bay in the open field. As it was he quietly withdrew in the night, and safely established himself in his entrenchments at Manassas. The loss of the brigade in this battle was 270 killed and wounded, and that of Cooke's Brigade 489. Lee's army now retraced its steps, tearing up the O. & A. railroad to the Rapphannock, which, however, the enemy promptly repaired. Here the line was established for awhile, but later we returned to the line of the Rapidan.

MINE RUN.

Nothing of consequence occurred until during the last days of November. General Meade moved down towards the lower fords of the Rapidan, and General Lee, on the 27th, moved down correspondingly, Hill's Corps by the plank road, Colonel Singeltary commanding our brigade. The Federals crossed at Germanna and Ely's fords and turned up the river. They were in full force, and a general battle was expected. Our line of battle was formed first east of Mine Run, and then, as a better position in which to receive an attack, on the west of it, and slight earthworks were thrown up. There was constant skirmishing, but no general attack was made, and General Lee determined to assume the offensive. Before day on the morning of December 2d, the troops were formed for the attack, but at daylight it was found that the enemy had retired in the night. Pursuit was made, but they re-crossed the Rapidan before we could overtake them. We returned to our camp near Orange Courthouse and spent the remainder of the winter there.

THE WILDERNESS.

On the 4th of May, 1864, the Federal army, this time with General Grant in command, again crossed the Rapidan at the same fords, with Richmond as Grant's avowed objective point, and with the intention "to fight Lee between Culpeper and Richmond if he would stand." General Lee did stand, moving out Ewell's Corps on the turnpike and Hill's (only Heth's and Wilcox's Divisions) on the plank road, and ordering up from Gordonsville Longstreet's Corps and Anderson's Division. A pitched battle was fought in the Wilderness on the 5th, 6th, and 7th, resulting in Grant's complete failure to carry our position and in his withdrawal towards Spotsylvania Courthouse, the beginning of his famous "flank movements." The Federal attack of May 5th was concentrated on Heth's and Wilcox's line, and Kirkland's Brigade with the rest of the corps was actively engaged all through the day in repelling assault after assault of Sedgwick's Corps and in counter charges, until night closed the contest with the enemy baffled at every point. In one of these charges our brigade formed part of a second line of battle, Cook's Brigade, commanded by Colonel McRae, afterwards our Brigadier-General, being on the first line. In advancing we came upon McRae's line lying down, and as we charged over him with a yell, he sneered sardonically, Go ahead, you'll soon come back." And sure enough

we did. We struck, as he had done, the Federal line behind entrenchments, from which in vain we tried to dislodge it, and recoiled, lying down in turn behind McRae's line. I fancy he smiled sardonically then.

The worn out troops of Hill's Corps were ordered to rest on their arms as night found them, without reformation of lines, as they were to be relieved at midnight by Longstreet's Corps. This was a miscalculation and a well-nigh fatal mistake, for about daybreak of the 6th, when it was found that Longstreet had not come up, our men commenced to form line of battle, but before it was completed a furious attack was made on our left flank and the unformed line was rolled up as a sheet of paper would be rolled, without the power of effective resistance. If even a single brigade had changed front to the left before the enemy struck their flank they might have stemmed the tide and have stopped the rout. But no Brigadier seems to have thought of it, and the situation was desperate; all the advantage of yesterday's hard fighting was about to be lost when the head of

:

Longstreet's column came up, and the leading brigade was formed under fire and thrown upon the victorious Federals. Here is said to have occurred the thrilling incident of General Lee's offering to head this brigade in person, and their refusing to advance unless he would remain behind. Others of Longstreet's brigades were put in as fast as they came up, and in a short time all of the lost ground was regained from the enemy, and in turn his left flank attacked and a heavy loss inflicted upon him. Our brigade was not hotly engaged the balance of this day, and no very serious fighting was done by any part of the opposing armies the next day, and on the 8th we started for Spotsylvania to put ourselves in Grant's front and intercept his march towards Richmond. At one time during the fighting on the 5th our regiment lay down behind a line of dead Federals so thick as to form a partial breastworks, showing how stubbornly they had fought and how severely they had suffered. It was a novel experience, and seems ghastly enough in the retrospect.

SPOTSYLVANIA.

they had to

There was more or less fighting along the line during the 8th and 9th of May, in which our brigade took no part. On the 10th Heth's Division was sent to General Early on the extreme Confederate left, and attacked Barlow's Division of Hancock's Corps, which had crossed to the south side of the Potomac, menacing Lee's left flank, and drove it back to the north side. Hancock had his artillery strung along on the hills north of the Potomac, so as to protect the crossing of his men and to prevent our crossing after them. We could not, therefore, follow up the advantage gained. During this fight the woods in rear of the Federals took fire and retreat and we to advance through the burning forest. It was a hot time, literally, and many of the Federal dead and wounded were consumed. Heth's Division took no active part in the severe fighting of the next two days, but was moved about from point to point as our lines were threatened by the enemy's repeated assaults. It was thus hurried in hot haste to the salient lost after desperate fighting on the 12th by Johnson's Division; but Hancock's men pouring through the gap had already been driven back by other troops and the line reestablished when we got there. After several days manœuvring and skirmishing without serious fighting, Grant gave it up and began his next flank movement on the 20th.

SPOTSYLVANIA TO PETERSBURG.

Continuing his policy of turning our flank and interposing himself between us and Richmond, in which policy he was continually foiled by finding General Lee in front of him at every move, General Grant transferred his army to the North Anna and then to the Chickahominy, whence, despairing of reaching Richmond by the north side, he crossed the James, intending to take Petersburg. In the course of these movements, lasting from the 20th of May to June 14th, many engagements of minor and some of great importance took place on the line of the North Anna, Pamunkey and Totopotomy rivers, and around Cold Harbor and the Chickahominy. Our brigade took part in a number of them, marching and countermarching, and doing some very hard fighting; but the details I find myself unable to record in their order satisfactorily. In one of these fights General Kirkland was wounded, and did not again rejoin the brigade. Colonel McRae, of the Fifteenth North Carolina, was promoted June 27th and assigned to the command of our brigade, in which command he continued until the surrender at Appomattox. He was a strict disciplinarian, as was Pettigrew, and which General Kirkland was not, and he rapidly brought the brigade to a high degree of efficiency. General Kirkland was subsequently assigned to a brigade in Hoke's Division.

AROUND PETERSBURG.

General Grant commenced transferring his army across the James June 14th, and in conjunction with the troops already on the south side attempted to surprise and capture Petersburg before Lee's forces could get there; and he very nearly succeeded. But after some pretty stubborn fighting he was again foiled, and both armies proceeded to entrench themselves in a line reaching from the James to the Appomattox and around Petersburg nearly to the Weldon railroad, and what was practically a siege of the city began, to last until its fall in April, 1865. In some places these lines ultimately came so close together that no pickets could be thrown out, and picket duty was performed by sharpshooters in the trenches, who made it hazardous for any one on either side to expose any part of his person. Mortar shelling was also added to the ordinary artillery fire, rendering bomb-proofs a necessity, and they were accordingly built all along our lines. In spite of this dangerous proximity and the well nigh

ceaseless firing kept up during the night, our men learned to sleep as soundly and as peacefully in these trenches as they were accustomed to do in camp. One can get used to anything.

After we got into the defences of Petersburg we continued there to the end except one hurried march to the north of the James (July 27) when Grant sent Hancock's Corps and a large body of cavalry to destroy the railroads north of Richmond. General Lee supposing this to be an attempt on Richmond itself, started a good many troops northward from Petersburg, our brigade among the number. General Grant quickly took advantage of this depletion to spring a mine (July 30), which he had prepared under a salient in our lines in front of Petersburg, and to follow this with an assaulting column which was to break through in the confusion and capture the city. In this he would probably have succeeded but for the bungling way in which the assault was managed. As it was, the mine proved a slaughter pen for the assailants. Some indecisive fighting was done on the north side, and then when Grant's real object was uncovered and frustrated, the troops of both armies returned to Petersburg.

Except this assault, no other was seriously attempted against the intrenched lines immediately around Petersburg until the end, and the active operations of the ensuing nine months consisted of repeated efforts on Grant's part to extend his line to the left and get possession of the railroads, and on Lee's part to prevent it and to punish him for attempting it. Inch by inch Grant did gain ground, until he planted himself across the Weldon railroad, which he also several times cut south of us, chiefly by cavalry raids. In these operations, Hill's Corps being on the right of our line, McRae's Brigade was frequently called to take a part, alternating these field operations with service in the trenches, so that we were almost continuously under fire. I will mention only the principal actions, as far as I can remember them, in which we were engaged.

Warren's (Fifth Corps) took possession of the Weldon railroad on the 18th of August, and attempts to dislodge him brought on a number of sanguinary engagements with A. P. Hill's Corps, in one of which (19th) Hill captured 2,700 prisoners. Our brigade was not in this battle. A combined attack on Warren's fortifications on the railroad was made on the morning of the 21st by our brigade and General Ransom's, with a force of artillery making a demonstration down the railroad in his front, while the real attack was to