James D. Porter, Confederate Military History, a library of Confederate States Military History: Volume 7.1, Tennessee
Clement Anselm Evans, Ed.

[190] division. At 3 p. m. the brigade was moved to the right, and an hour later it advanced to the railroad cut, to the relief of Pender's brigade. As the last regiment, the First Tennessee, entered the cut, it was ordered to fire on the enemy, ‘which it did with great effect,’ the enemy answering with a furious assault upon the brigade front. The attack, however, was firmly and gallantly resisted and the enemy driven back, but reinforced he made a second vigorous attack which was repelled by a countercharge. General Archer says of this second charge: ‘Many of my men were out of ammunition and charged with empty rifles. I did not average two cartridges to the man. A third assault was repulsed in the same manner, my brigade charging upon the enemy with loud cheers and driving them back with their empty rifles.’ The next morning he relieved General Early's pickets with 130 men under ‘the brave Col. N. J. George, First Tennessee, who is always ready and anxious for the most daring service.’ Soon the brigade was attacked, the enemy was driven back into the woods, and Archer's men ‘obtained a fresh supply of ammunition from the cartridge boxes of the dead Yankees.’ At 5 o'clock p. m. Archer and Pender advanced into the open field where the enemy was posted with one battery of six guns, with two other batteries in supporting distance, and with infantry supports to all. The two brigades moved directly on the six-gun battery, but the enemy stood to his guns and continued to fire until the Confederates were within 75 yards. At this juncture the enemy began to break, but Archer captured three pieces, while Pender overtook and captured the other three. This action was hotly contested, the loss in Archer's brigade being 17 killed and 196 wounded. Among the dead, Tennessee mourned Col. W. A. Forbes, Fourteenth, who was killed near the battery captured in another moment by his comrades. A. P. Hill referred to him as ‘the brave Colonel Forbes.’ General Archer commended in his report two Tennesseeans,