[105]
Mr. T. Griffin, a member of the Twenty-third Massachusetts, in a recent letter to me, writes that Colonel Stancel, of the Forty-first Alabama (which was the left of Gracie's brigade), wrote him that ‘they (the Forty-first) passed up the road and forced the enemy's right, capturing a portion of the Ninth New Jersey regiment.’
General Gracie, seeing that he could not make headway, now turned to General William R. Terry, commanding Kemper's, his supporting brigade, for assistance. General Terry, in a recent conversation with me, stated, as to what occurred, that General Gracie came up to him (probably after speaking to Colonel Maury), with the request: ‘General, let me have one of your regiments,’ stating that part of his line had given away. To which General Terry replied: ‘You can have two,’ thinking that the men might just as well be in action as to remain where they were then halted, exposed as they were. After a second's pause, General Terry added, ‘General Gracie, let your men lie down, and let me have the front.’ To which Gracie replied: ‘Very well; you are entitled to it.’
Mr. E. T. Witherby, of the Twenty-fifth Massachusetts, now of Shelby, Alabama, in a letter to me writes that, ‘in conversation with Lieutenant-Colonel Troy, of the Sixtieth Alabama, he was informed that while the Sixtieth was lying down east of the road some troops passed them and went into the road ahead, and these troops, he afterwards learned, were Kemper's men.’
