Congratulatory orders from Gen. A. P. Hill.
Major Etheredge of the Forty-first Virginia regiment, an eye witness, wrote of the event: ‘General Mahone then ordered up the Alabama brigade; they formed; the command was given, and when they reached the point where the Georgians suffered so severely they too met with a heavy loss; but, unlike the Georgians, as soon as they received the shock, every man that was left standing started in a double-quick, and before the enemy could reload the Alabamians were on them. A handto-hand fight took place, and in a few minutes the gallant Alabamians had driven out and killed those who couldn't get out, and were masters of the situation.’ The reapture of the ‘Crater’ restored our lines in statu quo and gave to history one of its most brilliant pages.
