Southern Historical Society Papers, Volume 9.
Reverend J. William Jones, Ed.

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Brilliant dash of the sharpshooters on the enemy's skirmish line.

Soon after my return to the army, and while we were camped on the outskirts of Petersburg, near “Battery 45,” Major Wooten commanding our sharpshooters, asked permission to attack, at night, the enemy's skirmish line at a dwelling owned by Mr. Davis, immediately in our front. Permission was granted, and the attack was made without any loss whatever on our side, while the Major emptied the enemy's riflepits of so large a number of prisoners, he and his command were complimented in a special written communication from Army or Corps Headquarters, I have now forgotten which. The enemy subsequently burnt the residence at which the attack was made.

This was the beginning of a series of dashes made by Major Wooten and his picked men, on the enemy's skirmish line during the following winter, known to us as Wooten's seine-haulings, in all of which he was very successful, and never lost a man.