Emilio, Luis F., History of the Fifty-Fourth Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry , 1863-1865

[304] with a force was directed to cross the dam to the island between the streams, and open a covering fire from there when all was ready. Then the gun having fired some half a dozen shells, the Fifty-fourth, led most gallantly by Lieutenant Reed, charged across the dike in single file, receiving the enemy's fire, but causing their precipitate retirement. In this charge Corp. Wm. H. Brown, of Company K, always conspicuous for bravery, was the first enlisted man to gain the farther bank. We sustained the loss of Privates Scott, Freeman, and Green, of Company H; Johnson and Jay, of Company B; and McCullar, of Company K,—all wounded.

This last fight of the Fifty-fourth, and also one of the very last of the war, was well managed by Lieutenant-Colonel Hooper, when less discretion would have resulted in a repulse and heavy loss. The charge was a plucky affair under exceptionally adverse conditions. Our total regimental loss that day was one officer killed, one enlisted man killed, one mortally wounded, and twelve wounded: a total of fifteen, the greatest number of casualties sustained by one regiment in any action during Potter's Raid.

It was about 4 P. M. when the position was carried. Simultaneously with our victorious cheers, the One Hundred and Second United States Colored Troops and One Hundred and Seventh Ohio on the creek above, as well as the troops on the main road, advanced, the enemy flying before them. Major Webster with the cavalry pursued for some distance. At the mills the Fifty-fourth destroyed fifty-four bales of cotton and three of corn fodder used in the breastworks, besides the grist and saw mill. Lieutenant Stevens's body was buried at Boykin's, as was that of Corporal Johnson. Their bodies and resting-places were marked. In