Waitt, Ernest Linden, History of the Nineteenth regiment, Massachusetts volunteer infantry , 1861-1865

[304] a light breastwork by piling up against it dead wood which was found in abundance in the Wilderness, where the men now lay. Scattering bullets, flying over the road, showed that the enemy was not far away. Before dark a skirmish line was sent out to act as pickets. These pickets moved forward through a perfect tangle of underbrush, vines and brambles, through which the eye could not penetrate a rod in most places in the daytime, and even then the foliage made a screen overhead through which but a few straggling sunbeams found their way; in the night it was not possible to see the comrade at your side. Nothing occurred during the night to annoy either pickets or sleeping troops and on the morrow, May 6, the regiment advanced to relieve the front line of pickets, and forming a strong skirmish line, advanced further and were soon hotly engaged with the rebel skirmishers, who were forced back a mile or so.

The woods were filled with underbrush but there were frequent open spaces and through these, fleeting glimpses of the rebels were obtained, as they darted from tree to tree. The enemy took refuge frequently in the thick chaparral and could not be seen, but would send a persistent fire into the advancing troops, causing them to halt and seek cover behind trees and hillocks.

In the early part of the afternoon the line was drawn back for some distance and then moved by the right flank and halted some rods in front of the breastworks along the Brock Road, at a point near where it joined the Plank Road. Behind these lay troops four or five lines deep, awaiting the coming of the ‘Rebs.’ There was a slight ridge in front of the Nineteenth along which a rebel was occasionally seen skulking. Between the regiment and the road was a thick growth of young trees and bushes, interlaced with vines, a tangled mass-through which a path wound to the road.

At about four o'clock a tremendous fire of infantry broke the stillness far to the right, and immediately came roaring swiftly down the line toward the Nineteenth. Suddenly, as if springing from the ground, there appeared a line of grey along the ridge. Scattering shots were fired at them as they advanced, but all the men were ordered to fall back, (the trumpeter sounding