This text is part of:
[310]
where lay the Nineteenth marked the division between that held by the rebels and that by the Union men. Right in front of the Nineteenth were the ‘Horse-stalls,’ each occupied by a few rebels, the thickness of the breastwork being the distance separating them from the enemy.
From this point the line bent back for some distance in the form of a bow, around the knoll or ridge.
To the right was the wood through which the wild charge of the regiment had been made and in which the line extended,—but there was an open space between the Nineteenth and the woods, unoccupied by any line.
Several times, the rebels in front raised a white flag and when the men started forward to see what was wanted they were met by a volley which sent them to cover.
Once a white flag was hoisted over the breastwork in front of Company C and Edward Fletcher and an orderly sergeant of some company in another Massachusetts regiment, mounted the works and found several rebels on the other side.
The sergeant asked them if they wanted to ‘Come in’ and the one nearest him said that they did. ‘Then drop your guns’ said the sergeant, ‘and come over.’
Instead of coming over, he suddenly raised his musket and shot the sergeant through the head.
Fletcher instantly shot the treacherous rebel in the head and jumped back among his comrades.
The men of the Nineteenth supposed that when they were relieved they would be withdrawn, but this was not the case.
They only fell back a rod or two, re-filled their cartridge boxes and fell in again with the line around the knoll where they kept at work until night closed the battle.
Whenever the fire would slacken, the rebels would take advantage of it and try to advance.
Their efforts to re-take the works were continuous and persistent and only by constant hammering were they kept down.
Hundreds of pounds of lead and iron were thrown by both sides.
The bullets lay on the ground like hailstones and the ground was furrowed by solid shot and shell.
The bodies of several Union dead lay between the lines on the ridge.
They were shot through and through by friend and foe alike, being riddled and torn to shreds by minie balls, their uniforms in rags, looking almost as if they had passed through a shoddy mill; a mangled mass of
Salem Press. Co., Salem, Ma., 1906.
Tufts University. provided support for entering this text.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.