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too, were soon hurled back by a heavy fire.
They rallied and again advanced, when they were repulsed a second time.
Then they fled in confusion to the vicinity of the crater, where the whole body of disordered troops, huddled in small space, were confused and mingled, and subjected to a concentrated fire from the
Confederates, who had rallied and were bringing to bear upon the swarm of assailants their musketry and heavy guns with terrible effect.
Shot and shell and minie bullets were poured upon the confused mass like hail, and the slaughter was dreadful.
To remain was to court death; to retreat was to invite destruction; for the ground between the lines was swept by the Confederate artillery.
At length a column of the foe charged upon the Nationals at the crater, and were repulsed.
A second charge scattered the dismayed fragments of the Ninth Corps, which had made attempts to retreat in squads, when it was found that their comrades in the trenches could not aid them.
Each man was now attentive only to his own safety in flight.
In this wretched affair the Nationals lost about four thousand four hundred men, and the
Confederates less than one thousand, including those who were blown up with the fort.
It was a most conspicuous and disastrous failure, and the
Confederates were greatly encouraged and comforted by it.
Grant was disappointed, but not discouraged, by the failure of the 30th.
He paused about twelve days, and then ordered
Hancock to attack the
Confederates in front of
Deep Bottom.
Hancock was joined, for the purpose, by the remainder of the Tenth Corps (to which
Foster's division belonged), under
Birney,
1 and
Gregg's cavalry division; and for the purpose of misleading the foe, the whole expeditionary force was placed on transports at
City Point, and its destination was reported to be
Washington City.
That night
it went up the
James River to
Deep Bottom; but so tardy was the debarkation, that an intended surprise of the
Confederates was prevented.
It was nine o'clock in the morning
before the troops were ready to move, when
Hancock pushed out the Second Corps by the
Malvern Hills and
New Market road, to flank the
Confederate defenses behind
Baylis's Creek.
He sent
Barlow with about ten thousand men to assault the flank and rear of the foe, while
Mott's division threatened their intrenched front, and
Birney's corps attacked them nearer the river.
But the delay had allowed
Lee to send re-enforcements, and the operations of the day were of little account to the Nationals, excepting advantages gained by
Birney, who captured four guns.
Considering
Richmond in danger,
Lee rapidly sent re-enforcements, and the Nationals were compelled to adopt new plans and make other dispositions.
On the morning of the 16th,
General Birney made a direct attack on the
Confederate lines with
General Terry's division.
That gallant officer carried the lines, and captured nearly three hundred men, with three battle-flags; but the foe soon rallied in heavier force, and drove him back.
In the mean time,
Gregg, supported by
Miles's “fighting brigade,” of
Barlow's division, had been operating on the
Charles 
