Battle near Spotsylvania Courthouse. 329
and front of the angle. The attack was not successful, and the division was withdrawn."
Ben. Frank Wheaton, of Wright's Corps, pages 685 and 686 of Record, says: "Remained in the camp until May 17, (1864), when at 8:30 P. M., the brigade moved with the rest of the division to the extreme right of the army opposite the angle, mentioned May 12, and the scene of the obstinate fighting of that day, and formed at 3:30 A. M., May 18, on the right of the Second Corps. At 4:30 A. M., in conjunction with the Second Corps, on the left, we moved forward to assault the enemy's position, a quarter mile beyond his works vacated the i3th. The advance was conducted in good order, notwithstanding the many natural and artificial obstacles in the vicinity of the enemy's old line of pits, until we arrived within 300 yards of their new position, when they suddenly opened with canister and musketry. The brigade line extended from left to right in the following order: One Hundred and Second Pennsyl- vania Volunteers, Ninety-third Pennsylvania Volunteers, Ninety- eighth Pennsylvania Volunteers, Sixty-second New York Volun- teers, One Hundred and Thirty-ninth Pennsylvania Volunteers. The other brigades of the division were in successive lines in rear. The fire of the enemy was mainly directed to the One Hundred and Second and Ninety-third Pennsylvania Volunteers, as they were exposed through a large opening in the woods. At this point also the line was at right angles with an interior line of works, which had been vacated by the enemy and was untenable to us. The traverses and abatis in rear and front of these works and the severe artillery fire which enfiladed them rendered it impossible to keep the line connected, and the Ninety-third Pennsylvania Volunteers was moved by a flank in rear of the Ninety-eighth Pennsylvania Volunteers. As the Second Corps had been checked in its advance and its right had fallen back, leaving my flank exposed, and nothing as yet had formed on my right, I deemed it unsafe to advance farther, and the brigade was halted where the above separation occurred the One Hundred and Second Pennsylvania Volunteers on the left and the balance of the brigade on the right under cover of the woods. The enemy continued to shell both positions for an hour, the brigade and the lines in support losing many men and officers therefrom. At 8 o'clock the brigade of Colonel Smith, of the Third Division formed on the right. At 9 o'clock a staff officer of the division commander came for the first time to learn the
