Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 08.djvu/19

Friday afternoon, at four o'clock, we were put into the fight at Cold Harbor. By your order, my line of battle was formed on the right of the road, and in this order I advanced through the dense woods in which the enemy was posted. A small ravine, deep and boggy, compelled us to flank still farther to the right. By this means I became separated from the remainder of the brigade (which had been formed on the left), and for a long time was wholly without assistance in my attempts upon the enemy's position. Again and again was that position assailed, and again and again were we repulsed by vastly superior numbers. Regiment after regiment sent into the same attack shared the same fate; and it was not until late in the afternoon, when the continuous arrival of fresh troops had given us somewhat an equality of forces, that any decided impression was made upon the enemy. His position was carried in that late general charge which swept his whole army from the field in a perfect rout. In his flight I was perfectly satisfied with the conduct of my regiment. The position of the enemy was such that we were exposed to a heavy fire from the flank as well as from the front; and though the regiment was frequently broken and compelled to fall back, yet I did not once lose the command of it. The men reformed with great alacrity, and my commands were obeyed with the promptness, if not the precision of drill. My loss, in killed and wounded, was sixty-eight. Nothing but the thickness of the woods saved us from total destruction in our first unassisted effort upon the enemy's position. Saturday we were engaged in burying the dead. Sunday morning we crossed to the south of the Chickahominy in pursuit of the enemy. Monday we continued the pursuit until we engaged the enemy at Frazier's farm. Here my regiment joined the brigade in a series of charges upon the enemy's batteries. Without a sign of faltering, shouting the battle cry of "Stonewall," which they adopted of their own accord, they advanced across two open fields in face of a perfect shower of grape and musketry, until they reached the small ravine, traversed by a fence, within a short distance of the enemy's line of battle. Taking advantage of this slight shelter, they maintained themselves in this position until the arrival of reinforcements, when they joined in the general charge which won the batteries. My loss here was very heavy—killed and wounded, one hundred and fifty men; among them, First Lieutenant W. A. Houstin, of Company I, and my Sergeant-Major, A. Dunmore, both of them young