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had been sent to General Hospital at Annapolis. Of the four in the line, three-Captains Smith and Ames and Lieutenant Fairbank — had been struck by the bullets of the enemy, but not seriously injured. The total loss of the regiment, as officially reported to the Adjutant-General, including the men of the Twenty-ninth Massachusetts and Forty-sixth New York, was

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Late that evening General Potter relieved the Third Division, and occupied the entire front of the corps, connecting with the Second Corps on the right, and the Fifth Corps on the left, holding the advance as a skirmish line.1

1 On the evening of the 18th the following order was issued by General Burnside :HEAD-QUARTERS 9TH ARMY CORPS,

GENERAL ORDER No. 24.

June 18, 1864.

The Commanding General takes great pride in assuring this command of the high appreciation in which their services, after the fatigues of the recent movement, are held at the Head-quarters of the Army, and quotes with pleasure the expression used by the Commanding General of the Army of the Potomac in speaking of the brilliant assault on the morning of the 17th. He writes: "It affords me great satisfaction to congratulate you and your gallant corps on the successful assault on the morning of the 17th. Knowing the wearied condition of your men from the night march of over twenty-two miles, and the continued movement through the night of the 16th, their persistency and success is highly creditable."

The Commanding General can only add that in this, as in the previous and succeeding events of this unexampled campaign, the Ninth Corps has, through every trial, invariably proved true to its history and to its promise.

By command of Major-General Burnside.

LEWIS RICHMOND,

Ass't Adj't Gen l.

CHAPTER XVIII.

IN THE TRENCHES.

On the morning of June 19th the regiment was relieved from duty in the front line, and withdrew to the pine woods from which we advanced the day before. We were soon joined by most of the men who had fallen out on the march, or had failed to find the regiment in the constant changes of position, and the effective strength reported at brigade head-quarters was one hundred and fifty-one; commissioned officers four, enlisted men one hundred and forty-seven. A strong line of intrenchments was erected on the high ground near the railroad. One hundred men were detailed for fatigue duty on the line, and worked through that hot June day with pickaxe and shovel. The enemy's firing was very close, and during the night was quite severe. Our batteries kept up a steady fire on the rebel lines.

The operations of the last two days had been conducted in the hope of capturing Petersburg before the whole army of Northern Virginia could be brought to the rescue. The enemy had taken up a new line on commanding ground nearer the city. The attack and repulse of the 18th had developed the great strength of that line, and convinced the commandinggeneral that further assault would be hopeless. The heroic courage and desperate valor of the troops had availed only to secure a strong position near the enemy's line. "No better fighting has been done during the war," said General Burnside in his report; but either the attacks had not been properly directed or adequately supported. Orders were now issued for the troops on the right to hold and strengthen the lines.

The 20th was but a repetition of the 19th. It was a noisy day in the front; but being one of comparative quiet to us in the woods, the time was improved in making up regimental reports for the campaign from Spottsylvania, and a list of casualties. Several vacancies existed among the commissioned officers, in consequence of the deaths and resignations since April 23d, and seven of the companies were commanded by noncommissioned officers. On the 5th of June, at Hanover Town, Captain Smith forwarded to Governor Andrew a list of recommendations for promotion; but as no commissions had been received, and the exigencies of the service required additional officers, the duties devolving upon the few commissioned officers present being onerous and severe, another list was made up this day, and transmitted through the regular channels to the Governor of the State. This list included the following non-commissioned officers:

Sergeant Major Davidson to be First Lieutenant, vice Ranlett, resigned.

First Sergeant Woodward to be First Lieutenant, vice Cross, resigned.

First Sergeant Stearns to be First Lieutenant, vice Goodspeed, resigned.

First Sergeant Haskell to be First Lieutenant, vice Hodgkins, promoted.

First Sergeant Hancock to be First Lieutenant, vice Fairbank, promoted.

Sergeant Olcutt to be First Lieutenant, vice Daniels, killed. Sergeant Cross to be First Lieutenant, vice Burrage, promoted.

Sergeants White, Hancock, Wright, Woodward, and Stearns had previously been recommended for commissions as second lieutenants, but no officers in that grade could be mustered, on account of the reduced numbers of enlisted men. Major Draper, who at this time was in Massachusetts, submitted to the Governor another list of recommendations about this date; but before either list could receive attention

other changes became necessary, and all of the sergeants recommended in the foregoing list, with the addition of First Sergeant Harwood, were commissioned as first lieutenants. Some of these brave and deserving men, who had nobly earned their rank, were at this time absent on account of serious wounds received during campaign, and before they could recover and rejoin the regiment circumstances had arisen which prevented their being mustered into the service in the rank to which they were commissioned.

June 20th Captain Smith was detailed for court-martial duty at division head-quarters, and the regiment was in command of Captain Ames. At dusk a colored regiment from the Fourth Division came up in our rear, and we anticipated a night attack in force; but the men quietly laid aside their equipments, and being furnished with pickaxes and shovels went on fatigue duty in the front line. During the night the firing was very severe. Our position, though not subjected to the exposure of the front line, was under fire continually. The bullets of the enemy rattled among the trees, singing their death-song by day and night. On the night of June 20th private John McGrath, Company I, was wounded and sent to the rear. It was the third wound he had received

during the campaign. During these days the front, or main line, was strengthened with abatis, and traverses, and a covered way built to the rear.

On the 21st the regiment remained in the woods preparing for a review, which had been ordered for the afternoon. At four o'clock we were in line, and moved to the wide open plain in rear of the woods, the scene of the action on the 17th. The First Brigade was reviewed by General Potter. The Seventh Rhode Island was on the right of the line, and the Second New York Mounted Rifles, acting as infantry (recently assigned to this brigade), on the left. The review was well conducted, and, considering the circumstances of the occasion, the troops presented a fine appearance. To all of us it was a novel parade, - marching to the music of the

bands, the discordant barking of the dogs of war, and the distant screeching of the death-laden shells.

At midnight we were ordered to the main line to relieve the Second Brigade, and the regiment was sent out on picket. The night was very clear, and the moon being at the full revealed everything about us as clear as daylight. The duty of relieving the picket line was extremely hazardous, and it was half-past two o'clock A.M. before the work was completed. The men were obliged to crawl out singly from the railroad-cut, and the men relieved were exposed to a close and merciless fire in leaving the line. It was daylight before our line was fairly in position, and we settled down to the first day of the long siege-life before us. About sunrise the cooks came out with coffee, and John L. Finney, cook of Company K, received a shocking wound in the face, in con- . sequence of raising his head a little too high. His escape from instant death was miraculous. After daylight it was impossible for a man to look over the top of the pits. The rebels fired twenty shots where we fired one, and their sharp practice enabled them to skim the tops of the pits; their shots were well aimed, and the bullets flew all about us.

The picket line itself was found to be very peculiar. It was separated from the main line by the deep cut of the Norfolk Railroad, which crossed our rear diagonally. The ground on the right at the railroad was quite high, falling off rapidly toward the swampy ravine on the left; the slope being toward the enemy's line, which enabled them to command all the ground between the railroad-cut and their own line. The troops of the Second Brigade had worked industriously to establish good cover for the picket-line; but the position on the left was so dangerous, and so near the enemy, that but little progress had been made in erecting a line of pits at that point. There was a space of five or six rods between Companies H and C, which could not be crossed by daylight on account of its nearness to the rebel lines. During the day the men on the right took up railroad sleepers

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