Thomas Francis Meagher. They had been ordered to complete our
work by a charge, and right gallantly they did it. Many of our men, not
understanding the order, joined in that charge. General Meagher rode a
beautiful white horse, but made a show of himself by tumbling off just
as he reached our line. The boys said he was drunk, and he certainly
looked and acted like a drunken man. He regained his feet and floundered
about, swearing like a crazy man. The brigade, however, made a
magnificent charge and swept everything before it.

Another incident occurred during the time we were under fire. My
attention was arrested by a heavily built general officer passing to the
rear on foot. He came close by me and as he passed he shouted: "You will
have to get back. Don't you see yonder line of rebels is flanking you?"
I looked in the direction he pointed, and, sure enough, on our right and
now well to our rear was an extended line of rebel infantry with their
colors flying, moving forward almost with the precision of a parade.
They had thrown forward a beautiful skirmish line and seemed to be
practically masters of the situation. My heart was in my mouth for a
couple of moments, until suddenly the picture changed, and their
beautiful line collapsed and went back as if the d----l was after them.
They had run up against an obstruction in a line of the "boys in blue,"
and many of them never went back. This general officer who spoke to me,
I learned, was Major-General Richardson, commanding the First Division,
then badly wounded, and who died a few hours after.

Our regiment now moved back and to the right some three-quarters of a
mile, where we were supplied with ammunition, and the men were allowed
to make themselves a cup of coffee and eat a "hardtack." I was faint for
want of food, for I had only a cup of coffee in the early morning, and
was favored with a hardtack by one of the men, who were always ready
and willing to share their rations with us. We now learned that our
brigade had borne the brunt of a long and persistent effort by Lee to
break our line at this point, and that we were actually the third line
which had been thrown into this breach, the other two having been wiped
out before we advanced; that as a matter of fact our brigade, being
composed so largely of raw troops--our regiment being really more than
half the brigade in actual number--was designed to be held in reserve.
But the onslaught of the enemy had been so terr