irst colonel, O'Neil,
my Yale classmate, was killed at Antietam); Col. James Carle, 191st Pa.;
Major John Byrne, 155th N. Y.; and myself, Lieutenant-Colonel of the
13th Conn. We were supposed to be fighting men, and had all been wounded
in battle.

A similar meeting of field officers was held the following evening. For
two days the committee was almost continually in consultation with
General Hayes. Great pains was taken to have the plans fully understood
by all the officers and to secure their hearty cooeperation. By ingenious
methods frequent communication was had with the enlisted men across the
"dead line"; sometimes by hurling written communications ballasted with
stone; several times by Lieutenant Manning and others running swiftly
past the sentinels in the dark; best of all, because least liable to
discovery, by the use of the deaf-and-dumb alphabet. We were suffering
for want of water, and several officers got permission to go outside the
enclosure ostensibly to procure it, but really to reconnoitre.

The committee reported the following plan, which was unanimously
adopted:

The first object in the movement being to get into a hand-to-hand fight
as soon as possible; seven columns, each several hundred strong, were to
make simultaneous assaults upon six or seven different points. The fence
being the first impediment, every man's haversack and pockets were to
be filled with stones to keep down the sentinels who would fire on us
from the top. Some got levers to wrench off boards, others logs to serve
as rude battering rams, others sharpened stakes which Ralston called
"Irish pikes," others clubs, or any possible weapon. I had a rusty old
bayonet.

Major David Sadler, 2d Pennsylvania Heavy Artillery, with his battalion
was to rush and seize the cannon and muskets at the angle on the right;
Major John Byrne and his column at the same instant were to pounce upon
the big gun and muskets at the angle on our left; simultaneously Colonel
Ralston and his men are to dash upon the nine sentinels on the "dead
line" in front of the officers' houses, in a moment disarming them and
the nine of the relief just arriving; then spring to the assistance of
Major August Haurand of the 4th N. Y. Cavalry and his battalion who are
capturing Major Gee's headquarters and guards and camp on our right.
Col. James Carle, 191st Pa., with his hundreds is breaking through the
fence and capturing the rebel camp in rear of the officers' quarte