alf of the advance brigades and almost half of the corps
was destroyed.

Thirty hours before, General Sedgwick had sent word that the rebels were
trying to turn our flank, and begged that support might be sent; but no
support had come. These breastworks had been prepared to give the
exhausted corps a little protection, that they might, by falling back to
their cover, occupy a stronger and less exposed position.

Soon after five o'clock, the brigades commenced falling back to these
works. The rebels discovered the movement, and thought it was a retreat.
They were evidently already prepared for a desperate assault upon our
flank; and now that there seemed a retreat, there was no longer any
hesitation. Cheer after cheer arose from the rebel ranks, and, in
fifteen minutes after, their yells were mingled with terrific volleys of
musketry, as they poured in overwhelming numbers upon our flanks.

A brief description of the position will explain the nature of the
movement, which lost to the Sixth corps the position it had held for a
day and a half.

When the brigades which had occupied the base of the slope fell back to
the breastworks, the line of battle was arranged thus: on the extreme
right was the Third division--a division but a few days before joined to
the corps--a division composed mostly of new troops who had never before
faced an enemy, and none of them had ever had any connection with the
already historic fame of that glorious corps. Next on the left was the
First division, and joining this division on the left was our own Third
brigade of the Second division.

The assault of the rebels fell upon the green troops of the Third
division, who, seized with consternation, fled in confusion without
attempting resistance. General Seymour whose gallant conduct up to this
time had won for him the admiration of all, made desperate attempts to
rally his panic-stricken brigade and refused to go to the rear with
them. While thus striving vainly to restore order to his shattered
command, rushing to the front and attempting by his own manner to
inspire courage in his men, he was surrounded by the enemy and captured.
He had but just returned from the rebel prisons where he had been since
the unfortunate battle of Olustee.

The hasty flight of the Third division opened the flank and rear of the
First division to the charge of the rebels, who now rushed on with
redoubled fury and with demoniac yells, carrying everything before