the most trying time of all. The
firing commenced at the left as soon as Cruft's men--so reported by a
staff officer--had withdrawn, and soon rose into a continuous roar. Capt.
Oscar A. Mack, on General Thomas' staff, who approached the brigade with
orders, and was severely wounded, declared the din of the fire to have
been appalling. The first line of the enemy were scattered like chaff;
their second line brought to a halt and held. The report of the men,
especially, is that there was a third line, which coming up, fixed
bayonets and with the remnants of the other two lines prepared for a
charge. General Negley, with some of his men, united with the 15th, our
right, and with them resisted the advance of his pursuers. Part of
Scribner's Brigade formed on Negley's right; John Beatty covered the left
and rear of the brigade. Officers and men were falling all along the line,
but not a man turned his back to the enemy; every one stood up to his work
and strove to be worthy of the hope placed in him, and to do credit to the
Regular Brigade. General Thomas' orders had been obeyed; the enemy's
onslaught on the centre had been repulsed, and his victorious troops
brought to a halt; the rebels had been stopped, and the key of the
battlefield secured, but at a loss of nearly half of the infantry force of
the brigade. The new lines along the turnpike and railroad having been
formed, troops moved into position, artillery posted to protect and cover
the new lines, the right of the brigade received orders to fall back; the
movement was executed under the protection of the battery, but unmolested
by the enemy, from right to left in perfect order, one battalion moving
after the other by the right of companies through the cedars to the rear.
Lieut. Ludlow's section of the battery had been detached to the front and
right to cover the retreat of the right of the brigade. It was a bitter
disappointment to obey orders then, but as the object of the advance of
the brigade had been achieved, its further exposure would have been
useless, and could only have resulted in its annihilation; still, this
was not understood at the time by the officers and men of the brigade.
When the heads of companies debouched from the woods, they were exposed to
a tornado of artillery fire from rebel batteries to our left. From the
position of the brigade in the cedars to a short distance outside, it was
a gentle decline, the ground then again commenced to rise as fa