from a
serious illness, his spirit could not longer brook the restraint
of the hospital at New Orleans with the knowledge that his men were
engaged with the enemy. Thomas was ill and had received a slight
wound of the scalp; this brought Smith to the head of the brigade;
his fall devolved the command upon Lieutenant-Colonel Van Petten,
for though Thomas, unable to bear the torture inflicted upon him
by the sounds of battle, rose from his sick-bed and resumed the
command, his weakness again overcame him when the day's work was
done.

No regiment at Port Hudson approached the 8th New Hampshire in the
number and severity of its losses, no brigade suffered so much as
Paine's, to which this regiment belonged, and no division so much
as Emory's, under the command of Paine. On this day, Fearing
commanded the brigade, and later the division, and Lull having
fallen in the previous assault, the regiment went into action 217
strong, led by Captain William M. Barrett; of this number, 122, or
56 per cent., were killed or wounded. On the 27th of May, out of
298 engaged, the regiment lost 124, or 41 per cent.

Next to the 8th New Hampshire on the fatal roll stands the 4th
Wisconsin. This noble regiment, at all times an honor to the
service and to its State, whence came so many splendid battalions,
was a shining monument to the virtue of steady, conscientious work
and strict discipline applied to good material. Bean had been
instantly killed by a sharp-shooter on the 29th of May; the regiment
went into action on the 14th of June 220 strong, commanded by
Captain Webster P. Moore; of these, 140 fell, or 63 per cent. In
the first assault, however, it had fared better, its losses numbering
but 60.

The eccentric Currie, who came to the service from the British
army, with the lustre of the Crimea still about him, rather brightened
than dimmed by time and distance, fell severely wounded on the same
fatal crest. He was struck down at the head of his regiment, boldly
leading his men and urging them forward with the quaint cry of "Get
on, lads!" so well known to English soldiers, yet so unfamiliar to
all Americans as to draw many a smile, even in that grim moment,
from those who heard it.

To the cannonade that preceded the assault and announced it to the
enemy must be attributed not only the failure but a great part of
the loss. The wearied Confederates were asleep behind the breastworks
when the roar of the Union artillery brok