ntil our ammunition was pretty well spent. The
Fifty-sixth had ninety-six killed and wounded. Company F lost four killed
and nine severely wounded and several slightly wounded. Our killed were
left where they fell and were buried by the enemy. They were Second
Lieutenant Dick Williams, a brave soldier and a man loved by all his
company; privates Thomas P. Cabaniss, Christopher Powell and Winslow
Wright, all good soldiers. Powell and Cabaniss were single men. Cabaniss
was killed by my side, and my left cheek was blistered by a hot bullet.
Frank Webb and J. M. Smith died of their wounds. Jefferson Spurlin lost a
leg and Johnson Spangler lost an arm. Sam. Daugherty, Peter Louis, Morman
Bookout, B. McMurry and Monroe Kirby were all severely wounded. That night
we fortified our picket line, and General Walker reconnoitering his
position was wounded and captured. We were so close to them that firing
was kept up all night and for several days following. On the evening of
the 22d a truce was had to bury some dead between the lines. And the
graves of our dead were visited. A few days after this a skirmish line
from our brigade charged and took this Yankee skirmish line which had cost
us so much on the 20th of May. Here we lay in the burnt woods, within a
few hundred yards of the enemy, firing and shelling every day until the
1st of June. Our brigade crossed James River on a pontoon bridge and
passed through the Seven Pines battle ground to the Chickahominy River,
where we spent a few days in sight of the enemy's position on the north
side, the picket of each making the river the line. We then came up to
Chafin's farm or bluff and spent about a week, until the night of 15th of
June. We marched all night to Petersburg, Va.

Grant had now advanced the head of his column, and our little force of
four brigades must hold him in check until Lee could come. So we had to
vacate our lines between the Appomattox and James rivers and throw our
main forces in defense of Petersburg, where we arrived at sunrise. The
Fifty-sixth was sent up the north side of the Appomattox to guard the
cotton factories from a cavalry raid, while the other four regiments went
to the front and were fighting all day. During the day Butler's forces
destroyed the railroad between Petersburg and Drury's Bluff. After dark we
joined the brigade on the Turnpike and started back toward Drury's Bluff.
We only went a few miles, feeling for the Yankees, but were kept on foot