The 7th of April two companies of the 157th led the advance, scouting and foraging, and at the night's camp on Montgomery's Plantation three days' rations were served to the men. The day's march was a busy one, of eighteen miles. Horses and mules were confiscated and many cotton-gins and presses were burned. The boys reached their camp in a smart rain storm.
April 8th the route which had thus far led in a westerly direction now deviated southerly. The rain had laid the dust and marching was more comfortable. At night they halted at Brewerton, having taken that road on account of the destruction of the bridge over Mill Creek. A detachment of the 157th supplied a provost guard for Brewerton and thus prevented looting. A heavy detail from the regiment was sent out on picket duty. The tired boys had marched eighteen miles.
On the morning of the 9th tobacco was issued to such of the men as used it, in the form of plug, which had been confiscated. Four miles out on the road they found the bridge destroyed over Pocotaligo river and a halt was ordered until a bridge of rails was laid. Soon after noon the column approached Dingles Mills, and it became known that three guns were posted near Sumterville to oppose their advance. Those guns were on the opposite side of a broad swamp, completely covering the approach by the road.
Two regiments were drawn up on the edge of the swamp and the union artillery was ordered up and opened on the rebels, at long range.
The 157th was then ordered to dislodge the enemy. Col. Carmichael threw forward Co. I as skirmishers and advanced into the swamp. The distance the boys traveled in that swamp was fully three-fourths of a mile. In places the water was nearly waist-deep, and logs, bogs and broken timber, tangled vines and drooping limbs, made order impossible.
When two-thirds through the swamp the rebels opened fire, to which Co. I replied with vigor. When the johnnies fired Col. Carmichael discovered that his guide had suddenly left him and to proceed further through the dark swamp without a guide was hazardous. The colonel ordered the firing to cease and halted his men. Directly the guide appeared (a Negro) stimulated no doubt by the sight of a revolver, but he resumed his place and the regiment proceeded.
Soon after, Col. Carmichael called to his men to cease firing, the rebels also ceased and a voice called, "What regiment is that?"
"The 157th New York Volunteers!" replied the colonel, his voice echoing in the dismal tangle.
The rebels re-opened and began to fall back. Co. I pressed forward and gained open ground. The colonel with the head of his battalion was close behind and he halted the skirmishers behind a rail fence to await the arrival of the others. It was a hard place to stop in for a great while, as the guns in the shallow work in the hill just beyond them were passing grape and canister lively, and it made the air whistle.
While forming his men an aide on the staff of Gen. Potter came floundering out of the swamp to learn how the advance was progressing.