Of the 19th, Lieutenant Dusseault has this to say, "The fight was resumed. The rebels found a gap on our right and came through, thus flanking us again. Our artillery opened on them as they were between us and artillery, and the shells did us as much harm as they did the enemy. The men of both sides were now pretty well mixed up in the woods. Whichever squad was the larger would capture the other. This day our Regiment was in the worst part of the line and suffered more than any other, unless it was the Sixteenth Maine, which was captured almost to a man."
In a paper read before the Massachusetts Military Historical Society, December 13, 1880, Captain Charles H. Porter says of this day:—
"The morning opened dull and rainy, with the troops in good spirits. No changes were made. The troops of their own accord strengthened the field works, making them quite strong. Nothing happened until about 3 a. m., when the enemy showed considerable activity, the pickets firing and showing quite a bold front. General Lee, determining to drive us from the road sends two divisions under Heth and Mahone. The former has four brigades with eight pieces of artillery from Pegram's battalion. Six of the pieces are west of the railroad and two are east of the same. Mahone has Weisiger's, Colquitt's and a part of Clingman's brigades. Mahone has discovered that the right of the Fifth Corps does not connect with anything. The Ninth Corps, which has been ordered to fill the gap, has not yet reached its destination though it is two o'clock p. m. Doubtless the extremely wet day prevented the prompt arrival of the reinforcement. Our troops, finding everything quiet and not expecting an attack, disposed of themselves in every way, trying to keep as dry as possible, little thinking of the fate in store for them. Four o'clock was the hour agreed upon by Heth and Mahone, as the time when the flanking column should be in position and almost to the minute, Mahone's troops reached our skirmish line and drove it in. Then turning in the thick woods to the west, they moved in column directly upon the exposed right flank of the Federals. This exposed flank had been a subject of anxiety to General Warren, and he had issued orders accordingly.
Aug. 19, '64 "While the Third Division was passing a quiet afternoon, the officers at headquarters were informed that Heth was attacking vigorously in front, this being principally against the Second Division. Our Third Division is still undisturbed. The butchers of the division are slaughtering cattle when the pickets of the Ninth Corps come tumbling in, saying that the enemy is advancing upon them. The woods are so very dense that nothing can be seen through them. Not even General Warren, himself, can discern anything. When, however, a line of men is discovered approaching, Warren is so sure that they are the delayed Ninth Corps contingent, he will not allow artillery to open on them, a very serious error on his part, for they are soon discovered to be a portion of the flanking Confederates, and that a considerable part of them is between our artillery and the Third Division. Our artillerists spring to their guns at once and open a rapid fire upon them. How does this act bear upon our Third Division, where the Thirty-ninth Regiment is? The very first intimation that Crawford's men have that all is not well with them, is the bursting of spherical case from the rear, in their midst. They are aware that the artillery is massed behind them, and they realize that something must have happened to bring such firing from their own comrades. Now, the firing in front from Heth and his men begins again, and our pickets are again attacked. It becomes necessary to seek protection from our own thirty guns. The men spring over the breastworks and hold them in reverse, thinking the pickets able to check the attack in front, and that their chief danger is from the rear. The suspense is soon broken when a line of confederate infantry comes rushing in upon them. All is now confusion. Without leaders, the men are completely demoralized. In the dark and dismal woods, dismayed by the fire from our own guns, the men make but a short resistance and this flanking column under Mahone captures nearly two brigades of the Third Division. The attack of Heth in front continues, adding to the confusion, but the rapid firing of our artillery convinces the enemy that there is nothing more for them in that direction, so they content themselves with the 2700 prisoners, whom they have swept almost entirely from the Third Division, and move up the Halifax road with more captives than they themselves number. As they thus move away the captured men narrowly escape the fire of Mahone's two cannon stationed on the east side of the railroad; the gunners think so large an array of men in blue must be an attacking party, but the condition is disclosed soon enough to prevent the possible slaughter.
"Such men of the Third Division as have not been captured, seek safety in every direction, each man for himself. Dodging behind trees, now east, now west, some of the wrecked body of men get the true direction and come out at the edge of the clearing, looking towards our artillery. Here they behold a welcome sight. It is an advancing line of the Ninth Corps, responding to the evident need. It is the First Division of the Ninth Corps, composed largely of Massachusetts men, and they are friends indeed. We know that, having the situation well in hand, the position will be regained and the railroad held. The remnants of the Third Division are finally rallied near the Dunlock House. Picture, if you can, one little knot gathered together, about twenty-five in number, all that, at this time, can be assembled of a regiment that yesterday carried three hundred and fifty muskets into the first day's fight, whose commander was most grievously wounded on that day. They are soon marshaled to occupy, as far as they can, their old line of works. Very few sleep any during the night, as the weary hours roll on, and it seems as though daylight would never come to bring relief to the dread hanging over the command through the night. Mahone and his men retire to their defenses with feelings quite the reverse of those of their opponents and the 'Little Gamecock of the Confederacy' fully merits his appellation as he turns over his plunder to General Lee."
An excellent personal story of the second day is told by Sergt. George E. Fowle, Company K, whose experience quite likely was similar to that of nearly all the men of the Regiment who succeeded in getting out of the confusion, free:
"I was acting First Sergeant of Company K. Corporal S. A. McFeeley was my bunkmate, and was one of the color guard. We were stationed in the woods on the right of the railroad, where the rebels made vigorous demonstrations on our front while a large force turned our right flank. Our artillery was firing solid shot over our heads when the enemy broke through and came between us and our cannon. The guns were immediately depressed to reach the confederates and the shots coming through them and reaching us were the first intimation we had of anything wrong. McFeeley was sent back to stop the artillery and was captured. The line was doubled up as the enemy came down on our flank. I started back with the rest and came across a canteen with the string cut; picking it up, I took a drink and filled my own Aug. 19. '64 canteen, but when this was done I found myself alone, but I followed along in the direction which the others had gone. I came to a cart path, where I saw some of our men with a few Johnnies on the other side of the path. The bushes separating us were so thick and low that I had to spread them apart with my hands to get through, and when I did and straightened up, with my gun in my hand, I found myself looking into a rebel gun barrel, held by a Johnnie who was standing by the side of an officer, whom I took to be a colonel. I was told to throw down the gun, which I did and walked across the road where the officer took me by the shoulder and turned me around, saying, 'Get into the ranks, and we'll take good care of you.' There were so many prisoners that we were in all sorts of position, one, two and three deep. The man nearest me wanted to know where the Maryland Brigade was located.
"I unhitched my knapsack and turned around to see if anybody was looking, and gave it a throw into the bushes. As I did so, I saw Joe Adams, the National color bearer, come out into the road, look up and down the same, and then he raised the colors over his head and threw them into the wheel-ruts, there happened to be a break in the guards near him. I threw off my scabbard and cut the strap which held my cartridge box. We were nearing the railroad tracks, where the rebels turned and marched up towards Petersburg. When I saw a good chance I jumped into the bushes and soon heard someone behind me, and turning saw Joe, Adams and another man. All this time we were getting more or less missiles from our own guns; the solid shot had been changed to shells and we were troubled quite as much as the confederates. We soon encountered a rebel with a gun in his hand, just as a shell exploded near our heads. To Adams' query as to where was the direction of the rebel rear, he replied, 'I'll be d—d if I know.' At this, I left them to see what I could do for myself in finding our own breastworks. In a short time I came across a lieutenant of the Sixteenth Maine, who was behind a tree, whereupon I found a tree also, but I didn't stop long, since I was not gaining ground. We could see the prisoners and the guard and occasionally a rebel would come our way.
"I started back towards our works, but on arriving found no one there, so I sallied forth to where the right of the Regiment had been. Going some distance beyond where our right was, I saw some troops mount the breastworks. At first I couldn't make out who they were, blue or gray, but, stooping down, I found them to be our men, and I recognized Corporal Abijah Thompson, who beckoned me to come up his way. The ground was covered with muskets, which had been thrown down when the boys were captured. Colonel Wheelock of the Ninety-seventh New York, then commanding his brigade, was up on the right, and seeing the movement, he put his men in front of the works and charged out upon the enemy, capturing everything in sight, Yank and Reb, including the Colonel, who was going to take good care of me, a stand of confederate colors and, best of all, our own which Adams had thrown down.[Q] The state colors borne by Serg. William A. Mentzer of "A" were brought in safely by him, though by great effort.
"On getting out of the woods into the field, there stood the First Division of the Ninth Corps in line; I ran down and told General White that the rebels had got our Brigade, and that they were on the road in there, not ten rods from where he sat on his horse, and he could get them all if he went in. The General turned around and said to one of his staff, 'They have got the road we came down.' He was waiting for orders from General Warren. It had been raining and I didn't know whether the gun that I had picked up would go off or not, so I pointed the muzzle towards the ground and fired. Whereupon the General said, 'Don't you know any better than that?' I went back to the line, borrowed some cartridges and caps and loaded the gun, when Colonel Lyle and the remnant of the Brigade came out of the bushes. His command resembled a color guard. A staff officer soon ordered me back into the breastworks. I picked up a sergeant's knapsack and soon made a set of sergeant's chevrons. Our company made two stacks of guns that night, and I put my gun across the stacks, and was in command of the company. Lieutenant Tidd and twenty-seven men of Company K were taken prisoners. Our captain was sick and had been taken to the hospital."