First to meet the advancing enemy were the Twenty-third and Seventeenth South Carolina regiments and the survivors of the Eighteenth and Twenty-second. The remainder of the division hurried to the firing line, and Wright's battery and Major Haskell's mortar batteries came into action with terrible effect upon the crowded masses of the Federals. General Elliott fell dangerously wounded, but his place was taken by Col. F. W. McMaster, Seventeenth, and Colonel Smith, Twenty-sixth, formed a line to the left and rear of the crater composed of his regiment, part of the Seventeenth, and the Twenty-fourth North Carolina. The Twenty-third, under Captain White, and the remnant of the Twenty-second, under Captain Shedd, held the trenches on the right. "The South Carolina troops on that side," said General Johnson, "succeeded in placing a barricade on the side of the hill and planting themselves in it and the sunken ways running to the rear, maintained their position within 30 yards of the crater for about five hours, during which the enemy never drove them a foot to the right, though they made several assaults and attempted several times to form a line in rear of our works, so as to move on the flank and rear of this gallant little band. In the events of the 30th of July there will perhaps be found nothing more heroic or worthy of higher admiration than this conduct of the Twenty-second and Twenty-third South Carolina regiments."
After Mahone's division came up, Colonel Smith's line joined in a charge which cleared the enemy from part of the second line of intrenchments, and the final charge which resulted in the complete rout of the enemy was participated in by the Seventeenth under Major Culp, and Captain Shedd's line, which captured three flags and many prisoners. "For every buried comrade," General Johnson said, the South Carolinians "took a two-fold vengeance on the enemy." In the last charge Sergt. J. W. Connelly, Twenty-second, captured the colors of the First Michigan sharpshooters. The loss of Elliott's South Carolinians on that terrible day was 15 officers killed and 18 wounded; 110 men killed and 204 wounded; 14 officers and 337 men missing; total, 698. This was the main part of the Confederate loss. The Federal return of losses was 4,400.
Grant's demonstrations north of the James, on the old Seven Days' battle ground, to draw Lee's forces away from the vicinity of the mine explosion, had caused Bratton's brigade to be sent across at Drewry's bluff to Fussell's mill on the 29th, and thence to New Market heights. Kershaw had taken position at Chaffin's bluff several days before, and on the 28th, Conner's (Kershaw's) and Lane's brigades attempted to dislodge the enemy from the Long Bridge road, causing a severe fight. Heth's, Field's and Kershaw's divisions were massed here; the enemy abandoned the advanced position and Kershaw recrossed the James on the 30th.
On July 27th, Hampton was ordered from Drewry's to intercept Wilson's cavalry expedition, returning from Staunton river bridge to Grant's army. He attacked at Sappony church, next day, and his thin line held the enemy in check all night, 200 of the Holcombe legion infantry, under Crawley, in the center. At dawn, the whole command, including Butler's brigade, charged, drove the enemy from two lines, pursued his scattering forces two miles, and captured over 800 prisoners, while Fitzhugh Lee was fighting with like success at Reams' Station. The gallant Lieutenant-Colonel Crawley was severely wounded. This pursuit, General Hampton reported, closed the operations begun on June 8th, a period of twenty-two days, during which his command, poorly fed and without rest, had marched over 400 miles, fought six days and one night, captured over 2,000 prisoners, and many guns and small-arms, and defeated two formidable Federal expeditions, at a loss of 719 men.
[I] Col. Robert E. Bowen, then senior captain commanding the Second Rifles, in a description of this battle of Wauhatchie, Will's Valley, or Lookout Valley, as it is variously called, says that during an observation of the Federal movements from the summit of Lookout, General Jenkins asked permission to attack and capture "the supply train for Rosecrans' army," for which Hooker's troops were mistaken, and the attack was made with that understanding, Law's brigade being stationed at the river to prevent reinforcements from Chattanooga. Captain Bowen commanded the brigade skirmish line of six companies, which drove in the Federals, until he found them in heavy force in line of battle, when he notified General Jenkins, and was ordered to go as far as possible. His men opened fire, lying down to load, and the brigade advanced to their line, within a hundred yards of the Federals, and there stopped on account of the evident strength of the enemy. Captain Bowen was severely wounded, and Sergt. G. W. Bradley, a noble soldier, was killed.
[J] Colonel Hunt says: "Accident gave the brigade the position in front of the salient, and it sustained its reputation by charging, retaking and holding it for seventeen hours. No one can describe what we endured during that struggle. The trunk of that oak tree now on exhibition in Washington tells better than words the heroic endurance of the Confederate soldier, and gives a faint idea of the storm of minie balls hurled at us. When we took the works, the bark on it was intact. It stood near the right center of the salient. A little to the left and in front of it stood a hickory tree about eight inches in diameter, of which I have never seen any mention. The hickory was shot down before night and fell across the works, catching some of the men in its branches. Its body and branches were chipped into splinters by minie balls.... I saw some very reckless acts of individuals, for instance Private W. W. Davenport, of the Thirteenth, and a boy of the Twelfth, whose name I cannot recall, mounted ammunition boxes, not over ten feet from the hickory, and fired over the salient while three or four men loaded guns for them until the minie balls almost stripped the clothing from them. During the afternoon the enemy's front line would seek protection under cover of our works and fire by placing the muzzles of their guns below the top logs of the works, while their second line would fire over their heads. Frequently our men would seize their muzzles and direct their fire to the rear."
CHAPTER XIX.
THE ATLANTA CAMPAIGN—BATTLES AROUND ATLANTA—JONESBORO—HOOD'S CAMPAIGN IN NORTH GEORGIA—THE DEFENSE OF SHIP'S GAP—LAST CAMPAIGN IN TENNESSEE—BATTLE OF FRANKLIN.