Just before we went into position our hearts were rejoiced by the discovery of one of our pieces and its caisson which we had about given up as lost, fearing that it must in some manner have missed its way and been overtaken by the enemy. Sergeant Gray explained his early arrival by saying that, becoming convinced that being obliged to render assistance to less fortunate teams was rapidly exhausting his own teams, he determined to push on as fast as possible, and wait for the battery at the station.
At this time Benjamin's battery of twenty-pound Parrotts was in position upon the right of the road, some distance below our battery. Gettings was on his right, while Von Sehlen was in position in line with us, on our left.
When at twelve o'clock the enemy opened upon us, it was found that Benjamin's and Gettings' positions were not favorable for their heavy rifled guns, and they were moved to the left of the road, upon higher ground a little in our rear.
Our infantry was posted across the Kingston road, beyond the creek which ran through the village at the foot of the hill upon which we were. The centre was held by White's division, Twenty-third Corps, while the Ninth, which had retired from the front and formed in the rear of these troops, took position upon the right and left of this division.
Benjamin, Roemer and Gettings opened upon the enemy a most terrific fire from their rifled guns. Our battery was unable to throw its shells far enough to reach the enemy, and was obliged to content itself with an occasional shot at their skirmishers.
We soon saw a heavy line of skirmishers advancing out of the woods in our front, and with perfect nonchalance approach a ravine only a short distance from one of our batteries, carrying their guns at a trail. The coolness of the act made it somewhat doubtful as to whether they were friend or foe.
Sergeant Gray, who was some distance in front of the battery on the pike, took in the situation at once, and tried a shot at them with his carbine, and was severely reprimanded by an officer standing near, for firing at our men. A moment settled the question, however, for no sooner had they reached the ravine than they dropped out of sight, and instantly there came the pop, pop, pop of their rifles, and the officer who had objected to their being treated as foes, had lost a horse.
The rebels who had so boldly sought this position had failed to notice one of our regiments, which lay under cover of a building to their right, which position gave then an enfilading fire the entire length of that ravine, and in a few seconds the rebels found themselves in a place hotter than they had ever been in before, and one which they were glad to vacate as soon as possible.
Soon after the failure of the enemy to drive our centre, they made a vigorous assault upon the right of Christ's brigade, Ninth Corps. Our battery was ordered to change its position and direction of its fire, to co-operate with this brigade, and we shelled the woods upon the right with such good effect as to check the progress of the enemy in that direction. It was while executing this movement that the men of our battery became thoroughly convinced of the utter impossibility of successfully manœuvering light artillery with mules as a motive power.
No sooner was the attempt made to limber the pieces than each individual mule commenced a performance of his own, entirely at variance with that of his mate, which soon resulted in a tangle that was exceedingly discouraging to the men. In some of the teams half the mules seemed determined to run away, frightened by the bursting of the shells, while its effect upon the rest of the team was to create a determination not to move a step. Some of them were seized with an irresistible desire to climb over each other, in many instances elevating themselves to such a degree as to lose their balance and go over backwards, in one or two instances falling upon the men who were trying to control them.