PART FIFTH
AUGUST 1898
ITS BRIGHT AND GLOOMY DAYS
On Tuesday evening, August 2d, the officers of the regiment gave a lawn party in camp. A platform was built in front of Colonel Hine's tent, and trees and shrubbery surrounded it in such a natural way that one would have thought it had been placed in a grove. The affair was quite successful and was graced by the presence of General Lee and staff, with the Generals and Colonels of the different brigades and regiments encamped here, besides notables from Jacksonville.
Thursday, August 4th, we had another sham battle, and this time we were the attacking force, composed of our regiment and one battalion of the First North Carolina. Opposed to us on the defensive were two battalions of the First North Carolina and the Second Illinois regiment. About one mile from camp our advance guard came upon the enemy concealed in a ravine, along which they had deployed, and a rapid exchange of shots took place. Company after company of our regiment were deployed on the run to their skirmish lines. As each company arrived it immediately engaged the enemy. Our company being last in order of march, we had longer to run, and we were placed far on the enemy's right. In fact, we succeeded completely in turning their right flank back, so that their whole line was like a bent bow. Our company pushed through and over fences and came upon the enemy lying behind a fence at the rear of a house. Here the fire was the hottest, and at one time our lines were within fifty feet of each other, but just able to see through the bushes that lined the yard.
The boys nicknamed this "the back-yard skirmish." Reinforcements arriving, we gradually extended our lines, so that the foe were having a hot fire upon three sides at once. Expecting a general advance along the lines at this time, we held our fire, as only ten blank cartridges had been given us and we had used up nearly all of them. We lay on the ground in the hot sun, perspiring from every pore, expecting every minute to receive the word. Rapid firing was going on on our extreme left and center and away off to the right the volleys were thundering.
