In the desperate struggle acts of individual gallantry and heroism were performed which time would fail to recount.
The line was carried and the enemy were driven from the breastworks, the redoubts, and from a second line where they attempted to rally. Four pieces of artillery were captured,—two by the Forty-eighth Pennsylvania and our regiment; one by the Seventeenth Vermont; and one by the Eleventh New Hampshire; also the colors of the five regiments defending the line, six hundred prisoners, and more than fifteen hundred muskets and equipments and ammunition. The colors of the Fourteenth New York Heavy Artillery, lost in the attack the night before, were recaptured, nor were these the only trophies of the victory,—an important point had been carried; the rebels had been forced to take a new position; the Shand house, Avery house, and more than a mile of ground, were now in our possession. It was a great victory, but not what it might have been. It was the old story over again,—a most spirited and gallant attack without adequate supports. Had a single corps been on the ground in position, or had the divisions which were ordered to support us been ready to advance, the fearful carnage of the two succeeding days would doubtless have been prevented, and the long, tedious, wasting, bloody siege of Petersburg might have been avoided.
None who participated in that attack will fail to remember the morning of the 17th of June while life shall last. It was the most brilliant and successful engagement in which the regiment had ever had a part; and yet in many respects it was one of the saddest days of our history. Though the victory was ours, it had been purchased at a heavy cost. The number of the regiment engaged was less than ninety men, many having fallen out exhausted in the forced march from the James; yet from that small number three were killed, and sixteen wounded,—four of them fatally. In the thickest of the fight, amid the terrible energies of the battle, these brave men fell martyrs to the cause of their country.
One of the first to fall was Captain Otis W. Holmes, of Milford, commanding Company B, who received a mortal wound. The regiment sustained no severer loss during its term of service. Few men possessed in so marked and special degree the respect and affection of his men. Strong and vigorous in body and mind; a brave, fearless soldier; a cool, sagacious adviser; careful and prudent of his men,—he was a noble specimen of manhood, and an ideal soldier. It is much to say of an officer that he was cool and brave, equal to any emergency; but far more to say truly of him that he was pure, good, and noble. All this can be truly said of Holmes. The entire regiment had learned to love and esteem him, and his untimely death was mourned by all who knew him.
The non-commissioned officers contributed more than their proportion to the loss sustained that day, and among the killed and wounded were some of the bravest and best soldiers of the regiment. The little line of battle was sadly dwindled, and, after detailing a portion of the guard required in sending the prisoners to the rear, there remained in the ranks but forty-six enlisted men.
The loss of the regiment in killed and wounded, June 17th, was as follows:—
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Died of Wounds.—Captain Otis W. Holmes.
ENLISTED MEN.
Company A. Killed.—Sergeant George E. Keyes.