The troops of the Second Division moved forward as best they could; but as the First Division had halted, and would not move forward, it was almost impossible to make any progress. The ground to the right of the crater was found to be much cut up with small pits and traverses, which were now filled by the enemy, who kept up a severe fire from these as well as from a line of pits on the ravine. Finding that General Griffin's brigade, which had lost heavily, was being thrown into confusion by being mixed with the troops of other divisions, and that the enemy was rallying rapidly, General Potter directed him to move forward without any reference to other troops and attack the enemy in front. In passing his command over and through the troops which were in confusion Griffin's brigade became much broken up. The fire by this time was very hot, and it was impossible to properly re-form his ranks. However, several pits of the enemy were charged and some ground was gained.
Our brigade commander was ordered to follow on, with such troops as he had, and closely support and cover the right flank. He sent forward the Fifty-eighth Massachusetts, Fourth Rhode Island, and Forty-fifth Pennsylvania, to form on the right, leaving the Seventh Rhode Island in reserve, and holding the Second and Fifty-first New York to send forward if there was room. Finding that he could not get in, in consequence of the stopping of troops, and the great confusion caused by a crowd of troops in such limited space, he was ordered to move a portion of the brigade to the right, and charge down the enemy's line, and also, at the same time, to attack the enemy at the ravine. The Fifty-eighth Massachusetts, Fourth Rhode Island, and Forty-fifth Pennsylvania were formed to charge down the enemy's line to the right, and the two New York regiments to attack near the ravine. This last attack was to instantly follow the first, as soon as the colors of the leading regiments could be seen moving forward.
The ground over which the first three regiments was to charge was an open field, fully in range of the enemy's musketry and artillery. Just as the troops were moving forward, the direction of these regiments was changed, in compliance with a peremptory order from General Burnside to attack the crest. Accordingly these three regiments charged directly up the hill toward the battery in the woods. The charge was a gallant one, under a murderous fire of grape and canister from the enemy's artillery, which was brought to bear from every direction; yet the little band kept on, and the Forty-fifth Pennsylvania had nearly reached the house on the top of the hill, when the line wavered, and, for want of support, was obliged to fall back to the covered way or ditch leading to the work which had been previously taken.
While this was being done the two New York regiments charged the enemy at the ravine: the Second New York on the right, and the Fifty-first on the left of it, some considerable distance intervening. The line was carried and some prisoners captured. The position reached by the Second New York was within twenty yards of the rebel fort at the old barn. By this time Griffin's brigade had been extricated from the terrible confusion near the crater, and had moved forward slowly, under a hot fire, a step at a time, and the whole of the Second Division was beyond the enemy's line and to the right of the exploded fort. As General Potter was re-forming and connecting his lines preparatory to charging the hill, the Fourth Division (colored) unexpectedly advanced, and attempted to pass over the men in the crater, and charge the enemy's lines through our division. In this they were but partially successful. General Potter, at the time the colored division moved out, had the right of his division nearly connected with the Fifty-first New York, near the ravine, and partly covered the three regiments which had charged the hill and fallen back into the covered way. Soon after the arrival of the colored troops the enemy, with two divisions, under Generals Mahone and Ransom, made an assault, when these troops broke and fled in confusion into the crater. The situation, difficult enough before their arrival, now became alarming. An indescribable scene of confusion followed. Colors of our regiments, which had been planted on the parapets, were thrown down and trampled under foot in the dirt as the lines came crowding into the crater, or sought shelter wherever it could be found from the terrible fire that was poured upon them. White men and colored lay indiscriminately together.
The enemy's fierce assault was repulsed by our division. It was, however, immediately renewed, and a desperate hand-to-hand fight ensued. The brigade fought as men seldom fight. The Forty-fifth Pennsylvania captured a rebel flag, and Captain Gregg had a personal encounter with a rebel officer, which made him famous throughout the division. The color-bearers of the Fifty-eighth Massachusetts were both wounded and captured. The colors of two other regiments which had been planted on the parapet were literally torn to pieces and the staves broken. The losses in killed and wounded were very great, and more than one hundred prisoners were captured from the Fifty-eighth Massachusetts and Forty-fifth Pennsylvania.
The fighting up to this time was as desperate as any during the war. For five long hours of that intensely hot day the troops of our division had been actively engaged, exposed to a severe fire of artillery and musketry, which steadily increased until it became as terrible as any endured in the campaign. The enemy brought artillery to bear from every direction, commanding the front and flanks, sweeping, also, the rear of the line, and commanding all the approaches, inflicting great damage. The heat was overpowering. In addition to the killed and wounded more than two hundred in our division had been prostrated by heat. Hundreds of men, besides, were so exhausted physically that it was simply impossible for them to load and fire. They suffered greatly from thirst, as it was impossible to obtain any water. The fire from our line had slackened considerably, while that of the enemy steadily increased. A steady concentric fire was poured into the crater, and the horrors of that place cannot be adequately portrayed.
The enemy had been so roughly handled in their assault after the colored troops had fallen back that they did not seem inclined to renew it, but kept up a continuous fire at short range which was very effective. Although it had been a lost battle since morning, General Potter at noon was making preparations to connect the line and intrench it, when he received orders to withdraw his troops at discretion. But this was a most difficult movement to execute, on account of the mingled mass of troops in the crater, and an attempt to retire was to run the gauntlet of almost certain death. There were some brave spirits there who endeavored to restore order, and inspire courage to make a stand to cover the withdrawal. While the troops were retiring the enemy made a furious assault with a fresh division, in overwhelming numbers, on the lines about the crater, and forced the troops holding them to give way and fall back or surrender. Those escaped who could, and at two o'clock those remaining in the crater surrendered. Most of the troops of the Second Division were withdrawn, the last regiment to retire being the Second New York Rifles, at four o'clock, two hours after the surrender of the crater.
The loss of the division in the action was nine hundred and three killed, wounded, and missing, including seventy-five commissioned officers, out of less than three thousand rank and file, including two batteries of artillery. The brigade lost two hundred and seventy-one, which was very severe, considering the numbers engaged. The Forty-fifth Pennsylvania lost sixty-eight out of eighty[20] taken into the fight, and the Fifty-eighth Massachusetts brought out only twenty-eight muskets out of nearly two hundred engaged. The losses in the other three regiments engaged were less severe. The heroic bravery of the brigade was never more conspicuously displayed than amid the trials of that dreadful day. "All the officers and men of the command," says General Potter, in his official report, "fought with the greatest courage and determination."
[20] The losses of the rebels in their charges upon our lines was no less severe. The Sixth Virginia carried in ninety-eight men and lost eighty-eight. The Sharp-shooters carried in eighty men and lost sixty-four, their commander falling, while leaping upon the parapet, pierced by eleven bayonet wounds. The Forty-first Virginia lost one-fourth its number; the Sixty-first within a fraction of half its number. The loss in the Sixteenth was nearly as great as in the Sixth, proportionally. See McCabe's "Defence of Petersburg," Southern Historical Society Papers, Dec., 1876, pp. 293, 294.
At four o'clock in the afternoon, as the Second New York Rifles returned from the rebel lines and marched through our pits with colors flying high above the top of the pits, our men told them they had better lower their colors unless they wanted to draw the enemy's fire and receive a shelling. They gave no heed to the caution and kept the flags flying. The words were scarcely uttered before we heard the never-to-be-forgotten whistle of a mortar shell, and the next instant it struck squarely in the pits and exploded within three feet of the colors. None were killed; but one of the Second New York had a hand blown off, and one of our men had his face filled with the hard dirt from the bottom of the pits. The shot had the effect to bring down the flags to a trail, and the regiment, with bowed heads, passed out of the pits.