Old soldiers needed not to be reminded that an active campaign would soon be inaugurated, and with the proverbial instinct begotten of experience began that personal preparation for effective work and rapid marching in selecting what things to throw away. Inspections became more frequent and exacting, and the fact of a speedy movement "was in the air." Sutlers were ordered to City Point. The reserve division was moved to the left of Fort Davis, to stake out and fortify a new defensive line covering the left and rear of the Ninth-Corps line, and in a few days had a strong line of intrenchments.
While these preparations were in progress, in fact, while the army of the Potomac was under marching orders, the enemy suddenly and unexpectedly assumed the offensive. On the night of the 24th of March, the day General Grant issued his orders for a forward movement of his armies, a strong force of the enemy, consisting of Gordon's corps and Bushrod Johnson's division, the whole commanded by General Gordon, was prepared for an attack on the right of the Ninth Corps. Before daylight on the morning of the 25th three heavy columns of the enemy charged and captured the main line on our right from Battery Nine to Fort Haskell, including Fort Stedman, the principal work in that portion of the line. The columns after reaching the works charged to the right and left of the aperture, and advanced a heavy line to the rear to seize the military railroad and sever connections with City Point. By this time a portion of the Third Division, under General Hartranft, reached the scene of action, and attacked the enemy with such vigor as to drive him into Fort Stedman and the adjoining lines. With the reinforcements from this division the troops on the right and left of the works held by the enemy were enabled to form a line perpendicular to the main line, and not only successfully resisted any attempt of the enemy to advance, but confined him to that portion of the line already occupied.
Preparations were at once made to retake the captured line; and General Hartranft's division, by a gallant charge, succeeded in reoccupying the works, and captured more than nineteen hundred prisoners. While this movement was in progress on the right, the troops of the Second and Fifth Corps, on the left of the Ninth, attacked and captured the enemy's strongly intrenched picket line in their front, gaining very valuable ground, capturing nearly a thousand prisoners, repelling several desperate attacks of the enemy to recapture the works.
In the action at Fort Stedman the regiment was represented by Captain Hodgkins, who was serving on the staff of General Hartranft, commanding Third Division. It was an action in which the Ninth Corps won deserved credit, exacting from the enemy a bloody price for his temerity, and fully avenging the disaster at the explosion of the mine eight months before.
Comparative quiet was maintained by the enemy for a few days following their repulse on the 25th. On the 27th General Sheridan and the Cavalry Corps arrived in rear of our lines, and moved to the left. On the 29th the surplus artillery of the army of the Potomac, two hundred pieces, was sent to the Ninth Corps, and the several corps designated for the turning movement on the left moved out. The operations of the army had begun on a grand scale.
CHAPTER XXVI.
THE FINAL ASSAULT AT PETERSBURG.
The enemy's works from the Appomattox to a point in front of Fort Sedgwick were part of the old interior line of defences. At this point the old line turned to the enemy's right, forming an angle, but the works were continued parallel with our front by a kind of spur, which diverged from an old line and swept down toward Hatcher's Run. The Ninth Corps fronted the whole of this old line to the angle and about two miles of the spur. When the main army moved to the left, on the 29th of March, the corps was disposed so as to hold our front line to Fort Davis, and a line of works running back from that point and covering our left and rear. In other words our left was curved backward into a fish-hook shape, and our position became isolated.
On the night of the 29th a considerable detail of the regiment was sent out to level a disused parapet, some two or three hundred yards in front of the fort. While at work the men were startled at about ten o'clock by the sound of rapid cannonading on the right. Looking toward the Appomattox they saw the air filled with shells, the burning fuses appearing like gigantic fireflies. It was an attractive spectacle, and for a few moments the men leaned on their spades and gazed; but as the firing ran rapidly down the line, and mortar-batteries and pickets began to open in their immediate front, there was a sudden and unanimous decision that a view from the inside of the fort was not only preferable, but of the most pressing importance. The regiment turned out and took position in the fort ready for action, but nothing occurred beyond the noise and a few casualties.