At dawn on the morning of the 6th the enemy, having been re-enforced by the 9th army corps under Gen. Burnside, and a fresh division commanded by Wadsworth, advanced.
The intervening space between the position now held by our brigade, and the point at which we fought on the 5th, was occupied by our (Hill's) corps camped in irregular order, and in no condition for an assault; consequently, when the enemy made their advance and attacked, these forces were thrown into confusion and driven back to the line where our brigade had formed the night previous. After a severe contest a portion of Heth's and Wilcox's divisions were overpowered and forced to fall back; our brigade, under protection of our hastily constructed earthworks, held its position. The condition of affairs was now assuming a very critical phase, when Kershaw's brigade of South Carolinians, of Longstreet's corps, arrived upon the scene and for a short while arrested their further advance. The repulsed portions of our divisions were in considerable disorder, and the battle began to rage with intense fury.
General Lee, anxious and appreciating the impending crisis, rode up with hat in hand, dashed among the men, and calling upon them to rally, said he would lead the charge. The reins of his horse were seized by the men and he was told he must go "to the rear," or they would not go forward. Being evidently touched at this manifestation of anxiety upon the part of his men the great, grand, and towering old hero waved his hand and retired. In a few moments Anderson's gallant Texas boys came up at a double-quick, deployed into line of battle, and, with Longstreet at their head, went forward with a yell. Major Webb, while standing on our works cheering, was severely wounded and retired to the rear. In a short while the ground lost by our troops was recovered, and the enemy forced back to the position originally held by them. General Longstreet now took the defensive, and about mid-day made an attack on their rear and left flank. The assault resulted in their utter rout, and they were forced back some distance in rear of the lines occupied by them on the 5th. So far, this movement was a complete success, and Longstreet began preparations to follow up his advantages with a flank movement by the Brock road.
While advancing at the head of Gen. Jenkins' brigade, a portion of his flanking column, which had continued through the woods in the former charge, mistaking the brigade for the enemy fired into them, killing Gen. Jenkins, and seriously wounding Gen. Longstreet. This unfortunate and strange fatality checked our forward movement, and afforded the enemy time and opportunity to rally and reform behind their entrenchments.
At dark we began to move slowly to the right, and after we had proceeded about one mile a rebel yell, as if a rushing mighty wind, rolled down upon us from the right of our lines. Our army now was in a continuous line of battle, and the cheering was taken up spontaneously by brigade after brigade until it swelled into one exulting roar of defiance. At first it seemed like the soft murmuring of the wind in the tree tops, and as it came nearer it made one vast tempest of sound, and thus it swayed back and forth for some time. Its effect was tragic in the extreme, and I readily recall the sensation it produced upon all at the time. The enemy's pickets thought we were making a grand charge and fled so precipitately to their main line that, as the prisoners we captured the next day informed us, they were fired into by their own men and many of them killed.
On the morning of the 7th an advance was made and Grant was found to have retired from his line of works on his right. We had several skirmishes, and desultory firing continued during the day.
He now attempted by a flank movement to secure possession of Spottsylvania Court-House, and Warren's corps, of his advance guard, marched out of the Wilderness by the Brock road. On his arrival at the Po River, on the following day, he found in his path, ready to dispute his passage, Gen. R. H. Anderson's division of Longstreet's corps. Each army, now forming on its advance guard as a nucleus, swung round, and on the 9th confronted each other in line of battle.
On our march on the 8th we were interrupted by several skirmishes, and were frequently shelled by the enemy. In the evening we reached Spottsylvania Court-House, and were placed in line, without regard to alignment, a short distance to the left of the court-house building, where we at once proceeded to fortify. We were moved afterwards to different parts of the lines, but finally took our position not far from where we first halted.
CHAPTER XV.
On the 10th Barlow's division made an attack upon our left and obtained temporary possession of a portion of Ewell's line. Gen. Lee said that these lines must be re-established, if he had to attend to it in person. Our (Heth's) division was called upon to do the work. We received our orders and were soon in readiness. Advancing cautiously for some little time, we came upon the enemy about one mile this side of a branch of the Po, we deployed into line and began to push them back. They finally halted in some earth-works, freshly thrown up, in front of Mrs. Graves' house, in front of which was a large open field. As soon as we got into the road running parallel to these works, we were halted and reformed, and, after some little delay, we were ordered to charge their works and drive them away. We charged across the open field under a heavy fire of artillery from their batteries on the hills beyond the little stream, which ran a short distance in the rear of their earth-works. Before we reached the works they, deeming "prudence the better part of valor," fled and made good their retreat, leaving behind them one piece of artillery, their dead and wounded, and several prisoners. We remained several hours at their works under a heavy shelling; some few of the shells exploding in our ranks. Gen. Cooke was slightly wounded in the charge, and Ensign W. C. Story, after we reached the works. We were finally withdrawn and marched back to our position on the main lines, after we had recovered the lost ground and forced the enemy to relinquish their temporary advantage. The 11th was passed in comparative quiet, with the exception of our usual salutation from the enemy's batteries. They made daily practice on our works, and endeavored to batter down and destroy the buildings in the village. They appeared to have a special spite at the little brick church immediately in rear of our regiment, occupied by our surgeon (Dr. Hunt) as a dispensary. "Gwin" had hardly "opened up" when a wicked shell came thundering through the gable, and he concluded to vacate, which he did in considerable disorder. When we quit our lines the little church was sadly in need of a contribution box.