"Col. Henry drove the skirmishers back upon their main forces, which were strongly posted between two swamps. The position was admirably chosen; their right rested upon a low, slight earthwork, protected by rifle-pits, their center was defended by an impassable swamp, and on their left was a cavalry force drawn up on a small elevation behind the shelter of a grove of pines. Their camp was intersected by the railroad, on which was placed a battery capable of operating against the center and left of the advancing column, while a rifle gun, mounted on a railroad flat, pointed down the road in front.
"Gen. Seymour, in order to attack this strongly fortified position, had necessarily to place his troops between the two swamps, one in his front, the other in the rear. The Federal cavalry, following up the skirmishers, had attacked the rebel right and were driven back, but were met by the 7th New Hampshire, 7th Connecticut, a regiment of the black Phalanx (8th Pennsylvania), and Elder's battery of four and Hamilton's of six pieces. This force was hurled against the rebel right with such impetuosity that the batteries were within one hundred yards of the rebel line of battle before they knew it. However, they took position, and supported by the Phalanx regiment, opened a vigorous fire upon the rebel earthworks. The Phalanx regiment advanced within twenty or thirty yards of the enemy's rifle-pits, and poured a volley of minie balls into the very faces of those who did not fly on their approach.
"The 7th Connecticut and the 7th New Hampshire, the latter with their seven-shooters, Spencer repeaters, Col. Hawley, commanding, had taken a stand further to the right of the battery, and were hotly engaging the rebels. The Phalanx regiment (8th), after dealing out two rounds from its advanced position, finding the enemy's force in the center preparing to charge upon them, fell back under cover of Hamilton's battery, which was firing vigorously and effectively into the rebel column. The 7th Connecticut and New Hampshire about this time ran short of ammunition, and Col. Hawley, finding the rebels outnumbered his force three to one, was about ordering Col. Abbott to fall back and out of the concentrated fire of the enemy pouring upon his men, when he observed the rebels coming in for a down upon his column.
"Here they come like tigers; the Federal column wavers a little; it staggers and breaks, falling back in considerable disorder! Col. Hawley now ordered Col. Fribley to take his Phalanx Regiment, the 8th, to the right of the battery and check the advancing rebel force. No time was to be lost, the enemy's sharpshooters had already silenced two of Hamilton's guns, dead and dying men and horses lay in a heap about them, while at the remaining four guns a few brave artillerists were loading and fixing their pieces, retarding the enemy in his onward movement.
"Deficient in artillery, they had not been able to check the Federal cavalry in its dash, but the concentrated fire from right to center demoralized, and sent them galloping over the field wildly. Col. Fribley gave the order by the right flank, double quick! and the next moment the 8th Phalanx swept away to the extreme right in support of the 7th New Hampshire and the 7th Connecticut. The low, direct aim of the enemy in the rifle-pits, his Indian sharpshooters up in the trees, had ere now so thinned the ranks of Col. Hawley's command that his line was gone, and the 8th Phalanx met the remnant of his brigade as it was going to the rear in complete disorder. The rebels ceased firing and halted as the Phalanx took position between them and their fleeing comrades. They halted not perforce, but apparently for deliberation, when with one fell swoop in the next moment they swept the field in their front.
"The Phalanx did not, however, quit the field in a panic-stricken manner but fell hastily back to the battery, only to find two of the guns silent and their brave workers and horses nearly all of them dead upon the field. With a courage undaunted, surpassed by no veteran troops on any battle-field, the Phalanx attempted to save the silent guns. In this effort Col. Fribley was killed, in the torrent of rebel bullets which fell upon the regiment. It held the two guns, despite two desperate charges made by the enemy to capture them, but the stubbornness of the Phalanx was no match for the ponderous weight of their enemy's column, their sharpshooters and artillery mowing down ranks of their comrades at every volley. A grander spectacle was never witnessed than that which this regiment gave of gallant courage. They left their guns only when their line officers and three hundred and fifty of their valiant soldiers were dead upon the field, the work of an hour and a half. The battery lost forty of its horses and four of its brave men. The Phalanx saved the colors of the battery with its own. Col. Barton's brigade, the 47th, 48th and 115th New York, during the fight on the right had held the enemy in the front and center at bay, covering Elder's battery, and nobly did they do their duty, bravely maintaining the reputation they had won before Charleston, but like the other troops, the contest was too unequal. The rebels outnumbered them five to one, and they likewise gave way, leaving about a fourth of their number upon the field, dead and wounded.
"Col. Montgomery's brigade, comprising two Phalanx regiments, 54th Massachusetts and 1st North Carolina, which had been held in reserve about a mile down the road, now came up at double-quick. They were under heavy marching orders, with ten days' rations in their knapsacks, besides their cartridge boxes they carried ten rounds in their overcoat pockets. The road was sandy, and the men often found their feet beneath the sand, but with their wonted alacrity they speed on up the road, the 54th leading in almost a locked running step, followed closely by the 1st North Carolina. As they reached the road intersected by the railroad they halted in the rear of what remained of Hamilton's battery, loading a parting shot. The band of the 54th took position on the side of the road, and while the regiments were unstringing knapsacks as coolly as if about to bivouac, the music of the band burst out on the sulphurous air, amid the roar of artillery, the rattle of musketry and the shouts of commands, mingling its soul-stirring strains with the deafening yells of the charging columns, right, left, and from the rebel center. Thus on the very edge of the battle, nay, in the battle, the Phalanx band poured out in heroic measures 'The Star Spangled Banner.' Its thrilling notes, soaring above the battles' gales, aroused to new life and renewed energy the panting, routed troops, flying in broken and disordered ranks from the field. Many of them halted, the New York troops particularly, and gathered at the battery again, pouring a deadly volley into the enemy's works and ranks. The 54th had but a moment to prepare for the task. General Seymour rode up and appealed to the Phalanx to check the enemy and save the army from complete and total annihilation. Col. Montgomery gave Col. Hallowell the order 'Forward,' pointing to the left, and away went the 54th Phalanx regiment through the woods, down into the swamp, wading up to their knees—in places where the water reached their hips; yet on they went till they reached terra firma. Soon the regiment stood in line of battle, ready to meet the enemy's advancing cavalry, emerging from the extreme left.
"'Hold your fire!' the order ran down the line. Indeed, it was trying. The cavalry had halted but the enemy, in their rifle-pits in the center of their line, poured volley after volley into the ranks of the Phalanx, which it stood like a wall of granite, holding at bay the rebel cavalry hanging on the edge of a pine grove. The 1st Phalanx regiment entered the field in front, charged the rebels in the centre of the line, driving them into their rifle-pits, and then for half an hour the carnage became frightful. They had followed the rebels into the very jaws of death, and now Col. Reid found his regiment in the enemy's enfilading fire, and they swept his line. Men fell like snowflakes. Driven by this terrific fire, they fell back. The 54th had taken ground to the right, lending whatever of assistance they could to their retiring comrades, who were about on a line with them, for although retreating, it was in the most cool and deliberate manner, and the two regiments began a firing at will against which the rebels, though outnumbering them, could not face. Thus they held them till long after sunset, and firing ceased.
"The slaughter was terrible; the Phalanx lost about 800 men, the white troops about 600. It was Braddock's defeat after the lapse of a century."
The rout was complete; the army was not only defeated but beaten and demoralized. The enemy had succeeded in drawing it into a trap for the purpose of annihilating it. Seymour had advanced, contrary to the orders given him by General Gillmore, from Baldwin's Station, where he was instructed to intrench and await orders. Whether or not he sought to retrieve the misfortunes that had attended him in South Carolina, in assaulting the enemy's works, is a question which need not be discussed here. It is only necessary to show the miserable mismanagement of the advance into the enemy's country. The troops were marched into an ambuscade, where they were slaughtered by the enemy at will. Even after finding his troops ambuscaded, and within two hundred yards of the confederate fortifications, General Seymour did not attempt to fall back and form a line of battle, though he had sufficient artillery, but rushed brigade after brigade up to the enemy's guns, only to be mowed down by the withering storm of shot. Each brigade in turn went in as spirited as any troops ever entered a fight, but stampeded out of it maimed, mangled and routed. At sunset the road, foot-paths and woods leading back to Saunders' Station, was full of brave soldiers hastening from the massacre of their comrades, in their endeavor to escape capture. At about nine o'clock that night, what remained of the left column, Colonel Montgomery's brigade, consisting of the 54th and 35th Phalanx Regiments, and a battery, arrived at the Station, and reported the confederates in hot pursuit.