"About 3:30 p. m. orders came to pile knapsacks and be ready to march immediately. A little after 4 o'clock the brigade moved to the right, some three-quarters of a mile, into an open cornfield, and, after halting a few moments, turned down a road through the woods to the left with Gen. Wm. Birney, who ordered Col. Shaw to throw out skirmishers and advance with his brigade down a road which he pointed out, find the enemy and attack vigorously, and then rode away. Finding the road turning to the left, Col. Shaw sent word to Gen. Birney that the designated road would probably bring him back on our own line. The order came back from Gen. Birney to go ahead. The road still bearing to the left, word was again sent that we should strike our own line if we continued to advance in the direction we were going. A second time the answer came to move on. A third messenger having brought from Gen. Birney the same reply, Col. Shaw decided to disobey the order and call in the skirmishers. Before it could be done firing commenced and continued briskly for several minutes, before the men recognized each other, and it was discovered that we had been firing into our own Second Brigade—Col. Osborn's. This sad affair, which would not have occurred had Col Shaw's caution been heeded, resulted in the killing of the lieutenant commanding the picket-line and the wounding of many men on both sides. After this fiasco the brigade moved out into the cornfield, where it had halted earlier in the day, and bivouacked for the night. The regiment had been more or less exposed all day to shell-fire, but lost from it only four or five men wounded, in addition to the ten or twelve men wounded in the skirmish with Osborn's brigade.
"Early on the morning of the 16th, the regiment marched back to its knapsacks and halted for breakfast. About 10 o'clock it was ordered out to support two batteries, and remained on this duty until 3 p. m., changing position frequently, in the meantime Gen. Terry, with the First Division of the Tenth Corps, had charged the rebel line, near Fuzzel's mills, and captured it, together with three colors and some three hundred prisoners. But the enemy rallied, and with reinforcements, soon compelled Gen. Terry to relinquish the captured line. About dark Gen. Wm. Birney came up, and taking the left wing of the Seventh—the right wing, under Col. Shaw, was in support of a battery—and two companies of the Ninth, placed them under command of Lieut.-Col. Haskell, and ordered him with this handful of men to take an earthwork in his front which a division a short time before had failed to carry. The timely arrival of Gen. Terry put an end to this mad scheme. The regiment lost during the day eight or ten men wounded.
"The general results of the day's fighting had been unsatisfactory, for not only had Terry's attack failed in its object, but the advance on the right, along the Charles City road, by the troops of the Second Corps and Gregg's cavalry division, had been equally unsuccessful. The rebel General Chambliss was among the killed.
"About 2:30 a. m. of the 17th, the left wing of the regiment was sent back to a line of rifle-pits that had been thrown up some two hundred yards to the rear, where it was joined by the right wing in the morning after breakfast. Picket-firing continued during the day and heavy artillery firing was heard in the direction of Petersburg. At 4 p. m. a flag of truce was sent out and two hours given to bring in the dead from between the lines. Gen. Chambliss' body was delivered, and we received that of Capt. Williams, of the Thirty-ninth Illinois. Early in the evening the regiment was ordered on picket. Considerable picket-firing occurred during the night and day, the men being with difficulty restrained from it. We were relieved about noon of the 18th by the One Hundred and Fifteenth New York and Seventy-sixth Pennsylvania. * * *
"Early in the morning the Eighth and the Twenty-ninth Connecticut rejoined the regiment, and after the regiment was relieved from picket, it, with the Twenty-ninth, fell back a quarter of a mile, leaving the Eighth and Ninth on the line. Rations having been drawn, the men got supper and prepared for a good night's sleep. Suddenly a heavy musketry fire broke out toward the left which rapidly extended to the right and the entire line was soon under fire. The regiment moved forward at double-quick, but by the time it reached the front and formed line, darkness set in and the enemy fell back. About 11 p. m. our forces were withdrawn, and, after several hours spent in marching and halting, the regiment went into camp two miles from the pontoons. Here it lay all day of the 19th. The following congratulatory order was received from corps headquarters, in which the brigade was spoken of in very flattering terms by Maj.-Gen. D. B. Birney, commanding:
"'Headquarters Tenth Army Corps,
Fuzzel's Mills, Va., August 19, 1864.
"'General Orders.—The Major-General commanding congratulates the Tenth Army Corps upon its success. It has, on each occasion, when ordered, broken the enemy's strong lines. It has captured during this short campaign four siege guns protected by formidable works, six colors and many prisoners. It has proved itself worthy of its old Wagner and Fort Sumter renown.
"'Much fatigue, patience and heroism, may still be demanded of it, but the Major-General commanding is confident of the response. To the colored troops, recently added to us, and fighting with us, the Major-General tenders his thanks for their uniform good conduct and soldierly bearing. They have set a good example to our veterans, by the entire absence of straggling from their ranks on the march.
"'By order of Maj.-Gen. D. B. Birney.
"'E.W. SMITH,
Lieutenant-Colonel and Assistant Adjutant-General.'