We resumed our march about an hour before sundown on the afternoon of the 15th, and at dark were crossing the James River on the pontoons laid over it at Harrison's Landing. Our course then lay along the left bank of the river and parallel to it, leaving City Point on our right and bringing us up to the front of the city of Petersburg, about 4 o'clock on the afternoon of the 16th of June.
Our sufferings on this day's march, from heat, thirst and fatigue combined, were severe in the extreme, but, to the credit of our regiment, with the exception of one or two cases of sun stroke, not a man fell out, or was missing when we arrived at our final destination.
We had hardly halted and commenced preparations for supper when we were ordered to move on to support a charge about to be made by the 4th, or colored division, of our corps, and so marched about a mile further, formed line of battle in a piece of pine woods and awaited orders. But a short time had elapsed before a confused cheer, or rather yell, in our front followed by a dropping fire of musketry and a few rounds from the artillery told that the ball had opened and that our turn might arrive any minute. The firing, however, gradually died away without our services being required, and we shortly learned that the sable gentry had been successful and had carried the first line of the defences of Petersburg. Supposing that our services would not be further required, we proceeded to prepare our long deferred and much desired supper, but hardly had the scent of the coffee—the great stand-by and panacea of the soldiery—become perceptible to our expectant senses, before the unwelcome order came for us again to move and hold the line of works the colored troops had taken. With many a sigh, the tempting decoction of the Arabian herb was consigned to the sacred soil of Virginia—in plain English we threw away our coffee—and with many an insubordinate growl and execration on the "exigencies of the service," we started for our new scene of labors. A few solid shot and shell, and one or two rounds of case and canister were pitched at us as we moved up to the works, which beyond creating some slight consternation, did no damage whatever, and, having occupied the old line of rebel works, we passed the night without molestation and in comparative peace.
Early on the morning of the 17th June, the brigade was formed in line of battle, in a ravine, preparatory to charging a line of works, extending from the Bagster Road almost to Hare Hill, the future site of Fort Steadman. This line of works was situated in the middle of a field of corn, then just in the tassel, on the crest of a ridge or slight elevation, and was built in the shape of the letter V, the apex of the line being towards the rear. To the right and left of the line were batteries, and another in a narrow section of pine woods covered the centre of the line. Though not very strongly manned, the work was a heavy one, and from its commanding position and the heavy enfilading fire that could be brought to bear on almost any part of it, not by any means an easy one to carry. Our line was however formed, and we stood there, the hot bright sun almost blinding us and heating the dry sand under our feet, till it almost blistered them, awaiting the orders to commence our first battle. A desultory fire was being kept up by a line of skirmishers and sharpshooters entrenched a little in advance of our line and a round of spherical case or canister would occasionally come whistling over our heads, spattering sharply and viciously through the timber close in our rear and making the limbs and splinters fly far and wide. At length the preparations were all made, and with beating hearts we waited for the word; it came at last: "Forward, double quick! charge!" a wild, loud cheer, rolls along from one end to the other of the brigade, a sudden trampling of feet breaks in on the comparative quiet of the summer's morning, a few seconds and the line of works in our front becomes wreathed in smoke, as we mount a low bank which had hitherto concealed it from our view;—an angry roar from the batteries in the woods in front of us, and an hailstorm of shot, shell, grape, canister, and minie balls screaming through the air above and around us and throwing up clouds of dust, as they strike the sand in every direction, till the whole battle field is obscured by a heavy cloud of dust and smoke through which the rebel works in front of us and their truculent looking butternut defenders are barely discernible. And through it all the wild cheering yell of our boys as they pant and struggle on through the deep sand, which fills mouth and nostrils, almost suffocating us; the crash and roar of cannon and musketry, the bursting of shells, the whiz of the missiles as they pass, the cries of the wounded as they roll over in their agony, all blended and mingling together, yet each sound distinct and clear as if the only one to break the stillness of the summer air. But no words can paint a battle any more than can canvas portray its details, which only those who have participated in can appreciate or understand. On we go,
"On, on, through the hell-fire of shrapnel and shell
On without faltering, right on with a yell,"
till we see the scowling, wolfish looking faces of the rebels in their works, till their fire slackens, till we can see the artillerymen working the guns of the battery on our left limbering up their pieces and starting to the rear, till the right of their line breaks slowly from their works and retires to the rear.
Then comes an order "half wheel to the right," a wavering confused movement along the whole line, a yell of derision from the Rebels, a sudden recommencement of their fire; and, with victory within its grasp, the brigade falls back on the line of works they lately left confident of victory, shattered and broken and leaving hundreds of its numbers on the field.
From whom the order came directing the movement to the right has never, I believe, been satisfactorily established, but to this order, exposing the whole brigade, as it did, to a most severe enfilading fire, may be attributed the failure of the charge and the heavy loss sustained by the brigade. Our leading files were close up to the works, the Rebels were withdrawing their men and guns, and had we but been allowed to go right ahead, we should have taken the whole and suffered much less loss than we did. Had we done so, our entrance into Petersburg that afternoon would have been easily accomplished, as the troops opposed to us were nothing but the Petersburg Reserves, raw militia, and few in number.
Our regiment suffered severely in this its first day's fight. Major Kershaw was shot through the legs; Lieut. Colonel Doolittle was slightly wounded in the shoulder and had his shoulder strap torn off by a piece of a shell; Lieut. Earl, Co. B, received a gunshot wound which caused his death shortly afterwards; Lieut. F. B. Riddle, Co. C, was mortally wounded, and Capt. Green received a slight contusion from a piece of shell.