On the afternoon of the 26th of July our corps made a forced march of thirty miles, and was sent to the north side of the James, crossing on a pontoon bridge at Jones Neck, on the morning of the 27th, and soon came up to the enemy, who were entrenched in strong force at Bailey's creek, from the mouth of the creek to Fussel's mill. Here we had some severe fighting on the 28th and 29th, in which the 57th lost quite a number of men. This fight is called in official records "Strawberry Plains."
On the evening of the 29th we recrossed the James and Appomattox, and marched back to a point in rear of where the "Burnside mine" was to be exploded, and here we relieved a division of the 9th corps, in order that they might take part in the assault that was to follow the explosion. This mine had been carefully and skillfully constructed by Lieut. Col. Henry Pleasants and his men of the 48th Pennsylvania. From a point on the 9th corps lines, where the Union and rebel lines were close together, a gallery was run five hundred and ten feet in length, terminating under a rebel fort garrisoned by Pegram's battery and the 18th and part of the 23d South Carolina infantry. The powder was put in the mine in eight magazines with one thousand pounds in each. The mine was to have been exploded at 4:30 a. m., but owing to the fuse going out, another half hour went by before it was considered safe to enter the shaft to mend and relight the fuse. Finally two brave men, Lieut. Jacob Douty and Sergt. Henry Rees, of the 48th Pennsylvania, entered the shaft, spliced the fuse, which was relit, and at a little past 5 o'clock the mighty explosion followed, sending into the air a great mass of earth, with which were mingled bodies of men and parts of muskets and artillery carriages. The explosion opened a crater one hundred and twenty feet long, sixty wide, and twenty-five feet deep. The enemy in their surrounding forts were so bewildered that it was fully a half hour before they opened fire or attempted to reoccupy the ground at the crater. Thus far everything went well for our side, but that charge of the troops which was to have followed the explosion, was miserably conducted, and ended with disaster and the loss of many brave men.
About the 1st of August, Gen. D. B. Birney, who had for a long time been in command of our division, was assigned to the command of the 10th army corps. He was succeeded in the command of our division by Gen. Gershom Mott, who entered the service in 1861 as colonel of the 6th New Jersey volunteers. For the greater part of the time that we were in front of Petersburg, our brigade was commanded by Brig. Gen. Byron R. Pierce, formerly colonel of the 3d Michigan volunteers.
After the Burnside mine explosion we moved back to our old camping ground at Fort Alex. Hays and remained there until the 13th of August, when another expedition to the north side of the James was put on foot. The 2d corps was marched to City Point and there got on board of transports, which, in order to deceive any scouts the enemy might have thereabouts, were at first started down the James, but after dark they were turned about and proceeded up the river until we reached Jones Neck, where we landed on the north side of the river. We moved out the Newmarket road and soon found the enemy in force on the west side of Bailey's creek. On the night of the 14th the division was massed at Fussel's mill, and on the 15th we were maneuvering all day to get into position.
On the 16th we engaged the enemy above Fussel's mill, where we lost quite a number of men, and took between two and three hundred prisoners. In this fight Col. Calvin A. Craig, of the 105th Pennsylvania and temporarily in command of our brigade, was killed. He was an excellent officer and his loss was deeply felt by the whole brigade. We remained on the north side of the river during the 17th and 18th, keeping up a continual threatening attitude by changing position and skirmishing. On the afternoon of the 18th another fight was brought on by the enemy leaving their works and coming out to attack us.
On the night of the 18th our (Mott's) division recrossed the James and marched to the extreme left of the line to reenforce the 5th corps under General Warren, who was about making an attempt to capture the Weldon railroad at the Globe tavern or "Yellow House."
On August 25th our division was ordered to Ream's station on the Weldon road, to reenforce the other two divisions of our corps who had a severe fight there. When we arrived we were under fire, but the other divisions were withdrawn, and we were ordered back to the vicinity of Fort Hays, where we went on picket and established a new picket line at night.
From this date until September 30th we remained in the front line of works between the Jerusalem plank road and the Yellow House doing picket and fatigue duty, and occasionally having a skirmish with the enemy on the picket line.
On September 30th in compliance with orders we packed up, and were ready to move at a moment's notice, and remained so for the day, but did not move out of camp. About noon, October 1st, we were ordered to fall in, when we marched to Hancock Station on the United States Military railroad, where we boarded cars which ran us down to the Yellow House, or Warren's Station, where we got off and marched about two miles and then bivouacked in rear of the 9th corps. At 7 a. m., October 2d, we moved out to the left of the 9th corps, advanced through a thick woods and charged with the rest of the brigade, on a line of the enemy's works, through a thick slashing. This line appeared only to have been occupied by a few pickets, who fled on our approach, which gave us a bloodless victory. We remained for half an hour in these works and again advanced, passed over a second line of works, and advanced about half a mile, where we found the enemy strongly entrenched, and obstinately resisting our further advance. About 3 p. m. we were deployed as flankers and were to act as provost. The rest of the brigade charged the enemy's works, but were repulsed and fell back to the line we occupied. We remained in this position until about 4 p. m., when we were relieved by the 9th corps, and then marched back about a mile and a half, to the 5th corps, where we bivouacked for the night. October 3d we were under arms at 4 a.m., and furnished a detail to work on the fortifications, the rest of the regiment remaining in camp. On the 4th we were at work again on the fortifications. About 8 p. m. on the 8th we marched back to our old camp at Fort Alex. Hays, where we arrived at midnight. In this affair we had three men severely wounded. The engagement is known as "Peeble's Farm" or "Poplar Springs Church."