Owing to the wooded nature of the country and the bad roads, General Warren did not get up to join us on the right before we were attacked by the enemy under General Mahone. Picket firing had begun in the woods on our right and growing heavier, General Pierce ordered the 5th Michigan and the 105th Pennsylvania into the woods to support the pickets. The two regiments had been in the woods but a short time when they were fiercely attacked by the enemy in overwhelming numbers in front and on both flanks. The men of Michigan and Pennsylvania were of the best there were in the army, but they could not withstand the great odds against them. They were obliged to fall back, leaving many of their dead and wounded, and both regiments lost their colors, although they were two of the best regiments in the division. When this attack began the rest of the brigade tried to change front, but the enemy were too close upon us and for a while considerable confusion existed. The greater part of our brigade fell back a short distance, to the woods on the west side of the plank road, where it reformed and drove the enemy back into the woods from which they had emerged. In this we were greatly assisted by our 2d division under General Egan. Egan had been engaged with the enemy near Burgess' tavern, and was about to storm the bridge which crosses Hatcher's run at that place when Mahone made his attack on our position. Egan promptly sent part of his command to our support and his men attacked Mahone's troops in the right flank and caused them to fall back into the woods with great loss, and also recapturing several of our guns which had fallen into the enemy's hands.
General Mahone, who made this attack which frustrated our designs on the South Side railroad, was an old resident of Petersburg, and was thoroughly acquainted with all the roads in that section, which enabled him to discover the gap in our lines between Hancock's and Warren's corps, so he "sailed in," with the result above stated. The rebel cavalry under Wade Hampton at the same time attacked our left and rear, but was kept in check by our cavalry under Gen. D. M. Gregg.
We remained on the field until 11 p. m., when we withdrew and marched back by the same road over which we had advanced in the morning. About daylight we halted for a while near the Wyatt house and later on resumed the march and occupied our old camp near Fort Alex. Hays.
Our regimental loss in the action of October 27th was 5 men wounded and 5 men missing or captured. The fight is generally called the "Battle of Boydton Plank Road" or "Hatcher's Run." By the men of our division it was generally spoken of as the "Bull Pen" fight.
About dark on the evening of October 30th a number of rebels, disguised, wearing our uniform, began to relieve our pickets in front of our 1st division on that part of the line held by the 69th and 111th New York volunteers. It was customary at the time to relieve our pickets at dark, and the enemy took advantage of that circumstance by dressing themselves in our clothes, which they had taken from some of our deserters, and began to relieve our pickets. In this way they captured a good portion of the line assisted by other men from their works which were close by. But fortunately the regular relief from our side was approaching and after a little skirmishing succeeded in reestablishing the line, but not before great commotion was caused in our camps by the report that the picket line had been captured. All the regiments were ordered out under arms and manned the breastworks for an hour or so, when quiet reigned again and the men were sent back to their tents.
The 57th, however, was ordered to the extreme front to support the picket line. At this point in front of Fort Hays our picket line was about a mile in front, the intervening space being mostly covered by a broad slashing and a strip of woods. Through this we marched and stumbled until we reached the picket line, where we were posted in a deep trench or covered way. There was a parapet at the top of the trench, behind which our pickets were stationed, and these, and the enemy's pickets kept firing at each other all night, as was usual at that time, on that part of the line. The night was quite chilly, and as but small fires could be built in the trenches we passed a very disagreeable night. We were relieved next morning and went back to camp, where we spent most of the day in sleeping.
Tuesday, November 8th, was election day. President Lincoln was the Republican, and Gen. George B. McClellan the Democratic candidate for the office of President. Most of the Northern states had enacted laws that soldiers in the field should be entitled to vote if they were of lawful age, the same as if they were in their respective states. The different states had appointed commissioners whose duty it was to furnish the regiments with the necessary election papers and tickets. The vote of the 57th stood 95 votes for Lincoln and 33 for McClellan. The regiment was recruited in those parts of Pennsylvania which were strongly Republican and it was but natural that the regiment was the same. The vote, however, in the entire army was for Lincoln by a large majority.
In the fore part of the war it was thought at headquarters of the army that political discussions among the soldiers should be discouraged, or prohibited. But what could keep an army of freeman from discussing political questions? Discussions of that kind were as frequent around our campfires in front of Petersburg in the fall of 1864, as they were in any ward meeting or country store in the North.
Thanksgiving Day, November 24, 1864, will long be remembered by the soldiers of the various Union armies, when instead of the usual dinner of pork and beans, hard tack, etc., they were, thanks to the loyal ladies of the North, treated to a genuine Thanksgiving dinner of roast turkey and other good things. Communication by steamer with the Army of the Potomac was handy to all the principal ports in the North, and for several days the wharves at City Point on the James river were piled with boxes and packages containing good things for the "boys" at the front. There was more than enough and all was in good condition. Some of the boxes contained the names of the fair donors, with the request that the parties receiving the same should acknowledge the receipt thereof. This in many instances led to a correspondence between the parties which ended in marriage, and the unions thus formed proved to be happy ones as far as the 57th boys were concerned.
During the month of November the terms of service of many of our officers expired, and they were accordingly mustered out of the service. Among these were Lieut. Col. W. B. Neeper, Capt. A. H. Nelson, Capt. Sprague Hill, Capt. H. H. Nelson and First Lieut. A. B. McCartney.