July 2. The regiment had orders to move to the vicinity of brigade headquarters, to act as provost guard of the division. Major Charles Chipman was detached from the regiment and assigned to the command of the Fourteenth New York Heavy Artillery. This was a large regiment, then acting as infantry; its Colonel, Lieutenant-Colonel, and three Majors were absent, the first two officers by reason of wounds. It was regarded as a great compliment to Major Chipman, that he should have been selected from among the many able officers of the corps and division to take the command of this excellent regiment; but it was a well-deserved mark of respect. The men were kept busy nearly all day throwing up a line of works to protect them from the enemy’s bullets; the weather was extremely warm, and the earth hard and difficult to work with the shovel.
July 3. The men were kept at work on the entrenchments nearly all day, which was equally as warm as the preceding one. During the day a patrol was sent out from the regiment, and arrested seventy Federal soldiers, who were found without proper passes; toward night the enemy opened a severe artillery and musketry fire upon our whole line, making it dangerous for a man to show his head above the breastworks.
July 4. A part of the regiment were at work shovelling, while a detail was made for patrol duty; eighty-nine more stragglers were apprehended and sent back to their respective regiments. The enemy seemed to be engaged in observing the anniversary of American Independence, and allowed our army to do the same. The officers of the Twenty-ninth had a modest little celebration of the day on their own account.
We have given enough of the daily experiences of the soldiers on the front line to enable the general reader to understand the nature of the life which troops thus situated, led. But we have another purpose in occasionally adopting the diary form of narrative. These dates form so many initial points in the history of the regiment, and lead its members on to the recollection of a great variety of incidents, not of sufficient importance to chronicle, but of peculiar importance to them personally.
On the 21st, there were some indications of a battle; the Second Brigade, of which the Twenty-ninth was a member, was ordered up during the night to the support of General Willcox’s division. On the following day, the Brigade, Colonel Barnes in temporary command, was reviewed, and highly complimented. General William F. Bartlett arrived and assumed command of the First Brigade, and Colonel Marshall of the Fourteenth New York (H. A. Vols.) having also reported for duty, was assigned to the command of the Second Brigade. The regiment was transferred to the First Brigade.
July 24. The regiment again went to the front line.
July 26. Ordered to the rear.
July 27. Orders were received to be in readiness to move at any moment.
July 28. The entire First Brigade moved to the front line.
It seems necessary to pause here and state certain facts closely associated with the thrilling events of which we must directly speak. In the various assaults made upon the enemy’s lines on the 16th, 17th, and 18th of June, the Ninth Corps obtained an advanced position, “beyond a deep cut in the railroad, within about one hundred and twenty-five yards of the enemy’s lines. Just in rear of that advanced position was a deep hollow,” ... where any work could be carried on without the knowledge of the enemy. In the course of a few days after this ground had been taken by the corps, Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Pleasants of the Forty-eighth Pennsylvania Volunteers waited on General Potter, who commanded one of the divisions of the Ninth Corps, and suggested to him, that in his opinion a mine could be run under one of the enemy’s batteries, by which means it could be blown up, and a breach thus made in the enemy’s lines. General Potter seems to have thought favorably of the plan, and in turn suggested it to General Burnside, by whom it was fully approved.