FROM THE WILDERNESS TO COLD HARBOR.

141

^ r °uld exhaust the cartridges in their boxes before the attack ceased. Sending0f der for a supply of ammunition to be brought into the lines, I wentWn to the trenches to regulate the firing. On my way I met a man,°Hging to the 15 tli Alabama regiment of my brigade, running to theJf ar through the storm of bullets that swept the hill. He had left his hat. Ilri d in his retreat, was crying like a

bisr

I

8 baby, and was the bloodiest man

ever

saw.

-I ~ - tOttr VV • Oh, General,” he blub-

out, “ I am dead! I am killed!tj. a t this ! ” showing his wound.a 6 AVa » s a broad, fat-faced fellow, and1 ttlln ie-ball had passed through hisI and the fleshy part of his neck,a large amount of blood. Find-^8 it was only a flesh-wound, I told111 to go on; he was not hurt. Heat me doubtfully for a second

. bO

looked

Mb

a s ^

- questioning my veracity or my

THE TAVERN AT NEW COLD IIARBOR, IIANOVER COUNTY,VIRGINIA , AS IT APPEARED IN 1864, NOT LONG AFTERGENERAL GRANT’S CHANGE OF POSITION.

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h

^gical knowledge, I don’t know which ; then, as if satisfied with myhis^ ll0S ^ S ’ b v °ke '" 1 ° a broad laugh, and, the tears still running down® cheeks, trotted off, the happiest man I saw that day.n reaching the trenches, I found the men in fine spirits, laughing andw ln g as they fired. There, too, I could see more plainly the terrible havocill f 6111 ^ le ranks of the assaulting column. I had seen the dreadful carnage^jij l0,1 t of Marye’s Hill at Fredericksburg, and 011 the “old railroad cut”to 1( "^ ^ ae kson’s men held at the Second Manassas ; but I had seen nothingex ceed this. It was not war; it was murder. When the fight ended,than a thousand men lay in front of our works either killed or too/ Wounded to leave the field, t Among them were some who were not0 f ’ . u t remained among the dead and wounded rather than take the chances§°^g back under that merciless fire. Most of these came in and sur-' ei ' e< -l during the day, but were fired on in some instances by their owns 0 11 £*0 still held a position close in our front) to prevent them from doing16 ^° SS ,u y command was fifteen or twenty, most of them woundedk H , ^be head and shoulders, myself among the number. Our artillery wasl£ e 1 su perl>]y during the action. Major Hamilton, chief of artillery ofIjjj aw ’ s division, not only cooperated with energy in strengthening our^ 11 ^bt of June 2 d, but directed the fire of his guns with great skillfor Ce ^ ^ le attack on the 3 d, reaching not only the front of the attacking1^’ bat its flanks also, as well as those of the supporting troops.li lie We were busy with the Eighteenth Corps 011 the center of the general’ le sounds of battle could be heard both on the right and left, and we

b‘ e close range of the artillery and tlie attack, at "between 4000 and 5000.— E. M.? l °l>ortj 0 ’ ^.re must have been a much greater L. [Tlie “ Official Kecords ” show that the lossesttle biese than usual. I estimated the of that corps at Cold Harbor aggregated 3019.—

Ss °f the Eighteenth Corps, which made Editors.]