44 NortH Carouina Troops, 1861-65.

thicker by the interlacing bamboo briers that had grown up
in a little depression of the earth, parallel with our line, fol-
lowed with an almost deafening crash of musketry. We had
not, up to this moment, seen an enemy. ‘The aim was too
high and hardly a man in the regiment was touched. With-
out waiting for a command, every gun was leveled, and into
the line of smoke we poured a terrible volley, and, with a
shout, went at them. On reaching a little narrow thicket,
which, with clubbed muskets, was instantly leveled, we dis-
covered a thin line of the enemy in full retreat, with the
dead and wounded lying before our eyes, indicating that
something like half of the line of battle had fallen at our first
fire. On went the brigade in a full run. Presently we ap-
proached a small opening containing only a few acres of
cleared land.

In this was placed a battery of guns which opened upon us
as soon as the fleeing enemy had passed beyond. They had
time to fire but onee. Down the little slope the brigade
rushed past the guns. At this point we received, at short
range, the fire of a new line of the enemy, concealed in the
pines beyond. The brigade halted, the men dropped on their
knees and engaged in a conflict, the length of which I have no
means of knowing. This fight continued until both lines
had suffered severely, and, as if by common consent, our line
withdrew to the edge of the woods from which it had emerg-
ed, while the enemy went in the opposite direction. Shortly
afterwards the position we held was given to another brigade
and our brigade was permitted to retire a few hundred yards
and rest. We had lost heavily. The battle was then raging
all along the line of Ewell’s Corps and continued until after
nightfall. In the darkness we arranged our lines and worked
most of the night throwing up earth works. Early the next
morning the firing between the picket lines began. From
time to time during the day we sent forward men to
strengthen the picket line. This picket fire contifiued all
day with a light fire of artillery at intervals. During this
day, the 6th of May, the dreadful fight was raging on our
right between the Corps of Hill and Longstreet and the
greater part of Grant’s army. We remained in our position

Forty-FirtH REGIMENT. 45

during the night of the 6th and all day of the 7th with con-
tinued heavy picket and artillery firing. Early in the night
of the 7th we moved out by the right flank, having been cau-
tioned to make as little noise as possible, and commenced
what turned out to be, a hurried flank movement to Spottsyl-
vania Court House. We marched all night, and the whole of
the next day, and in the afternoon heard heavy firing in the
direction of Spottsylvania Court House. We hurried on.
Now and then we passed through sections where the woods
were on fire and would become enveloped in choking smoke,
but nothing delayed us. Late in the afternoon, as we were
approaching the field where Longstreet’s Corps, now com-
manded by General Anderson, was engaged in an unequal
fight with the assaulting columns of the enemy, the march
became more hurried, frequently breaking into a double
quick. The afternoon was hot. The men, worn out by the
long march and from loss of sleep, were dropping exhausted
along the way. A little before sunset, and as we reached a
point almost in range of the enemy’s rifles, but in the rear _
of Longstreet’s right, we were halted, the regiment closed up
and ordered to a front. General Daniel dashed along on
horseback in front of the brigade, halting in the center of
each regiment, and announced that Longstreet’s Corps had
for hours been successfully resisting the repeated attacks of
the enemy that had been thrown against him in almost over-
whelming numbers; that we were now in half mile of his ex-
treme right; that the enemy would, within a few minutes,
turn his flank and get possession of a most favorable posi-
tion unless we arrived in time to prevent it; that the only
question was whether we shouldarrive in time to save the
position or retake it after it had been secured by the enemy.
This only occupied a few minutes, but it gave the tired men
these few minutes to recover breath.

The announcement of General Daniel was greeted by each
regiment with a shout. The brigade was ordered into
column, and, in a rapid run, we passed the last regiment on
Longstreet’s right and discovered that the splendid brigade of
General Ramseur, the front brigade in our corps, had passed
Longstreet’s last regiment, had turned by the left flank, and