a 12
144 NortH Caroma Troops, 1861-’65.
HARES HILL.

We remained in the trenches until 16 March, age
we were relieved by Gordon’s troops, and..moved "to the ve
treme right of our lines, occupying M ahone 8 old W _ joes
ters, and there we stayed until the evening of the 25th, ie
we were marched to Petersburg, and back to our old posi =
on the lines. We reached there about midnight, and soon the
arrangements were made for the attack on Fort ene -
Hare’s Hill, under General John B. Gordon. Just at day
light the next morning we advanced to the assault, pa
Brigade being the second one from the yearn a ‘
directly in front of Hare’s Hill. At the signal the sharp
shooters of the Forty-ninth, under First Lieutenant ~~
R. Roulhac, following the storming party led SS
W. W. Flemming of the Sixth North Carolina, in adv ance,
moved across our works, through the eagle ene a
front, and the whole brigade, with a rush, ee : a
chevaux de frise of the enemy, and clambering through :
over the deep ditches in their front, went over the <a
works and captured them before they aroused from be =
slumbers. The surprise was complete. Sweeping se
their lines, the Forty-ninth opened the way for other ae
Ransom’s Brigade captured Fort Steadman, the pele
rushing over it without a halt, and all the works in we : af
but those between us and the river were not taken, a ei e
we enfiladed that part of the line, and with our fire on t ye
flank, it could have been easily done. Their fort gone
river was thus enabled to annoy us greatly. Here G a
McAfee was again slightly wounded, and Lieutenant- pe :
James Taylor Davis was killed. He was a splendid so. oe
and a true, warm-hearted gentleman, of decided roe me
great promise in his profession—the law. His life ate
have been an honorable and useful one if he had been fe 2
Major Petty having remained in camp sick, ¢ ar oe
bers, of Company ©, was left in command. We c 3
position until all the troops on our right had fallen back, -
most of those on our left. When the order to fall back fina ms
reached us, the retreat was made under the most trying ¢

Forty-Ninta REGIMENT. 145

cumstances. We were exposed to a raking fire from three
directions, many were falling at every step, but at last we re-
turned to our lines with but a remnant of the command,
having sustained the greatest loss in killed, wounded and
prisoners the Forty-ninth met with during the war. Captain
Torrance, of Company H, was wounded, Lieutenant Krider,
of Company C, was wounded and captured, and Lieutenant
Witherington, of Company I, was wounded. The brigade

lost 700 men in all, of which the proportion of the Forty-
ninth was the greatest.

FIVE FORKS.

After the failure of the attack on Grant’s lines, evidently.
a forlorn hope on General Lee’s part, we returned to our
quarters on the right. On 30 March we participated in the
battle of Burgess’ Mill and drove the enemy back into his
entrenchments after he had assaulted ours. On the 30th we
were, with Wallace’s South Carolina Brigade, attached to
Pickett’s Division, and the next morning were marched
down the White Oak road to Five Forks, the Federal cavalry
making frequent reconnoissances to ascertain our movements.
From Five Forks we marched on to Dinwiddie Court House
and engaged in battle that afternoon with Sheridan’s cavalry,
driving them back. We slept on the field. During the night
the force in our front was largely reinforced, and before day
on 1 April, we were aroused and slowly fell back to Five
Forks. By noon we had reached that place and formed line
of battle, Ransom’s Brigade on the left, the Twenty-fourth
holding the extreme left, next the Fifty-sixth, then Twenty-
fifth, Forty-ninth and Thirty-fifth. We threw up rifle pits
and after the whole regiment had been deployed as skirmish-
ers by Captain Chambers to support the Twenty-fourth, the
line was formed as above mentioned, with Wallace’s Brigade
on our right. The skirmishers and sharpshooters of the
brigade were placed under the command of Lieutenant Roul-
hac and connected with our cavalry on the left. These dispo-
sitions had hardly been completed when clouds of Federal
skirmishers were advanced against our skirmish line, but

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