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156 Norta CaRoLina Troops, 1861-65.

and the little ones every night and morning, and I know the
good God will not let you suffer more than you are able to
bear. Your loving husband, etc.”

This man was barefooted in January, 1865, when he dic-
tated the letter above. He had not eaten anything all day
(this was in the evening), because he had nothing to eat; he
was without a coat for his back, and yet the soul within him
kept him fed and warm. A Confederate soldier standing
barefoot, in tattered trousers, coatless and hatless, with an
Enfield rifle on his shoulder, and his cartridge box full, was
as brave a man as ever met an enemy on any field of battle
in any country, or in any age. Nimble as a deer, long-
breathed as a hound, he could run with the horsemen with-
out weariness and fight all day without hunger. He taught
the whole world how to fight, and when I meet him to-day I
lift my hat and stand bareheaded till he passes by. The For-
ty-ninth Regiment was in General M. W. Ransom’s Brigade
during all these weary months, together with the Twenty-
fourth, Twenty-fifth, Thirty-fifth and Fifty-sixth North
Carolina Regiments. This brigade stood between Peters-
burg and the enemy, and if you will ask any citizen of
that city he will tell you how they loved and honored Ran-
som’s Brigade. General Ransom was then the same courtly
and kind-hearted man he is to-day. Fearless in danger,
courteous and kind always, the true gentleman everywhere,
he was the idol of his men.

Although we were fighting every day while the siege lasted,
there were many extraordinary battles during this period.
I have not time to notice but one or two, and notably among
these was the battle of the Crater. :

This battle occurred on 30 July, 1864. About daylight
the mine, which the enemy had charged with eight thousand
pounds of powder, was fired and a terrific explosion was the
result. Many thought the judgment day had come. The
earth, with all it contained, was thrown into the air, leaving
a hole 100 feet long, 60 feet wide, and 30 feet deep. Men
and cannon were thrown hundreds of feet into the air. Sim-
ultaneous with the explosion the enemy opened two hundred
pieces of artillery on our lines. The Forty-ninth was to the

Forty-NintH REGIMENT. 157

left of the ravine, and we were moved rapidly across the
ravine and up the works to the crater. And until the enemy,
which had taken possession of our lines, was beaten back, we
stood in the position assigned to us and fired our guns. The
enemy, white and black, came in solid phalanx shouting:
“No quarter to the rebels.” They held their position until
about 2 o’clock in the afternoon, when Mahone’s Brigade ar-
rived and with the Twenty-fifth North Carolina Regiment of
our brigade and a regiment of South Carolina troops,
drove them out. I saw the Twenty-fifth Regiment as they
came dashing up the hill towards the Crater. How we
cheered them! They rushed up to the Crater which was full
of the enemy, white and black, fired one volley and then turn-
ing the butts of their guns, they let them fall, crushing the
skulls of negroes at every blow. This was more than mortal
man could stand, and in a little while the lines were re-estab-
lished and the dead of the enemy lay in heaps upon the
ground. I mention this battle for the reason that, taken un-
awares as we were, with the heavens filled with dust and
smoke, and the earth rocking beneath our feet, with out-speak-
ing thunders in our ears, if that portion of Lee’s army which
held the lines around Petersburg had not been made up of
some of the coolest and bravest men that ever fired a musket,
they would have stampeded then and there and Grant would
have taken the city and Lee’s army could have been de-
stroyed. This is doubtless what the enemy expected us to
do, but instead of that, our brave boys never wavered for an
instant, but marched to the rescue of the gallant South Car-
olinians, as if they were going on dress parade. General
Ransom being absent, the brigade was commanded that day
by Colonel McAfee, of the Forty-ninth.

Another notable battle in which’ the Forty-ninth was en-
gaged was the battle of Hare’s Hill, on 25 March, 1865. In
this battle the Forty-ninth lost fully one-half its number in
killed, wounded and missing. Somebody blundered here.
On the morning of the 25th a corps of engineers and sharp-
shooters crossed over the space between the lines, and without
the loss of a single man, captured the enemy’s works, includ-