Q12, Nort CaroLina TROOPS, 1861-65.

them, fresh lines were thrown at us until finally a nie hoe
was secured in a branch supposed to be impassable, an bes
were flanked and compelled to retire. Having driven be
enemy from our front, the order to retire was not underst re
by part of our men and they were cut off, but not willing ;:
give up, they, together with Lieut.-Col. Jno. R. Murchison ee
part of his, the Eighth North Carolina Regiment, pe
the fight till entirely surrounded, not only with live, but re
dead yankees. Our losses during the two days were 194 ( ;
officers and 183 men), Captain Robert J . McEachern, ©
Company D, and Lieutenant Alexander Elliott, of pee eel
K, being killed ; Captain George Sloan, of Company ee
tenant G. P. Higley, of Company F, wounded; and ae
J. R. McDonald, together with the wounded, were eens :
We remained at Cold Harbor for several days and ene:
marched to Malvern Hill, thence to Drewry’s Bluff, and t! -
to Petersburg, reaching the latter point In time to preven

Butler from occupying the city.

On 16 and 17 June the enemy charged our line and
inflicting considerable loss, but on the
17th, they succeeded in breaking through the line at He
point held by Wise’s Virginia Brigade, and at a se
gan to pour a deadly fire on our flank. Hangs pei
companies of the Fifty-first, under the conse of :
onel McKethan, filed to the rear, Ransom’s Briga 2
under command of Colonel W. J. Clarke, of the ee
fourth North Carolina, being hastily thrown in the same shee
tion on the right of the break, and at the signal cca Pats
commands changed front and rushed forward with fixe
onets and soon recaptured the lost ground, but at a oe
loss, Colonel MeKethan being among the seriously ate
In this contest the bayonet and butts of guns were freely i
as there was not time to load and fire. The position was Ae
that the five companies of the Fifty-first and the phos :
North Carolina of Ransom’s Brigade occupying te ee
and being the assailants, suffered the greatest losses. Dut

we repulsed them,

Firry-First R&rGiMEnt. Zio

the prompt action of these commands the enemy would cer-
tainly have marched into Petersburg on 17 June, 1864.

We remained in the works in front of Petersburg for
months under fire every day, and it has been estab-
lished by actual measurements since the close of the war that
at times there was but sixty-three yards between our line of
works and that of the enemy, while only thirty-five yards sep-
arated our pickets, which should give a pretty accurate idea
of the danger and hardships under which we passed the sum-
mer of 1864. On 19 August we were called upon to meet a
raiding party operating on the Wilmington & Weldon Rail-
road south of Petersburg. Here we met the enemy and after
a running fight of many miles forced them into their lines.
This was a regular woods scramble, it being impossible to
preserve anything like a line of battle on account of the den-
sity of the woods; the result was that we captured a large
number of prisoners, and suffered considerable.loss ourselves,
some of our men being captured and recaptured several times.
General Clingman was wounded in this engagement, and the
brigade lost the services of this gallant soldier till near the
close of the war, the command of the brigade devolving on
Colonel McKethan of the Fifty-first.

FORT HARRISON.

We were next taken to the north side of the James river
and on 30 September assaulted Fort Harrison. This point had
been taken by the enemy from our people, and being consid-
ered a point of importance, was at once strengthened and
very heavily garrisoned. To have attempted its recapture
under such circumstances was a mistake, and as carried out
a terrible blunder on the part of some one, the assaulting par-
ties going in, in detail and being cut down in turn by the
deadly fire of the enemy. Our officers on the ground, par-
ticularly Colonel McKethan, the brigade commander, seeing
the impossibility of success and the heavy loss that we must
sustain, protested against making the assault, but being or-
dered by superior officers to go forward, nobly offered them-
selves and their commands as sacrifices for their country. At
the command the Fifty-first rushed forward with the other