308 NortH Caronina Troops, 1861-65.

a feint by advancing a part of his forces on the north side of
James river, near Malvern Hill, towards Richmond. This
was done in order to cover his real purpose of springing the
mine near Petersburg, and to weaken opposition at that
point by inducing us to withdraw our troops towards Rich-
mond. The Fifty-fifth Regiment, with its brigade, was a
part of the forces which were moved rapidly across the coun-
try, crossing the James river near Drewry’s Bluff, to check
the enemy’s advance. We reached a point in front of the
enemy not far from Malvern Hill, on the night of the 29th,
and were placed in line to reinforce troops already there, but
the enemy made no attempt to advance further. At a very
early hour the next morning, we were awakened by the rever-
beration of a great sound which seemed to have been produced
a long way off, and at the same time there was a trembling of
the earth, such as that caused by an earthquake. A few hours
afterwards a courier came with orders directing us to return
at once to the lines near Petersburg. We commenced to
march immediately and beneath a scorching sun ; we went at
almost a dceuble-quick, and in crossing the large, shadeless
fields in the low-lands of the James river, a number of men
were overcome by the heat, but we reached Petersburg on the
night of the 30th, and found that the enemy had been driven
back from the advanced position which they had gained, and
for a while occupied after the springing of the mine. Early
next morning, there was a truce for several hours to bury the
dead between the lines, and our line was formed then just as
it was before, except there was a bend around the excavation
made by the explosion of the mine. The position of our reg-
iment was some yards to the south of the excavation. The
Fifteenth regiment of Cooke’s Brigade was just in the rear of
it. The springing of the mine was a complete surprise to
us, and both officers and men were for several weeks thereat-
ter anxiously expecting a repetition of the act, and were ner-
vous over it. At one time or another, every member of the
regiment was sure that he heard the sound of the sappers and
the miners digging away down in the ground beneath him.
There was scarcely a night that some one of the regiment
would not come out of his hole and crawl to the regimental