364 NortH Carotina Troops, 1861~’65.

meet a similar reception. A Federal officer, mounted on a
beautiful gray, is seen gathering group after group about him

upon which to reorganize a line of battle, as he dashed about
the field.

The best marksmen in the Fifty-sixth North Carolina suc-
cessively try to bring him down, and a Captain’s shot cuts a
small limb just over his head. It was felt that if he went
down, the charge was over on that side of the road. But the
death of such a man would not only be a loss to his country,
but to humanity; and the charge not being: renewed, it is a
satisfaction even on this side to know that he escaped. Now
their artillery seems determined to make our regimental right
wing its target in revenge for our deadly cross-fire ; but their
gunners come in for our best attention, though at such a dis-
tance, and their fire materially slackens. But in this can-
nonading we lost the commander of our right wing, Captain
F. N. Roberts. Faithful to every duty, his genial presence
always brought good cheer with it, and no one in the whole
brigade was more universally beloved. To every camp-fire
he was always a welcome addition.

Company D barely escaped a wholesale slaughter. A shell
ricochetting across the field, bounded into the trench; but
quick as thought, John Alvis Parker had it upon his spade
and hurled it back, with the simple exclamation, “Get out of
here.” It exploded as it went over. There was no braver
deed during the war.

Next the storm shifts to the left of our salient, along the
fronts of the left wing of the Fifty-sixth, the Twenty-fifth
and the Thirty-fifth. The charge is delivered just as Field’s
Division, of the Army of Northern Virginia, have come up
the line from the left as far as this salient and ravine, and
that half of Ransom’s Brigade is about to be replaced. They
thus find a double line ready for them, though crowded into
unfinished works. The commander of the Fifty-sixth, now on
the left, says: “At this point the fine array of the troops of
Gen. Grant, who had also been sent to the south side of the Ap-
pomattox, could be seen; and the old flag floating proudly to
the breeze, recalled memories of other days, when covering
a united country, and could but extort a feeling of admira-

Firry-SixtH REGIMENT. 365

tion for the men so proudly advancing beneath its ee
foemen worthy of our steel.” But they recoil before . e ie
ering fire. The first act in the bloody drama, sout s ie
Jerusalem road, is simply here repeated. This is ; ou -
p- m., and here this commander, Major John W. eee tes "
ceives a flesh wound through the right arm, retiring is a
duty. That portion of Ransom’s Brigade is then relieved by
Bie open ground and ravine necessary to be a in _
ing the artillery at the salient, delay our relief as mo’ se bd
further to the right until darkness shall conceal the *
ments that there are no sufficient trenches to le i one
while the enemy is organizing a movement against t fe .
portion of Faison’s brigade line held by the nei sg
and the right wing of the Fifty-sixth, from the ne t sox eh
Jerusalem road back northward to this hill that we were .
anxious this morning to render secure against the a
investment. Last night they had been routed by a =
hope, a single line of battle, that had left its own a 10 mi
cant and driven them from a captured section. : ey ~~
now hope to find a weak joint in our harness, 1 i ib
practiced a similar strategy to give them ge as 8
bloody repulses to-day. por sane = So
in our immediate front, and rush —
tone the run at the foot of the steep hill. wages panes
sundown they advance up the slope, and it is with di pe
that the ardor of the men to fire at the first view :
them is restrained; but they appreciate the ned - sie :
until they can sight the belt-buckle as a sie et ye en ie
or two well-directed rounds ends the business of t e - te
it is thought with greater loss to them than i eit ~ ; =
right or left, as this time they have been allowed to co
i istance.
eae day closes; but at the foot of this — os
enemy, out of reach of shot and shell, has come to gs a
dicted to the engineer this morning. But more of thi

fter. ;
: Ta the night Kershaw’s Division moved up our lines as

we march out under a sharp musketry fire of the enemy,—