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478 Norrn Carorimva Troops, 1861-65.

gun. In all of his dashes, he never lost a man—killed,
wounded or captured. The Yanks often called to our pickets
to know “when is your Major “Hooten” coming this way
again ?”

The morning of 30 September, 1864, troops were ordered
from the right of Petersburg to support those engaged on the
north side of the James, leaving the works at the Pegram
House to be defended by a weak skirmish line of dismounted
cavalry. The order was countermanded soon after we had
crossed the Appomattox, and we were moved back, as our right
was threatened in force. That afternoon the brigade was or-
dered to the right of the road leading to the Jones House;
and, as the enemy were driving the cavalry rapidly, Wooten
came up at a double-quick, deployed, pushed rapidly to the
front, opened fire, and the blue-coated prisoners came stream-
ing to the rear. The whole affair was witnessed by a group
of general officers, one of whom declared it was the handsom-
est thing of the kind he had seen during the war.

Next day when Brander had thrown the enemy into con-
fusion at the Pegram House by his well-directed artillery
fire, Wooten dashed into the works, and brought back more
prisoners than he had men in his command.

After Gordon’s attack on Fort Stedman, 25 March, 1865,
the enemy swept the whole Confederate skirmish line from
Hatcher’s Run to Lieutenant Run. General Wilcox was sick
at the time and Lane was in command of his division. Next
morning General Lee sent for Lane to know if he had re-estab-
lished his part of the line, and when told that he had with the
exception of a hill, from which the enemy could fire into his
winter quarters, General Lee asked if he could take the hill,
and he replied: “TI will have it to-night if you say so.” When
Lane and Wooten were examining the ground that beautiful
Sunday morning, one of the men called out: “Look yonder,
fellows; that means fighting, and somebody is going to get
hurt.” The attack was made by the sharpshooters of the
whole division under Wooten, and the hill was carried with-
out the loss of a man.

During that winter, General Lane received a note from
General Wilcox, asking if he could “catch a Yankee” that

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Tue Brancu-Lane Bricapr. 479

night for General Lee, as some of the enemy were moving and
he could not get the desired information through his scouts.
Wooten was sent for and the note handed him. After sitting
a while with his head between his hands, he looked up with
a bright face, and said: “I can get him.” Early next morn-
ing, followed by a crowd of laughing, ragged rebels, he
marched seven prisoners to headquarters, and with a merry
good morning, reported: “I couldn’t get that promised Yan-
kee for General Lee, but I caught seven Dutchmen.” They
were sent at once to division headquarters with a note from
the Brigadier, giving the credit of the capture to Wooten,
and stating that if General Lee could make anything out of
their “foreign gibberish,” it was more than he could.

After our line had been broken by Grant in the Spring of
1865, and the brigade driven from the works, this corps very
materially helped to retake the same works as far as the Jones’
Farm road, where it was confronted by two lines of battle
and a heavy skirmish line. To escape death or capture, the
brigade was ordered back to Battery Gregg and Howard’s
Dam, near Battery 45.

In the retreat to Appomattox Court House, this corps was
kept very busy, and it was often engaged, when not a shot
was fired by any of the regiments.

James H. Lane.
Avusurn, ALA.,

9 April, 1901.