The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1881-11-26

unJlI dlnner-tlme for his breakfast. | Jared bet
ter than most of them. After the affair was all
over [ saw my faithful African, old prince"
coming along the pit from the covered way,
covered with dust and dirt, but bearing in
triumph a well-filIed basket and an odorous
cOtfec-pot.
"Why, Prince" l exclaimed, "why in the
world didn't you bring my breakfast up here?
What have YOU been doing all this while?
Breakfast should have been ready an hour ago"
"Of course, sir" poor Prince replied, with wide
expanded eyes, - knowed you would want your
breakfast Youse 'bliged to have your break
fast, but YOU have no idea how dey was chunl<in
down yonder. Everybody had done left and
gone away cept me and an0der man."
After continuing half an hour SO the fire
stopped as suddenly as it began. We were ex-
pecting charge and the men at once sprang to
their feet and began peering over the parapet,
while all along the line was heard the click click,
click!-click, click, Of musket locks. The rebel
skirmish line came tumbling out over their works
and disappearing in the oats, advanced rapidly to
our skirmish pits. The men who occupied these
offered little resistance and allowed the enemy
to enter them, but once in they turned on them
and said: Come in, johnny" The call was re-
iterated by the men the works and in few
minutes we had disposed of the whole of the Skin
mish line, some four hundred or five hundred
men of Hagood's South Carolina brigade we
could count but thirty-six who got back over the
enemy's works. This was the end of that affair
no other troops followed the skirmishers and in
a little while things bad settled down to their
normal condition
1t seems that General Lee imagl. ed that, to aid
General Grant in his reaching out to our left, we
must have weakened the right of our line and
that he might possibly be able to break through
next the river and double US up. He had all his
available troops massed opposite us that morn
ing Hagood's brigade was to advance as Skin
mishers and Hoke's division was to follow. Hoke
however made a mess of it in some way, did not
start in time and the hing fell through Hoke
was an obstinate man. At any rate his division
did not charge that day. We had developed too
much force; we had three lines of works all well
manned. I think Hokes division had not been
remodeled within month before, when it consist
ed of four brigades, containing, according to the
names Of their commanders, the following regi-
ments respectively: Hagood's, the Seventh, Eev-
enth, Twenty first, Twenty-fifth, and Twenty
Nineteenth, Twenty third, Twenty-seventh and
Twenty-eighth Georgia; Clingman's, the Eighth,
Thirty-fiTst, Fifty-frst, and Sixty-first North
Carolina, and Martins the Seventeenth, Forty
second and Sixty-sixth North Carolina. What
other troops were to aid Hoke do not know but
for such movement there should have been more
and as General Lee there he probably had
others, as many as he could spare from his right
In December 1863 the Fifty eighth Pennsyl-
vania regiment was in North Carolina General
Butler issued order under the terms of which,
should the regiment re-enlist three fourths of it's
men by January 1, 1864, it should be granted
furlough Of thirty days within thirty days from
that date and go home as a veteran regiment.
The men accordingly re-enlisted, but on one pre-
text and another had been refused their furloueh:
had been through the spring campaign from
North Carolina to Bermuda Hundred then
through the Cold Harbor slaughter and from that
to Petersburg, and now were beginning to feel
dissatisfied. The chance of whack at the enemy
cheered them up on the morning of the oath of
June-it was seldom we got a fair chance at
them, we standing on the defensive-and they
were quite disappointed because Hoke did not
come out. That day we received our six months
overdue furlough and the disappointment was
forgotten. Three months from that we did re-
ceive a visit from HOkes division and were able
to give it warm reception.
On the Doth of September 1864, the First divi-
sion, Eighteenth Corps, stOrmed Fort Harrison |
do not propose now to give an account of this
affair, although have never seen any account of
it in print except personal narrative published
by me in the Germantown Telegraph in 1876. 1t
is necessary to say something about it, however,
so as to explain what follows. Fort Harrison was
a strong earthwOrk with an eighteen feet parapet
and deep ditch. It's shape was three sides of a
square, the fourth side open so as to be COM
manded by the next line in rear. 1t mounted |
eleven guns en- bGrbctte. In the next line, and
to the (our( right Of Fort Harrison, was
Fort Gilmer, work equally strong. Both these |
forts were known to Us as at Chaplns Farm, a !
few miles below Richmond on the north side of
the James. Among the papers published by the |
Southern Historical Society is an article upon
the attack on Fort Gilmer in which the writer |
saws he believes there was an earthWOrk some |
what nearer the river called Battery Harrison,
and thinks it mounted several guns. "Of this |
the FederalS took possession; ;" and he then goes |
on to describe the attack on Fort Gilmer because
that failed, and so left him some cause for self
We crossed the James on the night .
of the 28th of September and attacked the enemy