The farmer and mechanic., 1915-04-13
TELLS Of BATTLE
Of HARE'S HILL
/ aSt Expiring Effort of Gen. Lee
to Break Through Grants
EncircIing Lines
Mai H. A. London in Chatham
RecOrd)

es-v of the battle of Hare's Hill, as
the Confederates call it, or Fort Sted-
man as the FederalS call it. While |
,r was not one of the most important
battles fought by the Army of Nor |
thern Virginia, yet it was the last ex-
hiring effort made by General Lee to |
break through Grants encircling lines |
around Petersburg and came near be- |
ing successful. 1t was fought early
ou The morning of the 25th of March,
1k65. and, as usual, the brunt Of the
battle was borne by North Caro-
lnjans.
The heaviest losses were suffered by
the division Of Major-General Bryan
Crimes and the brigades of Brigadier-
Generals Matt w. Ransom and Gas
ton Lewis. of this State.
The breastworks in front Of Fort
Stedman, which was on Hare'S Hill,
about a mile east of Petersburg, were
very near together, probably not over
zoo Yards apart. General Lee thought
il possible to capture that fort by a
sudden attack and then capturing the
breaStworks on each side. cut Grants
army in twain, and thus relieve the
long siege of Petersburg. 1t was a
desperate undertaking, but it was the
only possible chance of driving back
the Union army. General Lee select
ed General John 3. Gordon to COM
mand the attacking force, and two
days before the attack the latter with
General Grimes visited our lines at
shat point and acquainted themselves
with the situation. This writer being
on the staff of General Grimes, ac-
eompanied them but of course was
not told the object of their visit.
In front of Fort Stedman there was
.H-trt ion coll cd oh do
frise. which consisted of shagpened
rails stuck deep in the ground and
bound together by a strong wire and
pointing outward, that is, toward the
Confederate lines. This obstruction
had TO be removed before the fort
could be reached. The difficult and
dangerous work of removing this OBJ
struction was given to a body of Sc
lected men, who were armed with
axes instead of with guns. Just before
daylight. or as day began to dawn
these brave men left our breastwork
in perfect silence and stealthily ap
preached the chevaux de frise ant
with few strokes of their axes re
moved the obstruction and thus open
ed passage for the armed troop
just behind them, who rushed for
ward. surprised the enemy and cap
tured Fort Stedman and Battery Nc
10 nearby.
The enemy being taken SO com
pletely by surprise made only feebl
resistance at first, and we capture
about 500 prisoners and Brigadier
General McLaughlen, all Of whor
were sent at once to Petersburg. Th
main body of the attacking force the
entered the enemy's works and bri
ilant victory seemed within our grasl
out unfortunately our supports (Picl
etts divsion) did not arrive as e.
or ha h0iV hn0 vii
reinforced opened a murderOus fiji
on our men and inflicted heavy los
SO that after maintaining the uneQu
struggle until little after O'cloC
the Confederates were forced to retil
To their breastworks. One cause
the failure of this attack. besides tt
non-arriva1 of our expected reel
iorcements, was the failure to ca
ture Fort Haskell Tin the rear al
10 the right of Fort Stedman), whit
by some mistake was not reached
time.
The Confederates suffered hea
loss in withdrawing from the enemy
works to their own, having to Gro
an open space between the Opposll
lines which was swept by a me
deadly fire of infantry and artillel
Ihis writer will never forget his
perience in crossing that deadly spa
when the bullets seemed to bu
around as thick as bees when swarl
ing. About 1000 of our men we
taken prisoners, preferring to be ca
tured rather than run that gaul4t
from Fort Stedman to our brea
works. 1t was reported that 2O5 de
Confederates were found in that dea
iy space between the opposing brea
works. The official report OF
Federal commander shows loss
their part of 1850 killed, wound
and prisoners.
AS soon as our forces had return
TO their breastw orkS and the hrl
had ceased there was an armst
Tor a short time, during which so
of the Federal and Confederate
hcers met between the breastwol
and arranged truce for two hou
from 2 to o'clock that day, for
purpose of allowing our dead a
wounded to be removed from T.