Thursday, May 19th.
We were moved toward the right and rear of the army to-day, where we started to make camp and began to receive rations, but soon Cos. D and K were sent out on picket on a line nearly at right angles with the right of the army, and running back diagonally almost to the Fredericksburg road. About four o’clock P. M. my company, H, was sent out to relieve Co. D, which held the extreme right of the picket line. On arriving on the ground I found the line formed very much like a fish hook, and began establishing my picket posts, that furthest to the left in an open field, being near the extreme right one of Capt. Gould’s Co. K. I put Lieut. Edmonston in charge of that end of the line and Lieut. Carpenter in charge of the center, and posted the remaining men in squads along toward the right and into some woods. While this disposition was being made, I heard some scattering shots down toward the left. Leaving First Sergt. Theben in charge of the detachment on the right, I ran across the curve of the fish hook through the woods towards the center of my line, but before I reached it I saw a rebel picket line advancing across an open field in our front, and just behind it two lines of battle closely massed, with flags flying and officers on horseback, emerging from the woods in the rear of the field, but with their flanks so masked in woods on either side of the field that I could not see how far they extended. It was a magnificent sight, for the lines moved as steadily as if on parade, and if ever I longed for a battery of artillery with guns shotted with grape and canister, and my own men behind those guns, it was then and there, for I do not think the lines were more than two or three hundred yards from where I stood. There was a piece of swampy ground in their front, which I knew would most likely break up their regular formation and delay them a little, but I feared that their left flank, which I could not see, might extend so far to their left that it would overlap my right and give me trouble in the rear. However, it was no time to hesitate, and I determined to withdraw the center of my line slowly, firing as we fell back, keeping in touch with Company K, and straightening out my fish hook as far to my right as I could, all in the hope that we might hold the “Johnnies” until troops attracted by the noise we made should come to our assistance. By the time I reached his position in the center, Lieut. Carpenter, who had taken in the situation, was deploying the picket posts into line, as Lieut. Edmonston was also doing on the left, and both had given the order to commence firing. Giving orders for a slow and stubborn withdrawal of the line, I ran over to the right and deployed that flank also, and on returning to the open field I found the enemy struggling through the swamp and our boys peppering them as fast as they could load and fire, some lying down and some firing from behind stumps or from any other point offering the slightest protection. Looking down to the left near an old house, I thought I saw one of our officers, a short and stout young fellow, being escorted toward the enemy’s lines by two rebel pickets, and I extended a mental farewell to Edmonston, but later in the day was rejoiced to find that I was mistaken in the identity of the prisoner. As we reached the woods in our rear we fought back from tree to tree, endeavoring to hold the charging lines in the open field as long as possible, and we actually did hold them for three-quarters of an hour.
The enemy returned our fire very sharply, and in the midst of the excitement a big yellow dog, belonging to some one in the regiment, came out on the field and began to snap at and run after the “zips” made by passing bullets, his ears and tail up, and his whole appearance indicating the intensest interest in his pursuit of the imaginary birds. Suddenly one of the “birds” took off the end of his tail and down went his ears and the rest of his tail, and with intermittent but emphatic “ki-yis”, he went to the rear like a yellow streak.
By the time we had fallen back into the timber it was getting late in the afternoon and the shadows were gathering in the woods. The left flank of the enemy had lapped my right, as I had feared it might, and meeting no resistance as they reached the Fredericksburg road, the Rebs were climbing into the wagons, a train of which was on the road bringing up supplies, and the teamsters, or many of them, having cut their teams loose, were rushing through the woods in all directions. How far the main rebel lines had advanced into the woods at that point I do not know, but just as I began to fear that Co. H was going to be surrounded, a force of Union troops, probably a regiment, came charging through the woods parallel with the line of battle and caused great confusion among my men. Fortunately the Colonel passed near me and inquired where he could best go in, and I wheeled him at once to the left, and in less than two minutes there was the noisiest kind of a mix-up. Almost immediately another line of battle passed through us on the double-quick, this one going in the right direction, and some of my own men joined this line and went in with it. Volley after volley was discharged by each side, and the fighting was kept up until darkness settled down, when the rebels quietly withdrew under cover of it. My “bodyguard,” Lynch followed me about in the woods while I was trying to collect my men after the charges through us had scattered them, and was incessantly calling my attention to the shots which were striking the trees or whistling by between them, and I was finally obliged to order him to the rear, though I could not but appreciate his kindly anxiety for my personal safety. After the firing ceased I got a few of my men together, and while looking around for a place where we could safely lie down and go to sleep, I came upon my Quartermaster Sergt. Elijah F. Lock, a quiet, determined fellow, with two or three other men standing under a large pine tree. Telling him to “fall in” I was about to pass on when he said, “Captain, there’s a rebel sharpshooter up this tree, and just before dark I saw him shoot a major off his horse while that officer’s line was passing under the tree, and I am going to get him.” Many sharpshooters had climbed trees as soon as the Rebs entered the woods, and when their troops were driven back these men were left on their perches and annoyed us not a little, so, telling Lock that he had my best wishes for his success, I passed on and with my squad was soon asleep in a convenient little hollow.
