May 8 — This morning we went back to the same position we left at dusk yesterday evening, but the Yankees seem to be getting very uneasy in the Wilderness and are trying to back out or flank out, and in their maneuvering to-day they flanked around our right and compelled us to abandon our position. Consequently we fell back and moved to our right too, in order to intercept and if possible rebut their flanking advance. We pierced their flank and had a spirited little engagement early in the day, but the enemy proved too strong for our force, as their cavalry advanced in conjunction with their ever present infantry, and we had nothing but cavalry and our battery. We retired about a mile and took a good commanding position at the Dobbins house, and awaited the approach of the huge wriggling war machine that was trying to extricate itself from the intricacies of the Wilderness by stealthily gliding around the bristling bayonets of General Lee’ infantry.
The enemy did not advance on our new position until late this evening, when they came with a very heavy line of infantry skirmishers in front; I fired about forty shell from my gun at the slowly and cautiously advancing line, which at last yielded to my fire and fell back, and soon after made a flank movement on our position. We held our ground until their sharpshooters advanced to within three hundred yards of our guns, and were still coming on; then I fired one charge of canister at their line, after which the battery was ordered to limber up and fall back. When we started back from our position the Yankee line halted and did not advance any farther this evening. I suppose that they were afraid of some hocus-pocus, spider, fly, and parlor business, and fell back. This evening at dusk we fell back a little distance from the Dobbins house and bivouacked. The whole country in our front is full of Yankees.
