History of Pennsylvania volunteers, 1861-5; prepared in compliance with acts of the legislature, by Samuel P. Bates.

222 FIFTY-SIXTH REGIMENT. 1864
line, discovered and reported the enemy moving around the left flank. Scarcely
had he given the intelligence, when the whole line, bravely contending against
great odds, was forced back. In this encounter the Fifty-sixth sustained heavy
loss in killed, wounded, and missing. Among the killed was Lieutenant Titman, of company G, a faithful officer, whose sword-drawn for the first time
in this battle-was presented him in acknowledgment of his services in the
ranks. The division re-formed in front of the Lacy House, and at six P. Mi.
moved through the woods to the support of the Second Corps, then engaged
with the enemy on the plank road, west of the Brock Road.
On the morning of the 6th, the Fifty-sixth and the Seventy-sixth New York,
both under command of Colonel Hofmann, were ordered to drive away, and, if
possible, capture the enemy's skirmishers in front, and a battery that had been
brought to the crest, beyond the ravine in which the troops then were, and had
become annoying. The two regiments gallantly charged up the slope, and with
such rapidity that the greater part of the shirmish line was captured, and the
battery compelled to retire. In this charge, Lieutenant Eby, of company H,
was killed, and Captain Runkle lost an arm, while gallantly leading his men.
At noon the Fifty-sixth, again occupying the left of the line, rested with its
left on the plank road. The enemy was again advancinin ncng n heavy force. At
the order of General Wadsworth, Colonel Hofmann swung his line around facing
the road, when it poured in a deadly fire. In a short time, notwithstanding there
was displayed the most desperate valor, the whole division line was forced to
retire. In this fierce encounter General Wadsworth was killed. In the evening
the regiment assisted in driving the enemy from the intrenchments, which had
been captured from the Second Corps, and was the first to plant its flag on the
works, where a moment before had floated the rebel colors. "At that critical
moment," says Lossing,* "Colonel J. W. Hofmann, with parts of nine broken
regiments, (less than five hundred men,) struck the assailants a blow that made
them re-coil, and thus saved the day on the left, as Hancock then declared."
At ten P. M., the command moved towards Spottsylvania Court House,
reaching Todd's Tavern at daylight. It fought determinedly at Laurel Hill,
driving, in connection with the Ninety-fifth New York, the enemy from an
orchard and farm house on the hill. A large detachment thrown cut as skirmishers, under command of Lieutenant Michaels, was captured. Lieutenant
Miller, of company F, was severely wounded in both arms, losing one by amputation. The division fell back, and took position a hundred and fifty yards in
rear of the line, where it fought and threw up works. On the 11th a storming
party, consisting of the Fourteenth Brooklyn, Ninety-fifth, and One Hundred
and Forty-seventh New York, and the Fifty-sixth Pennsylvania, prepared to
charge the enemy's position at Bloody Angle. This design was relinquished,
but the command remained to prevent the rebels from sallying out and attemptting to break our lines. To accomplish this purpose, a continuous fire was
directed upon their works, which, upon their abandonment of the position on
the following morning, was found to have done good execution, the bodies of
forty men being found between two traverses, a distance of not more than
fifty feet.
At eleven P. M. of the 13th, the division moved a half mile east of the
Court House, on the Fredericksburg Road, where breastworks were erected,
* The Civil War in America, Lossing, Vol. III, page 303.