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

1864 CAMPAIGN OF THE WILDERNESS. 253
grand scale, driving him, and in turn being driven back." In the meantime,
the enemy had been reinforced by Longstreet, who at about five o'clock in the
evening delivered a vigorous and determined assault. He carried everything
before him in the wood, and made a desperate effort to drive the Union line
from the breastwork which it occupied, along the narrow Brock Road. In this
he failed, and with it ended offensive operations on his part. At Todd's Tavern
another engagement seemed imminent and the corps was brought into position,
threw up breastworks, and skirmished with the enemy, but had no considerable
fighting until the 12th. At dawn of that day the corps was formed for an
assault, and advanced in two columns. The men were so fatigued that they
could scarcely stand, but as the word to advance was given, they moved forward with alacrity, and did not stop until the enemy's line was surprised and
taken. The rebel General Johnson with his division was captured. It was
an entire success, and though the men were completely exhausted by constant
marching and fighting, they maintained their ground during the day against
the repeated assaults of the enemy to re-possess his works. The loss was seven
killed, twenty wounded, and three missing. Lieutenant J. C. Green was among
the killed in this engagement,
From Spottsylvania to the James River there was almost constant marching,
fighting, and intrenching. At the North Anna, on the afternoon of the 23d, the
regiment with the brigade assaulted the enemy's lines, protected by a redan,
and drove them in confusion across the river. Again at Cold Harbor it was
in the front line, which was pushed close up to the enemy's works. Here the
flag-staff was struck by a fragment of shell, and broken, and the flag, which
was wound around it, was torn to tatters. In these and other minor engagements from the 12th of May until the 14th of June, the regiment sustained
considerable loss. Captain Edgar Williams, and Lieutenants John Bowers and
Henry 3M. Adams, were among the killed. Lieutenant Colonel William B. Neeper, who had been for a long time confined in southern prisons, returned, and
assumed command.
Crossing the James River, the brigade moved up to the front near Petersburg, where it relieved the colored troops, and on the afternoon of the 16th
prepared to assault the rebel lines. The Sixty-third Pennsylvania was on the
right, and a battalion of heavy artillery on the left of the Fifty-seventh. As
our batteries on the hill to the rear opened with a heavy fire, the brigade
moved forward, and drove the enemy across a ravine and through an old camp
into his strong lines of works. Too weak to scale this formidable barrier umsupported, the brigade threw up a line of intrenchments, and sank down behind
it. The regiment fortunately suffered little loss, having the old huts of the
rebel camp for protection.
During the summer and early part of the autumn the regiment was almost
constantly at the front engaged in driving back the enemy, establishing new
lines, and erecting fortifications. Most of the month of October was spent in
camp, a half mile to the right of the Jerusalem Plank Road, in the front line
of works. On the 25th the regiment broke camp, and moved with the corps
along the Vaughan Boad to Hatchers Run. Crossing the run, where some
skirmishing occurred, it proceeded in the direction of the South Side Railroad.
After taking position, and while awaiting the arrival of the Fifth Corps, Mahone's Division of the rebel army fiercely attacked, but after a brief engagement he was repulsed and driven back, and the corps returned to its former