USA > Wisconsin > Grant County > History of Grant County Wisconsin, including its civil, political, geological, mineralogical archaeological and military history > Part 28
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The next morning the First Corps was posted to the southward of the head of Cemetery Hill, the First Division (in which was the Iron Brigade) on the right and extending to the Twelfth Corps, which held the extreme right. Both sides were cautious, and, although skirmishing began before noon, the main Rebel onset was held back until about 3:30 in the afternoon. It was made principally on the center. In the evening Ewell's corps made a desperate assault on the Third Corps, toward the left of the Union line. The reserves of the Sixth and First Corps went to the aid of the Third, and the Rebels were repulsed.
At one o'clock in the afternoon of the 3d of July, the third day's fight- ing, after a terrific cannonade from 150 guns, Longstreet's corps of 18,- 000 men made its grand charge on the part of the line held by the First, Second, and Third Corps. They were received with tremendous volleys of musketry that almost annihilated some regiments, but they pressed on. The Federal lines quivered and drew back. The Rebels pressed up to the Union batteries and were on the point of capturing them, but the Sixth Corps, with tremendous cheers, rushed forward and turned the enemy back, capturing forty Rebel colors and four or five thousand of their men.
JOHN B. CALLIS, CAPT. CO. F, LT. COL. SEVENTH WIS., AND BRE- VET BRIG .- GEN.
On the second day of the battle the Iron Brigade remained on Culp's Hill, near Cemetery Hill and the Baltimore turnpike. On both the second and third days the brigade supported batteries, and was exposed to the tremendous artillery fire of the enemy, but did not be- come engaged with his infantry.
As before stated, the Sixth was detached and with Cutler's bri- gade. The brigade was engaged on the night of the 2d and the morn-
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ing of the 3d in repulsing the assault of the Rebels on the right of the Union line.
In the three days' fighting at Gettysburg the casualties among the Grant County men in the Iron Brigade were as follows :
Second Wisconsin, Company C-killed, David Gudger; wounded, Lieut. Levi Showalter, Sergts. S. M. Train and Philo B. Wright, Geo. W. Fritz. Wm. T. Crossley, C. M. Brooks, Alpheus Currant, Jefferson Dillon, William Ewing, William Frawley, Jas. W. Hyde, V. F. Kinney, Samuel Sprague, Alanson Paroday, Chas. Garvin, Chas. Hilgers.
Sixth Wisconsin, Company C-wounded, Lyman D. Holford, Au- gustus F. Muller, Henry Oviatt, Cornelius W. Okey, William Russell.
Seventh Wisconsin, Company C-killed, Wm. Hull; wounded, Wm. Beasley, Isaac McCollister. Lewis Weynans, J. W. Enloe, August Erb, John C. Bold, Wm. Neal, Wm. Carlisle, A. J. Smith, Malcolm Ray, Eze- kiel Parker, W. W. Davis, James Armstrong. Company D-Sergt. Al- exander Ivey, Frank M. Bull. Company F-Lieut. A. A. Kidd, Wm. R. Ray, John J. Schlosser, John Blackburn, John Runion, Thomas Gar- vey, Isaac Raemer, Danforth Rector, Judson N. Carrier. Company H -killed, John F. Mitchener; wounded, Wm. A. Clark, Joseph J. Clark, John McLimans, John Schultz, William Fulks. Company I-Robert K. Jones.
After the battle of Gettysburg the Iron Brigade, with the Army of the Potomac, returned to Virginia by a route parallel to Lee's retreat. During the rest of the summer and fall it was engaged in holding off the Rebels without much campaigning, and it went into winter quar- ters in northern Virginia. In the spring of 1864 the brigade took an active part in the campaign then begun by General Grant.
BATTLE OF THE WILDERNESS.
Early on the 5th of May, 1864, the Fifth Corps, in which was the Iron Brigade, engaged the enemy near Mine Run. At noon it made a vigorous attack on Ewell's corps and drove it back. But the lack of roads and the denseness of the thickets prevented the Sixth Corps from coming into position beside the Fifth Corps, and Ewell's corps, by a desperate effort. drove the Fifth Corps back in turn. The Second Corps early in the afternoon attacked Hill's corps. The battle raged fu- riously all day along nearly our whole line. The results of the day were in the enemy's favor, but at five o'clock the next morning our army attacked again and the terrific struggle went on until dark. The morning of the 7th showed that Lee's army had withdrawn into its
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intrenchments, and Grant at once moved to place his army between the enemy and Richmond, flanking Lee's right.
The Iron Brigade, which was the First Brigade of the Fourth Divi- sion, Fifth Corps, formed in line of battle on the morning of May 5. The Second Wisconsin was on the right of the Seventh. which was in the front line on the left of the brigade. The Sixth was held in reserve. The brigade was soon ordered forward by the right of companies through thick underbrush and pine woods nearly a mile, when at noon it struck the Rebel line in position, covered by a heavy growth of tim- ber and brush, their skirmish line being advanced only a few paces in front of their line of battle. When within forty paces, the Rebels opened a deadly fire, but it was returned with such effect as to throw them into confusion. The brigade now charged and drove the Rebels to their second line, which was also routed. Corporal George A. Smith of Company H, Seventh Wisconsin, captured the flag of the Forty- eighth Virginia. The fire of the brigade strewed the ground with the dead and wounded Rebels. The enemy being reinforced by Hill's corps, and the Federal line on the left giving way, the brigade received a flank attack and was driven back, but without panic, a mile and a half, to its first position. The line was reformed, and at six in the evening the brigade moved to the left to support the Second Corps, which had sustained a severe attack. At dark it moved up to within fifteen rods of the Rebel lines and there lay upon its arms during the night. The battle being renewed at daylight on the 6th, the brigade took part in the grand charge on Hill's corps in its front, forcing it back until Longstreet's corps and the Rebel artillery arrived. As the position of the ground prevented the Federals from using their artil- lery, they were compelled to fall back to the line they had occupied during the night. Two further attempts were made to advance their left, but failed. The Rebels then massed their forces and assailed the Federals with great fury, but were repulsed with terrible slaughter.
SPOTTSYLVANIA AND JERICHO FORD.
On the night of the 7th of May both armies began to move toward Spottsylvania Court House. The Fifth Corps took the most direct route on the Federal line, and marched all night. On the 8th a battle was fought at Alsop's Farm, about three miles from Spottsyl- vania, between the Fifth Corps and Longstreet's corps, and the Iron Brigade went into action near Laurel Hill. Having halted at ten in the morning to prepare breakfast, the Rebel artillery suddenly
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opened on them, and it fell in, the Sixth on the right and the Seventh on the left of the brigade. It at once advanced to assault the enemy's entrenchments. A severe conflict ensued, in which the brigade was first driven back half a mile, when it rallied and again moved forward and drove the Rebels back to their former position. It then took a strong position within sixty rods of the enemy's works, and forti- fied and held the position, notwithstanding several attempts to dislodge them. On the morning of the 12th the brigade (except the Second, which was permanently detached on the 11th) again took part in an unsuccessful assault upon the Rebel works, soon after which it moved three miles to the left to support the Second Corps, which had carried an important part of the enemy's line. Here it stood in a deep mud and kept up a constant fire to protect those who were at work on the fortifications. Their muskets becoming foul, details of men were sent to wash them, while their comrades went on firing. The men in many cases became so weary from their nearly incessant labors for four days and nights that they dropped down in the mud and slept under the enemy's fire.
Early the next morning the brigade marched back to Laurel Hill.
The Iron Brigade crossed the North Anna at Jericho Ford in the afternoon of the 23rd of May, moved a mile from the river and went into line of battle, the Sixth on the left of the brigade and the Seventh next to it. Before the line was formed the brigade was attacked in front and flank and driven half a mile, when, being reinforced by two batteries, the brigade rallied and renewed the fight. which raged hotly for two hours. The Rebels were finally broken and retired from the field. For its steadfast and heroic bravery on this field the brigade was highly complimented by the general officers.
On the night of June 12th the Iron Brigade advanced to within four hundred yards of the Rebel works near Cold Harbor, where it remained until the evening of the 5th, exposed day and night to artillery and musketry fire.
In the battles from May 5 to June 10 the loss among the Grant County men was as follows :
Second Wisconsin, Company C-wounded, Capt. G. W. Gibson, Sergt. Geo. W. Fritz, Andrew J. Adams, Mathias Baker, Lewis Beit- ler, John Doyle, William Frawley, J. W. Hyde, Wm. Snodgrass, James Snodgrass, Frederick Wion.
Sixth Wisconsin, Company C-killed, Wm. Hickok; wounded, A. P. Sprague, James Sykes.
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Seventh Wisconsin, Company C-killed, James Armstrong, L. D. Hurst, Geo. Mitchell, Ezekiel Parker; wounded, Lieut. J. H. Holcomb, Sergt. Henry Rewey, J. C. Bold, Wm. Carlisle, Henry Curtis, John Gil- ham, Wm. Haney, James H. Jones, Jefferson Newman, John W. Robin- son, Jacob Rice, Irvin C. Smelker, Wm. Tallada, W. J. Wynand, W. J. Wood, Wm. Eustice. Company F-wounded, Capt. H. F. Young, Lt. W. E. Sloat, Lt. A. A. Kidd, George Atkinson, Nathan Bradbury, John C. Bradley, Andrew Bishop, C. B. Bishop, Bruce Bryan, Harvey Bon- ham, Thomas Blunt, Webster Cook, C. F. Chipman, James Endicott, James Evans, John Falk, Perry Gilbert, B. F. Hayden, A. M. Hutchin- son, Cyrus Alexander, Richard Faurre, A. C Morse, Theo. Kinney, W. R. Ray, I. C. Raemer, Henry Rupke, James L. Taylor. Company H- killed, Jas. Andrews, Thomas Blunt, Hiram Kearney Frederick Mun- den, Geo. A. Smith; wounded, James Bishop, John Bowden, Curtis Chandler, F. M. Dillon, Chauncey Hitchcock, John McCubbin. Lieut .- Colonel Mark Finnicum.
OTHER ENGAGEMENTS.
The Independent Battalion (Second Wisconsin) crossed the James June 16, 1864, and took part in the battle of the 18th, losing two men mortally wounded. The Sixth and Seventh crossed the James on the morning of the 16th, and passing Prince George Court House, threw up breastworks in front of the enemy before Petersburg on the 17th, the Sixth being on the extreme left flank of the Army of the Po- tomac. The Seventh was on the right of the brigade.
Skirmishing at once commenced, and at five o'clock next morning the brigade moved forward in line of battle. The rebels were driven to their works a mile from Petersburg; the skirimishers were recalled, and soon after three in the afternoon a charge upon that formidable Jine was ordered. Moving forward under a withering fire of artillery and musketry, the brigade arrived within one hundred yards of the Rebel works, where the Seventh, without support on the left, held its position for an hour and a half, and commenced throwing up breast- works with a few shovels and their bayonets and tin plates. But the Rebels finally attacked the regiment both on the flank and the rear, and it was compelled to retreat through a withering fire to the posi- tion held in the morning. The regiment was highly commended for its coolness and determined bravery in this desperate action. It lost twenty-one killed and thirty-seven wounded. The whole force was compelled to fall back, and in the night works were thrown up five
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hundred yards from the Rebel line. The Sixth and Seventh remained in front of Petersburg, engaged in the siege, until August 18. The Fifth Corps captured the Weldon Railroad August 18, but the Rebels were very unwilling to lose it, and made repeated attacks to regain possession, each time with great loss.
The Independent Battalion (Second Wisconsin) took part in the battles along the railroad, on the 18th, 19th, 20th and 21st of Au- gust. The Sixth and Seventh also participated, and on the 19th, in a severe fight, the Seventh captured twenty-six prisoners without. loss. On the morning of the 21st the brigade was fiercely attacked, and the assault gallantly repulsed with great slaughter of the enemy, the Sev- enth capturing the flag of the Sixteenth Mississippi, with all the field officers of that regiment.
The Iron Brigade took part in the second battle of Hatcher's Run, February 5 and 6, 1865, being in advance and comprising the princi- pal troops engaged. The Sixth Wisconsin (with which the Second had been consolidated), lost nine men killed, nine mortally wounded, and seven missing. The Seventh lost two killed, twenty-one wounded, and three missing. This regiment was at first deployed in front of the division as skirmishers. Afterward the right wing was ordered to pro- tect the right flank, and the left wing formed in the rear to arrest stragglers. On the 7th the regiment wasengaged in skirmishing upon the battle-ground of the previous day.
The Independent Battalion, connected with the Third Division of the Fifth Corps, took part in the battle of Dabney's Mill and lost one killed and four wounded. The Sixth and Seventh marched to the ex- treme left and fought there. The Seventh was lost in the woods dur- ing the night of the 27th, while deployed as skirmishers, and halted until daylight. Meanwhile its support retired, supposing the regiment was captured. It numbered only 156 muskets and took 216 prisoners, and lost only one man captured.
The Iron Brigade went with Sheridan on his flank movement, hav- ing a fierce battle at Gravelly Run, March 31, and when the army fell back it was the last to leave the field. The next day in the battle of Five Forks, the brigade drove the enemy out of the intrenchments.
Meanwhile, the Second Wisconsin had ceased to exist as a regi- ment. The three years of its service having expired, and the number of men having been reduced to less than one hundred, the last com- pany was mustered out of service July 2, 1864. The recruits were
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formed into an independent battalion, and November 30, 1864, the battalion was made Companies G and H of the Sixth Wisconsin.
The Sixth Regiment was present at the grand review at Washing- ton, May 24, 1865, and was mustered out July 14. It reached Madison the 17th, and in Capitol Park received the congratulations of the people. One thousand and forty of this regiment were either killed in action or disabled by wounds. Only about a hundred of those who went into service in 1861 were left to be discharged with the regiment.
After the evacuation of Richmond the Seventh Wisconsin took part in the pursuit and capture of the Rebel army, and returned, after a long and toilsome march to Petersburg, and thence moved to Rich- mond and Washington, where it took part in the review of the armies, May 23, and afterward encamped until June 17, when it went to Louisville, Kentucky, and was assigned to the First Brigade of the "Provisional Division," and was mustered out July 2.
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CHAPTER IV
THIRD AND FIFTH INFANTRY.
Third Infantry-Second Battle of Winchester-Antietam-Gettys- burg-Atlanta Campaign-Fifth Infantry.
THIRD INFANTRY.
We left the second Grant County company at Boscobel that mem- orable Monday, April 22, 1861, organized and named the "Grant County Union Guards." It went into camp at Fond du Lac, about the 15th of June, and became company F of the Third Infantry. At this camp, called Camp Hamilton, the regiment acquired great effi- ciency in drill. They were a remarkably stalwart lot of men, mostly farmers and lumbermen. They were uniformed in the "cadet gray," as were the other Wisconsin regiments. The regiment contained the fol- lowing Grant County men :
Company B-Aaron Weston, Boscobel.
Company F-G. W. Limbocker, Captain, Boscobel; Emanuel J. Bentley, 1st. Lieut., Platteville; Edwin J. Meeker, 2d Lieut., Platte- ville; Henry Allen, Justin D. Babcock, Atlas A. Budd, Leon Beaupray, Jonas Closson, James Cook, Thomas J. Dowd, Zina Z. Dowd, Robert Fulton, Stephen Gray, Wm. F. Greenman, Adam George, John Krout, J. S. Babcock, James Murphy, Henry Parker, Chas. C. Stone, Harvey Sennett, Spencer Viall, Boscobel; Wm. C. Brown, Leroy Ellis, Clifton ; T. F. Duncan, Chas. H. Pauley, Philander Tucker, Ellenboro; Henry Gallup, Frank W. Lyons, Fennimore; Amos A. Wentworth, Hazel Green; Thomas Barton, Clay A. Fisher, Brainard Hopkins, Asa A. Thompson, Hickory Grove ; William Wagner, Liberty; Robert H. Gra- ham, Addison Medley, Robert Medley, Lima; Robert F. McGonigal, Lancaster; John G. Harshberger, Millville; Thomas Farnsworth, Lu- ther M. Tillon, Muscoda; William H. Beebe, Herman Buchner, F. M. Cowley, Gottlieb Gleisenheiner, Absalom Gillis, James Hammond, Geo. H. Hall, Jas. Holmes, Wm. H. Holmes, Milton C. Kiel, Levi Kiel, John Kolb, George Kolb, .Irvin O'Hara, J. J. Oswald, F. H. Russell, Warren Wood, Platteville; George Cormick, E. D Fox, John Kern, Robert
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Thorpe, John Thorpe, Potosi; E. W. Butler, Watterstown; WilliamlA drich, Waterloo: Samuel Bartholomew, Frank W. Bashford, John F. Gaston, Thomas Laird, Richard C. Notton, Orlando Thomas, Wing- ville; Algernon S. Hill, Wyalusing; S. H. Marvin, Jacob Paul, Nelson Powell, Grant County.
Company G-John B. Nugent, Clifton.
Company H-Phineas M. Hanscomb, Muscoda; Abner L. Burke, 1st Lieut. Edwin J. Meeker, Willis H. Chapman, Wm Smith, Platteville.
Company I-Robert McCormick, Nels Thompson, Fennimore; Lieut. Wm. Freeborn, Chas. B. Chipman, Sebastian C. Dilley, Geo. W. Fawcett, Wm. F. Harris, Louis S. Hoage, John D. Kirkpatrick, Wm. Shook, Allen Thompson, Frederick Willey, Hazel Green; Ossian Bug- bee, Wilson S. Buck, Alfred Dunham, Cady F. Foltz, Richard Foltz, William H. Harrison, Giles N. Harrison, John F. Lane, Daniel McDon- ald, Henry C. Saddler, Edgar T. Sprague, Moses Sweat, Jamestown; William A. Doyle, Smelser.
Company K-Wm. H. Hubbell, Boscobel.
Band-Edgar C. Dunham, Boscobel.
The following recruits came to the Third from Grant County at different times from 1862 to 1864:
Company B-Aaron Weston, Boscobel.
Company C-John Bowers, Boscobel; Henry Bugbee, Potosi.
Company D-Ole Holstein, Joseph Seaman, Boscobel; Frank Lowe, Millville; Harrison Coleman Muscoda.
Company F-Jacob Zentz, Wm. Irwin, Wm. Lemon, Beetown; Jo- seph Sammon, Boscobel; Gustav Auerbach, George Cook, Frederick Dohme, Leroy Ellis, Clifton; Theodore P. Barnhart, George R. Sinnett, Fennimore; Stephen Gray, Muscoda; David Williams, Waterloo; John Armstrong, Wingville
Company H-Hiram Hudson, Edwin Lewis, Beetown; Ira Scho- field, Hazel Green.
Company I-Ebenezer Allen, Jamestown; Theodore Hartnecker, Potosi.
The regiment left Fond du Lac for Hagerstown, Maryland, August 12, 1861, with an ovation from the citizens of Fond du Lac. On the march through Chicago the regiment was highly complimented by the Chicago papers. From Hagerstown the regiment marched to Harp- er's Ferry, and thence to Darnestown, Maryland, where it went into camp August 20.
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On the 22d of October the regiment left Frederick and hastened to Conrad's Ferry, twenty-six miles distant, to prevent the enemy from taking advantage of their success at Ball's Bluff. Thence, on the 26th, it moved farther down the Potomac to Muddy Branch, eighteen miles from Washington. On the 1st of December the regiment returned to Fredericksburg, where it was detailed as provost guard.
The Third Wisconsin became a part of the Third Brigade, First Di- vision, Fifth Corps. Orr the 25th of February it marched to Sandy Hook, opposite Harper's Ferry and joined General Banks's command. The next day it assisted in laying a bridge across the Potomac, and crossed with the army to Harper's Ferry, from which place it soon set out on a march of one hundred miles up the Shenandoah Valley to Harrisonburg. On the night of the 23d of May disastrous news from the fugitives made it apparent that a very large force of Rebels was threatening the Union forces at Strasburg. Precautionary orders were given to pack and send forward to Winchester the brigade and regimental trains. Such trains as started that night were saved. At ten o'clock in the morning of the 24th the brigade to which the Third Wisconsin was attached moved forward toward Freetown on the road to Winchester, to check the approach of the enemy in that direction. At two o'clock in the afternoon it moved back to protect the rear, which had suffered from a damaging attack. It found the enemy at Middletown with a force of both infantry and artillery, and drove them from the place; but fearing that a larger force of the enemy might sur- round it, the brigade began to retreat toward Winchester, eight miles distant, which the rear reached at 2:30 in the morning. The brigade was without shelter or rations. The men had left their haversacks and knapsacks when they went into battle, and had been unable to re- cover them.
SECOND BATTLE OF WINCHESTER.
At the dawn of Sunday morning, May 25, a large Rebel force drove in the Union pickets. The Union force immediately formed a line of battle. It numbered about four thousand men, and the enemy about six times that. But the Union troops gallantly resisted the immense odds for two hours and a half, until it seemed madness to resist any longer the overwhelming columns of Rebels swinging around the Union right flank. Then, slowly and in good order, the Union troops fell back, undismayed by the terrible fire that was poured upon them. The Rebel infantry harassed their rear and the Rebel cavalry dashed
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upon their flanks. Even the women in the houses in the city fired on the Union soldiers as they passed.
The battery of the Third Brigade at first drove the enemy in its front; but it was found that the Rebels were deploying their heavy col- umns behind a ridge to cut off the Union retreat. Soon they appeared in overwhelming force and the Third Brigade had to fall back. Two regiments withdrew, but the Third Wisconsin made a stand behind a stone wall and obliged the enemy to halt until he could bring up his artillery, when the Third fell back some distance and made another stand, and thus delayed the Rebels some fifteen minutes, in which time the scattered and broken regiments and batteries made their escape from the field. General Banks subsequently thanked the regiment in a general order, specially naming and commending the regiment, read before all the regiments of the corps.
A correspondent of the New York Post, in an account of this bat- tle, made honorable mention of the Third Wisconsin. He spoke of its being exposed at one time to an enfilading fire from four or five Rebel regiments, and yet, "as cool as if on parade, faced about and marched down the hill toward town, and through the town in excellent order, although exposed to a galling fire."
At dark of that Sunday night the Union troops reached the Poto- mac, which they rapidly crossed, having fought a battle of two hours and a half after five o'clock in the morning, and then retreated from a pursuing enemy thirty-six miles, preserving all their baggage trains, all their ordnance, and all their subsistence and supplies which they had when the battle began.
The Third Wisconsin lost three men killed, fifteen wounded, and seventy-nine missing, the latter chiefly captured on the retreat. Its march had been farther than that of the other regiments, and some of the regiment had fought one battle more than most of the other reg- iments.
On the 12th of June the Third Wisconsin marched from Williams- port to Winchester, back up the Shenandoah, thirty-four miles. Thence it marched to Front Royal, twenty miles, and encamped there on the 18th of June. On the 6th of July the Third Brigade left Front Royal with its division, and much discomforted by the excessive heat, moved toward central Virginia by way of Gaines's Cross Roads and Warren. ton, and encamped at Little Washington on the 17th. Leaving that place on the 5th of August, the brigade marched by way of Culpeper
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Court House, and a few miles from there, on the 9th, took part in the battle of
CEDAR MOUNTAIN.
Early in the action three companies of the Third Wisconsin skir- mished through the woods in front of the regiment's position, without important developments. Crawford's brigade had entered a piece of woods and taken an advanced position, and soon the Third Wisconsin was placed on the right of Crawford's line. Soon the order to for- ward double-quick came. Timber and thick underbrush impeded the advance and broke the line. At the farther edge of the woods the reg- iment had to climb over a rail fence in full view of the enemy about two hundred yards distant, on the opposite side of a stubble-field, in the edge of another piece of woods. Moreover, the enemy's line ex- tended so much farther to the right than the Union line as to give them the opportunity of an oblique fire on the Third Wisconsin, and some, even a flank fire. As the Union troops advanced they were exposed to a terrible fire from the front, flank, and finally from the rear. The far- ther they advanced the worse the fire, and to avoid complete destruc- tion, they fell back. In that short action the killed and wounded in some companies were one-fourth of the whole, and in two companies, one-third. The Third rallied and moved over and took a position with the remainder of the Third Brigade, which had not suffered so se- verely. There the regiment remained and fought until the whole line fell back, on account of having its right flank turned by the enemy.
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