Freedom by the Sword - US Army Center Of Military History

Virginia, May–October 1864 375
Terrain across which Union troops attacked on 29 September 1864. The trees in the
distance mark the Confederate position, as shown also in the William Waud drawing.
lined a creek, formed line in front of the Confederate trenches, and attacked. The defenders
met the assault with crushing fire. “Charged with the 6th at daylight and got
used up,” Sergeant Major Fleetwood entered in his diary. “Saved colors.” Blocked by
barriers of felled trees and chevaux-de-frise, the Union survivors fell back, leaving
more than three hundred dead and wounded on the field. “We were all cut to pieces,”
Capt. James H. Wickes of the 4th USCI wrote. “We got up to the second line of abatis,
. . . but by that time the line was so cut up that it was impossible to keep the men
any longer in their places. . . . I tried to force my men to make a dash over the work,
but there were [only] five left out of the twenty-five that I started up with, and they
gave way.” After the remnant of the regiment fell back through the woods, only 3 of
8 officers and 75 of 325 enlisted men answered roll call. 82
Five days after the battle, Wickes was able to tell a more connected story:
It happened that when the advance was first made along the whole line Thursday
morning, our regiment led the assault against the works where the enemy most
expected an attack. We advanced about five hundred yards under a terrific fire of
1981), p. 17. Another writes that the force opposed to Butler was “barely 2000.” Douglas S. Freeman,
R. E. Lee: A Biography, 4 vols. (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1934–1935), 3: 500.
82 OR, ser. 1, vol. 42, pt. 1, p. 136; Field Return, 28 Sep 1864, Entry 1659, 3d Div, XVIII Corps,
LS, pt. 2, RG 393, NA; Fleetwood Diary, 29 Sep 1864; J. H. Wickes to My dear Father, 2 Oct 1864,
J. H. Wickes Papers, Boston [Mass.] Public Library; Sommers, Richmond Redeemed, pp. 31–35.