Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 4.djvu/66

48 plished, and at a distance not exceeding 30 yards, a most rapid, galling and destructive fire was opened, telling with fearful effect upon our men who were advancing to make the assault. &quot; As a result of this heavy fire, all the Federal regiments participating were soon withdrawn. The total Federal loss in this engagement was 165. The Fifteenth North Carolina lost its colonel, of whom General McLaws said, &quot;He was pure in all his thoughts and just in all his acts. In addition, 12 men were killed and 31 wounded.

In this retreat up the Peninsula, retiring from one intrenchment to another, the North Carolina soldiers, in common with all their comrades from other States, suffered unusual hardships. General Magruder gives this account of the situation in the trenches: &quot;From the 4th of April till the 3d of May this army served almost without relief in the trenches. Many companies of artillery were never relieved during this whole period. It rained almost incessantly. The trenches were filled with water. No fires could be allowed. The artillery and infantry of the enemy played upon our men almost continuously, day and night. The army had neither coffee, sugar nor hard bread, but subsisted on flour and salt meats, and these in reduced quantities, and yet no murmurs were heard. ... I speak this in honor of those brave men whose patriotism made them indifferent to suffering, disease, danger, and death.&quot; Gen. E. P. Alexander, in commenting on this report, declares: &quot;These statements are not exaggerated in a single word. The trenches filled with water as fast as they could be opened and could not be drained. Yet the continual firing compelled the men to remain in them. ... A hand or head could not be exposed for a moment with out receiving a ball from the telescopic target rifles of the sharpshooters. The trenches were so hastily constructed that they barely afforded room for the line of battle to crouch in. ... In many places they became