Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 4.djvu/69

Rh sturdy fighters. When reinforcements began to reach the Federals, Longstreet sent to D. H. Hill for one brigade, and at 3 o’clock Hill’s whole division moved back to be in supporting distance, but only two of his regiments were actively drawn into the battle on the right. Longstreet’s division contained few North Carolinians. The Thirteenth, Col. A. M. Scales, and the Fourteenth, Col. P. W. Roberts, and Manly s battery, were the State s sole representatives in that part of the battle. Both of these regiments were in Colston’s brigade. Colston was not put in till late in the afternoon. The Thirteenth went to A. P. Hill’s right and was suddenly and fiercely attacked. It, however, under the stimulating example of Colonel Scales and Lieutenant-Colonel Ruffin, held its own till the close of the contest. The Fourteenth was deployed in a skirt of woods on A. P. Hill’s left, and remained under fire for several hours, behaving with conspicuous bravery. Longstreet reports: &quot;Brigadier-General Colston, though last upon the field, was hotly engaged until darkness put an end to the struggle, and he compliments both Scales and Roberts on &quot;having discharged their difficult duties with marked skill and fearlessness."

Manly’s North Carolina battery made an enviable record in this battle. Five of its guns were posted in Fort Magruder, and one under Lieutenant Guion was in a redoubt. When Webber s battery, afterward captured, was trying to get in position, Manly s guns, the first of which was fired by Sergeant Brooks, largely aided the infantry in so disabling it that it never rendered effective service. Longstreet s fight for time was a marked success in that he held his own all day and captured five of the enemy s guns.

On General Longstreet’s left, Hancock had, during the uproar of battle, crossed Cub Dam creek and entered the first of the unoccupied redoubts, already mentioned as being on the left of Fort Magruder. Having the first