Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 12.djvu/331

 Operations Around Petersburg. 321

that when any part of the State was in trouble, there was the place for the Governor to show himself. But he had more important and more pressing duties to perform. The fate of the Republican party might depend upon the vote of South Carolina. He had promised to President Grant to bend all his efforts to obtain it, and to accom- plish it was his first and his last object.

Operations Around Petersburg — General Hagood's Report of i6th, 17th and i8th of June, 1864.

Headquarters Hagood's Brigade,

Hoke's Division, 15th July, 1864.

Capt. Jofui A. Cooper, A. A. G.:

Captain, — I am instructed to report the operations of my brigade on the i6th, 17th and i8th ulto.

On the evening of the 15th, about dark, my brigade arrived at Petersburg, by the Petersburg & Richmond railroad, and I was at General Beauregard's headquarters, reporting for orders, when a courier announced that the enemy had carried the defences from No. 3 to No. 7, inclusive, and that our troops were retreating. I was ordered to move out immediately upon the City Point road and take a position to cover that approach to the city, and upon which a new defensive line could be taken. It was after dark, and being unac- quainted with the country and unable to learn much from the con- fused and contradictory accounts of the volunteer guides who ac- companied me, I halted my command at the junction of the City Point and Prince George roads, and rode forward myself to recon- noitre the country. With the aid of a map opportunely sent me by Colonel Harris, Chief of Engineers, I finally determined upon the line of the creek, which empties into the Appomattox in rear of No. i, and the west fork of which crosses the lines near No. 15, and estab- lished my command upon it. General Colquitt's brigade and the other brigades arriving shortly afterwards were established upon this line. General Hoke having approved the selection, and by day- light the position was partially entrenched. Colonel Tabb's regi- ment of Wise's brigade held the lines from No. i to No. 2, and was relieved by one of my regiments (Twenty-seventh South Carolina). This made my line en echellon, with the echelloyi thrown forward on the left. Discovering this fact at daylight, and that this portion of the line was completely enfiladed by the guns of the enemy estab- 3