Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 23.djvu/197

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itt( r tiirmin^ his lint- of battle, because he did not hear /H-<I;T firing. Thru- must have been a condition of the atmosphere to prevent it, tor tin- sound of the firing was not heavy. From this General Whit- ing claimed that Bcauregard had ceased to fight and feared that he would endanger Petersburg and expose his own right flank if he moved forward. General Pryor told him he had been seven miles down the Appomattox and there was no enemy to flank him. Gene- ral Hill, General Martin, and General Wise urged him to go for- ward, but he would not give the order. There was but a feeble skirmish line of cavalry in our front. The history of the great bat- tle shows that Butler's army retreated by the very road that Whiting could easily have reached and held. General Whiting the next day admitted his blunder was relieved of the command, and returned to his post at Wilmington. A few days afterwards this brigade and Wise's were placed under the command of General D. H. Hill, and on May 2Oth, anniversary of the day on our battle-flags, Martin's Brigade was formed on the right of Beauregard's line of battle, with Wise in reserve. After a heavy artillery duel of an hour the charge began from the left, and as the rebel yell came up the line like a tornado, under its inspiration Martin ordered his brigade to forward, guide center, charge! the Seventeenth on the right, the Forty- second on the left, and the Sixty-sixth in the center.

The General, with Captain L. D. Starke and myself, moved im- mediately behind the Sixty-sixth, all on foot, the line with great en- thusiasm charging through a field of small grain into a pine thicket, where the enemy were strongly entrenched and supported by his artillery. During the charge General Martin ordered me to tell Colonel Moore, of the Sixty-sixth, that his regiment was advancing too rapidly ahead of the right and left, and to preserve the align- ment. When I gave the order to Colonel Moore he seized his color, planted the staff" upon the ground, and lifted his sword in the air above his head the well-known signal and his command halted, dressed on the colors until the regiments on the right and left came upon the same line, then, with a start, all three sprang forward and rushed upon the enemy's ranks. The foe retreated, and our men held the line, subjected to a severe artillery fire. Lieutenant-Colo- nel John C. Lamb, of Williamston, N. C, of the Seventeenth North Carolina, sprang on the breastworks, cheering his men, and fell mortally wounded a most gallant, able, and efficient officer cut off" in the flower of his youth. He fell with shouts of victory from his be- loved men resounding in his ears. Observing the enemy moving to