Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 28.djvu/217

 Qreai li'ittlf /'/ Chrt 211

heard and we all jumped up and moved right at them. Then Weis iger called out to us, ' Don't fire.' * * We were advancing

when he said this, and I am positive Weisiger did not give the com- mand ' Forward.'

" In the movement from where we laid down to the works which we captured, I did not see General Mahone, but in less than five min- utes after we were in the works he was in our midst, encouraging the men in the thickest of the fire. He joined us from the direction of the left."

Colonel George T. Rogers, of the 6th Virginia Regiment, upon whom devolved the command of the brigade when General Weisiger, after being wounded, retired from the field, in his statement, said:

" We captured the line equal to our front, but could not cover the crater; and upon the instant almost of reaching the entrench- ments Colonel Weisiger called to me that he was, he thought, mor- tally wounded, and turning over to me the command of the brigade, retired with assistance from the field before Colonel Rogers saw General Mahone in the trenches, and that General Weisiger was but a short time in command on the forming line. Let us here settle any question that may arise by the statements of General Weisiger and Judge Drury A. Hinton, his aide-de-camp, who was with Gen- eral Weisiger in the charge, and at the breastworks, and who bore him from the field.

From the statement of Colonel Rogers, which fixes General Ma- hone as at the works before the Georgia Brigade charged, it would appear that General Weisiger was wounded and retired from the field. The brigade for the moment was in great confusion; our loss in the charge had been very heavy; the work of death was yet rife in the trenches, and our men were suffering terribly from an enfilade fire, poured from the crater proper that projected far into the rear of our line, as well as from the fire of the main line of battle of the enemy.

"Then it was," continues Colonel Rogers, "I met General Ma- hone in the trenches, and received from him timely instructions for the disposition of the men and orders to hold the position at any hazard and under any loss, until he could bring another brigade to our relief. A few minutes after the Georgia Brigade was brought to the charge, but, obliqueing too far to the left, failed to cover the cra- ter and the line to the right.".