Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 28.djvu/219

 <;,;t ii,,iti, ni' // Crater. -21:',

We captured the line equal to our front, but could not cover the crater; and upon the instant almost of reaching the entrenchments O>!ond Writer called to me that h<- was, he thought, mortally wounded, and turning over to me the command of the brigade, re- tired with as-istaiice from the field. The brigade for the moment was in great confusion; our loss in the charge had been very heavy; the work of d.-ath w i- vet 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 afte^ the Georgia Brigade was brought to the charge, but, obliqueing too far to the left, failed to cover the crater and the line to the right."

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 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 General Weisiger in the charge, and at the breastworks, and who bore him from the field.

After this adjustment of the error, the article is herewith concluded from last Sunday:

JUDGE HINTON'S VIEW.

Let us now see what Judge Hinton said in an account of the bat- tle given by him in 1892. The statement of this staff officer of General Weisiger is of especial importance in this, that, whilst it corroborates in some particulars the statement of General Weisiger as to what Weisiger said to Captain (iirardey and Girardey said to Weisiger, it establishes the following facts: (rst) that Weisiger did not leavi- Mahone in the covered way when the brigade started on its charge; (zd) that Weisiger and Hinton on their return from the breastworks met Mahone, not in or at the covered way, but at "the mortar under a little arbor about twenty steps to the left of our line,"