Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 39.djvu/220

 208 Southern Historical Society Papers.

to penetrate this, I ordered the brigade to fall back and did so, receiving- a terrible fire from the enemy. The officers and men behaved with great gallantry, and deserve much credit."

General R. B. Potter, of Burnside's Corps, page 920 of Re- cord, says, "The usual skirmishing and artillery firing continued till the morning of the i8th (Alay, 1S64), when we attacked the enemy wath vigor all along the line, made three charges on his works and met with considerable loss. We did not succeed in carrying his works, but gained some important ground, ren- dering parts of his line untenable."

General W. N. Pendleton, General Lee's Chief of Artillery, pages 1054 and 1056, of Records, says, "(oMay 12, 1864),. Major Cutshaw was assigned to the command of Hardaway's battalion and Major Page put in command of the combined remnants of his own and Cutshaw's battalions.

"On the morning of the iSth, the enemv again attempted to carry the line still held by the Second corps, near the scene of the former conflict. This time, however, he met guns in position to receive him. His heavy force was allowed to get within good range of our breastworks. There the guns under Colonel Carter (Hardaway's battalion commanded by Cutshaw and Page's reorganized), opened upon him a murderous fire of spherical case and canister, which at once arrested his advance, threw his columns into confusion, and forced him to retreat in disorder. Heavily as he suffered on this occasion, our loss was nothing, and this v/as accomplished against a force of 12,000 picked infantry by twenty-nine pieces of artillery alone, but well handled."

General R. S. Ewell, page 1073 of Records, says, "As it was unadvisable to continue efforts to retake the salient with the force at my command, a new line was laid out during the day bv General Lee's chief engineer, some Soo yards in rear of the first and constructed at night. After midnight my forces were quietlv withdrawn to it and artillery placed in position, but his efforts and losses on the T2th seemed to have exhausted the enemy, and all was quiet till May 18 (1864), when a strong