works were captured the men from all the brigades
which had been forced to retire were hurried into these works. Three guns,
saved from capture on the entrenchments, were put in battery Mahone, with
a few men, and three also in fort Gregg, with about 300 infantry, mostly
Mississippians. After reforming and getting in order, the Federals moved
on these works--on Mahone first, and they took it with a rush, although
the gunners stood to their guns to the last and fired their last shot
while the Federal troops were on the ramparts.

I was standing where I could view the whole encounter. The Confederate
line to the left of the run was not attacked. The creek divided us, and
the struggle was going on on one hill while we were on the opposite, about
half a mile apart, anxious and breathless witnesses.

As soon as Mahone fell the Federals, in three lines, moved on fort Gregg,
with cheers. In the immediate vicinity all else was silent. How
confidently, and in what beautiful lines they advance! As they near the
fort their line curves into a circle. They are within fifty yards, and not
the flash of a single rifle yet defies them. My God! have the boys
surrendered without a struggle? We look to see if the sign of a white
flag can be seen. At this instant it seems to gleam in the sun-light, and
sends a pang to our hearts. But no; it is the white smoke of their guns,
while cannoneers and infantry simultaneously fire on the confident
assaulters, who stagger, reel under their death-dealing volley, and in a
moment the Federal lines are broken and they retreat in masses under
cover. A loud and wild cheer succeeds the breathless stillness that
prevailed amongst us, and is answered exultingly by the heroic little
garrison in fort Gregg. But reinforcements have come to the help of the
assaulters. I can see their long serpentine lines as they wind their way
through the cleared fields in the distance, and over the captured works. I
turned and looked to our rear, but no reinforcements were seen coming to
the succor of the garrison. Every man is needed at his post, and no
reserves are at hand. The repulsed assailants, animated by the sight of
reinforcements, reform, and, as their comrades come up in battle array,
march forth again in unbroken ranks. As they gain the hill-top, two
hundred yards from the fort, the artillery within the fort belches forth
from the embrasures, and the effect of its canister can be plainly seen in
the heaps of dead