ort:

[Illustration: "YOU MUST THROW AWAY THAT CIGAR, SIR!"

A Phalanx guard refusing to allow General U. S. Grant to pass by the
commissary store-house till he had thrown away his cigar.]

"The enemy were driven from their strong line of works,
completely routed, the Fifth Corps doubling up their left
flank in confusion, and the cavalry of General Merritt
dashing on to the White Oak Road, capturing their artillery,
turning it upon them, and riding into their broken ranks, so
demoralized them that they made no serious stand after their
line was carried, but took flight in disorder."

The writer well remembers the eagerness of the Phalanx brigade of
Colonel Shaw, composed of the 109th, 116th and 7th Regiments, as they
waited orders near Hatcher's Run. The sound of distant guns fell upon
their ears; Colonel Shaw was impatient; all seemed to feel the end was
near, and wanted to lend a hand in the consummation. Oh, what suspense!
The brigade lay upon their arms in a state of great agitation, all that
night, waiting for orders to advance upon the foe. Who can tell the
thoughts of those brave black soldiers as thus they lay upon the
rumbling earth. Fathers, mothers, sisters, wives and children, yet
slaves, behind the enemy's guns: precious property they are, and guarded
like dearest treasure and even life itself, by an army of
slave-holders--Lee's men, who, with the desperation of demons, vainly
attempted to check the advance of the men of the North, who, with their
lives, defended the Union. The black brigade wanted to strike one more
blow for freedom--for the freedom of their wives and children--to make
one more charge, and the confederate banner should go down; one more
charge, and the light of Liberty's stars should blazon over the ramparts
of the confederate forts. At length, with the dawning of day, came the
order; then the black brigade went forward, but to find the enemy gone
and their works deserted.

The confederate lines were broken, and Sheridan's troopers, McKenzie and
Merritt, with their cavalry, although it was night, had followed up the
fleeing foe, capturing them by thousands. The brigade pushed on along
the captured works. The federal batteries, from every mound and hill,
were showering shot and shell into the enemy's inner works; while the
gleaming bayonets of the thousands of infantry could be seen as far as
the eye could reach, their proud banners kissing the stifli