a courage and daring seldom
equaled by even older troops, and never excelled by a
volunteer regiment.

"In less than two minutes from the time the charge was
ordered, the rebel battery was in our possession, and out of
thirty-six horses used in the battery, but two were left
standing when we passed the guns.

"Most of the artillery-men lay dead and wounded around the
battery while the line of infantry support in the rear of
battery, fell back in disorder before our bayonets; not,
however, until many of them had for the first time felt the
effects of cold steel.

"The charge, though bloody on both sides, was pre-eminently
successful, and my regiment, "the 2nd Iron Clads," as it was
called, brought away the battery so captured.

"In the charge, the regiment lost in killed and wounded,
some forty odd men and officers. All of our horses, field
and staff, were shot and most of them killed. The color
bearer Harrison Young, a hero among men, was wounded and
fell, raised to his feet and was again twice wounded. A
comrade then took the flag and was wounded, and a third man
brought it off the field.

"A wounded lieutenant of the battery was brought to me, as a
prisoner;[25] but in view of the massacre of colored troops
by the rebels at Fort Pillow and other places, I sent the
Lieutenant immediately back through the lines, pointing him
to the regiment that had made the charge, and telling him
that since the rebel authorities had concluded to take no
prisoners, belonging to colored regiments, it would hardly
be proper for me to hold him as a prisoner; that they had
established the precedent, and that in so far as I was
concerned, they could 'lay on MacDuff.' The Lieutenant
rejoined his command a sadder if not a wiser man.

"After the charge I moved with my regiment to the centre,
where the battle was then raging hottest. Here it remained
in the thickest of the fight until an advance was ordered
all along the line, which was made, the enemy falling back
slowly before our troops, and finally retired from the
field, leaving us in full possession, with a complete
victory.

[Illustration: PHALANX SOLDIERS BRINGING IN A CAPTURED BATTERY]

"Only infantry was engaged on either side except the rebel
battery, which my regiment