Fribley was killed, in the torrent of
rebel bullets which fell upon the regiment. It held the two
guns, despite two desperate charges made by the enemy to
capture them, but the stubbornness of the Phalanx was no
match for the ponderous weight of their enemy's column,
their sharpshooters and artillery mowing down ranks of their
comrades at every volley. A grander spectacle was never
witnessed than that which this regiment gave of gallant
courage. They left their guns only when their line officers
and three hundred and fifty of their valiant soldiers were
dead upon the field, the work of an hour and a half. The
battery lost forty of its horses and four of its brave men.
The Phalanx saved the colors of the battery with its own.
Col. Barton's brigade, the 47th, 48th and 115th New York,
during the fight on the right had held the enemy in the
front and center at bay, covering Elder's battery, and nobly
did they do their duty, bravely maintaining the reputation
they had won before Charleston, but like the other troops,
the contest was too unequal. The rebels outnumbered them
five to one, and they likewise gave way, leaving about a
fourth of their number upon the field, dead and wounded.

"Col. Montgomery's brigade, comprising two Phalanx
regiments, 54th Massachusetts and 1st North Carolina, which
had been held in reserve about a mile down the road, now
came up at double-quick. They were under heavy marching
orders, with ten days' rations in their knapsacks, besides
their cartridge boxes they carried ten rounds in their
overcoat pockets. The road was sandy, and the men often
found their feet beneath the sand, but with their wonted
alacrity they speed on up the road, the 54th leading in
almost a locked running step, followed closely by the 1st
North Carolina. As they reached the road intersected by the
railroad they halted in the rear of what remained of
Hamilton's battery, loading a parting shot. The band of the
54th took position on the side of the road, and while the
regiments were unstringing knapsacks as coolly as if about
to bivouac, the music of the band burst out on the
sulphurous air, amid the roar of artillery, the rattle of
musketry and the shouts of commands, mingling its
soul-stirring strains with the deafening yells of