. Reported at brigade headquarters at
sunset, and soon afterward, through the mud and darkness,
the men silently felt their way into the trenches, which the
rain had reduced to the condition of a quagmire. It was a
slow process, and 10 o'clock came before all were in their
places.

"During the following day (27th,) the parapet was raised and
paths made through the muddier portions of the trenches.
Soon after dark a furious cannonade began which lasted for
several hours, and afforded to the spectators on both sides
a brilliant pyrotechnic display.

"Just after daybreak on the 28th, the enemy opened a heavy
musketry fire which lasted until after sunrise. He did not
leave his works, however, and our men remained stationary. A
man of Company B, while watching for a shot through a
section of stove-pipe, which he had improvised into a
port-hole, was struck and killed by a sharpshooter's bullet.

"Soon after midnight on the 28th-29th, the regiment moved
out of the trenches, and after daylight marched a quarter of
a mile to the right and rear and went into camp in a
cornfield. The men were at once put to work constructing
bomb-proofs, as the position was within sight and range of
the enemy's line. This occupied the entire day.

"Brig.-Gen. Birney's arrangement of the brigade did not seem
to have given satisfaction to higher authority, and it was
broken up, and the old brigade--Seventh, Eighth, Ninth U. S.
C. T., and Twenty-ninth Connecticut--were again united, with
Col. Shaw in command.

"From this time until the 24th of September, the Seventh and
Eighth alternated with the Ninth and Twenty-ninth for duty
in the trenches--two days in and two out; and on the 'off'
days furnishing details of officers and men for fatigue
purposes, in constructing new works and strengthening old
ones. The main lines at this point were scarcely over a
hundred yards apart, while from the advanced posts a stone
could almost be thrown into the enemy's works, and it was
considered the most disagreeable portion of the line.

"During the evening of the 4th of September, there was a
grand salute along the whole line, in honor of the fall of
Atlanta. At every battery the men stood at the guns, and
when the monster mortar--"The Petersburg Express"--gave