orward, driving
the enemy before it; but the right became hard pressed, and a terrible
fire on that part of the line and on the center, forced the corps back.
Again the ground was taken; and again the enemy, with wild yells of
triumph, drove our men back. Still determined to win, the veteran hero
ordered a third charge; and the third time the field was ours, but only
to be lost again. The brave General Sedgwick, who then led one division
of Sumner's corps, whom we were afterward proud to call the commander of
the Sixth corps, thrice wounded, was at length obliged to leave the
field. Richardson and Crawford were carried wounded to the hospitals.

It was at this critical moment, when Sumner's troops, weary and almost
out of ammunition, were for the third time repulsed; the remnants of the
shattered regiments no longer able to resist the overwhelming forces
opposed to them; the artillery alone, unsupported, holding the enemy for
a moment in check; that the Sixth corps, our second division in advance,
arrived upon the field.

The scene before us was awful. On the left, as far as the eye could
reach, the lines of the contending forces, stretching over hills and
through valleys, stood face to face; in places, not more than thirty
yards apart. The roar of musketry rolled along the whole extent of the
battle-field. The field upon which we had now entered, thrice hotly
contested, was strewed with the bodies of friend and foe.

Without waiting to take breath, each regiment as soon as it arrives on
the field, is ordered to charge independently of the others. The third
brigade is first; and first of its regiments, the Twentieth New York,
with their sabre bayonets, are ready; and the shout, "Forward, double
quick!" rings along the line. The Germans waver for a moment; but
presently with a yell they rush down the hill, suddenly receiving a
volley from a rebel line concealed behind a fence; but the Germans,
regardless of the storm of bullets, rush forward; the rebels breaking
and flying to the rear in confusion, while the Germans hotly pursue
them. Next, on the left of the Twentieth, the gallant Seventh Maine
charges; rushing forward into the midst of the cornfield, they, too, are
met by concealed foes. Although they are concealed from our view, the
crashing of musketry tells us of the struggle which they maintain.

The gallant regiment makes its way down the slope, almost to the
earthworks of the enemy, when the men throw themselv