nd in spite
of most determined efforts to hold the line, they were forced to swing
back.

This was the first experience of Smith's command in a great battle, and
well did his men earn the confidence of the veterans who fought by their
side. Their courage and impetuosity were the subjects of admiration of
the boys of the old Sixth corps, who declared that Baldy Smith could
make any troops fight like veterans.

The gallantry shown by our Third division in taking and holding the
enemy's works, was acknowledged with true soldierly generosity by the
other divisions of our corps, who thus far had not regarded the new
division as their peer.

As darkness came on, the conflict still raged, and sheets of flame
rolled from one end of the line to the other as the discomfited rebels
strove desperately to regain their lost ground. But as the sound of
battle died away at nine o'clock, the advantages gained by us were still
held, and our men set to work to strengthen the works they had captured
from the enemy and to throw up new ones. Again and again the rebels
rushed against the Union line hoping to regain their lost ground, but
without success. The battle, although of brief duration, had been a most
sanguinary one. The loss to the Sixth corps was about two hundred killed
and nine hundred and sixty wounded, while the Eighteenth corps lost one
hundred and twenty-five killed and six hundred and fifty wounded.

Meanwhile the Second, Fifth and Ninth corps were holding the position
occupied by them the day before, and against these corps most desperate
assaults were repeatedly made by the enemy, but they were as often
repulsed with great slaughter.

The movement at Coal Harbor, while it had not succeeded in forcing the
enemy across the Chickahominy, had secured our communications with White
House Landing, which now became, after two years, for the second time,
the base of supplies for the Army of the Potomac. General Grant now
determined to renew the attempt to dislodge the rebels on the following
day.

Accordingly, after the fashion of all the movements of the army, the
Second corps, which now occupied the extreme right of the line, withdrew
during the night, and falling behind the other corps, marched rapidly to
the left and took position in that flank on the road leading from
Dispatch Station to Coal Harbor. The corps did not secure this position
without considerable fighting, and it was not in condition to take part
in the exp