boding was spared
most of the men through sheer exhaustion.

At about the appointed time, five in the afternoon, the regiment was
moved in three battalions of four companies each out of the
breastworks where it had lain through the afternoon, leaving knapsacks
behind, stationed for a few moments among the scanty pine-woods in
front, and then at the word of command started forth upon its fateful
journey, the Colonel in the lead.

The first battalion, with the colors in the center, moved at a double
quick across the open field under a constantly thickening fire, over
the enemy's first line of rifle pits which was abandoned at its
approach, and onward to the main line of breastworks with a force and
impetus which would have carried it over this like Niagara but for an
impassable obstruction. Says the regimental history, "There had been a
thick growth of pine sprouts and saplings on this ground, but the
rebels had cut them, probably that very day, and had arranged them so
as to form a very effective abatis,--thereby clearing the spot and
thus enabling them to see our movements. Up to this point there had
been no firing sufficient to confuse or check the battalion, but here
the rebel musketry opened. A sheet of flame, sudden as lightning, red
as blood, and so near that it seemed to singe the men's faces, burst
along the rebel breastwork, and the ground and trees close behind our
line was ploughed and riddled with a thousand balls that just missed
the heads of the men. The battalion dropped flat on the ground, and
the second volley, like the first, nearly all went over. Several men
were struck, but not a large number. It is more than probable that if
there had been no other than this front fire, the rebel breastworks
would have been ours, notwithstanding the pine boughs. But at that
moment a long line of rebels on our left, having nothing in their own
front to engage their attention, and having unobstructed range on the
battalion, opened a fire which no human valor could withstand, and
which no pen can adequately describe. It was the work of almost a
single minute. The air was filled with sulphurous smoke, and the
shrieks and howls of more than two hundred and fifty mangled men rose
above the yells of triumphant rebels and the roar of their musketry.
'About face,' shouted Colonel Kellogg, but it was his last command. He
had already been struck in the arm, and the words had scarcely passed
his lips when another shot pierced