his time.

On April 1st, Sheridan won his notable victory at Five Forks, and at
midnight the regiment was ordered out for a final charge on the
defences so long held against them, which was to be made early on the
2nd. All was made ready, the lines formed, and at daylight the signal
gun set the army in motion.

"The advance was over precisely the same ground as on the 25th of
March, and the firing came from the same battery and breastworks,
although not quite so severe. Lieutenant-Colonel Skinner and seven
enlisted men were wounded--none of them fatally. There was but little
firing on our side, but with bayonets fixed the boys went in,--not in
a very mathematical right line, but strongly and surely,--on, on,
until the first line was carried. Then, invigorated and greatly
encouraged by success, they pressed on--the opposing fire slackening
every minute,--on, on, through the abatis and ditch, up the steep
bank, over the parapet into the rebel camp that had but just been
deserted. Then and there the long tried and ever faithful soldiers of
the Republic saw daylight--and such a shout as tore the concave of
that morning sky it were worth dying to hear." The same jubilant
success was attending the whole army, though not without sharp
resistance on the part of the enemy in places.

Throughout the day advances were made and the works so long besieged
were occupied all over the vast field, and at night the men "lay down
in muddy trenches, among the dying and the dead, under a most
murderous fire of sharpshooters. There had been charges and counter
charges,--but our troops held all they had gained. At length the hot
day gave place to chilly night, and the extreme change brought much
suffering. The men had flung away whatever was fling-away-able during
the charge of the morning and the subsequent hot march--as men always
will, under like circumstances--and now they found themselves
blanketless, stockingless, overcoatless,--in cold and damp trenches,
and compelled by the steady firing to lie still, or adopt a
horizontal, crawling mode of locomotion, which did not admit of speed
enough to quicken the circulation of the blood. Some took clothing
from the dead and wrapped themselves in it; others, who were fortunate
enough to procure spades, dug gopher holes, and burrowed. At daylight
the Sixty-fifth New York clambered over the huge earthwork, took
possession of Fort Hell, opened a picket fire and fired one of the
guns in the fort