Southern Historical Society Papers, Volume 4.
Reverend J. William Jones, Ed.

In the February number, the editor refers to what is stated in the previous number, and “that all may be heard and with the view of getting at the truth,” publishes an account of this affair, from a Soldier's story of the late war, by Napier Bartlett. Many and conflicting statements of this Battery [19] Gregg fight, have at various times appeared in newspapers, periodicals and histories, all differing and more or less inaccurate, but none varying more widely from the truth than those of the two historians, Cooke and Swinton. The former, page 445 of his Life of Gen. Lee says: “The forts, especially Gregg, made a gallant resistance. This work was defended by 250 men of Harris' Mississippi brigade, and they fought until their numbers were reduced to 30, killing or wounding 500 of the enemy. The forts were taken at last, and the Federals advanced towards the city. In this attack fell the eminent soldier, Gen. A. P. Hill, whose record had been so illustrious, and whose good fortune it was to thus terminate his life while the Southern flag still floated.” The errors of this writer are, 1st, there were not 250 men in Battery Gregg on the occasion referred to; 2d, they were not all of Harris' Mississippi brigade; 3d, Gen. Hill did not fall at it, but several hours before, and beyond Pickerell's house, on the Boydton plank road, and on west side of the road; 4th, the number of men in the battery was not reduced to thirty.

Swinton, page 603, Army of the Potomac says: “The attack was directed against Forts Gregg and Alexander,” the last mentioned was called Battery Whitworth, “two strong enclosed works;” he then repeats Cooke's errors as to the composition of the command that held and defended Battery Gregg, but falls into one not found in Cooke; “the other, Fort Alexander,” meaning Whitworth, “found no such defenders and readily fell.” Battery Whitworth was held by just as true, brave, and devoted men as their comrades in Battery Gregg; it was not captured by the enemy, but evacuated by my orders when Gregg fell; the command in it, at least the infantry, were all of Harris' brigade; these and the troops outside of and near Gregg fell back to the main line around Petersburg, near a mile in rear, and were not annoyed or pursued by the enemy. Among the troops that retired at this time were Cox's North Carolina brigade, that had been thrown out from the main line, its right connecting with my left several hundred yards to the left of Gregg. [20]

Inasmuch as I was present at the time, and gave the order to occupy both batteries, Gregg and Whitworth, and made such other disposition of the small number of men at my disposal as was believed would best answer the purpose in view, and finally, when this was accomplished, directed the withdrawal to the main line in rear, and as my official report has never been published, I will now give some of the facts connected with the defence of these two batteries. Before doing so, however, it would be Well to refer briefly to our line that was exterior to the main or Petersburg line on this part of our very widely extended field, and to state in what manner they were held, going somewhat into the details of the military operations of the few days preceding April second.

Early in October, 1864, Heth's division and two brigades, Lane's and McGowan's, of my division, were placed in position with orders to entrench, the line being east of the Boydton plank road, which ran to Dinwiddie Courthouse. The left of the line was near where this road crossed Old Town creek, and some two hundred yards east of the road, and little less than a mile from the lines around Petersburg; the right rested on Hatcher's run, a mile below Burgess' mill, this being at the crossing of the run by the Dinwiddie Courthouse road. This new line guarded the road-Boydton plank road-over which we received supplies from Hicksford, on the Weldon railroad, in rear or south of the point where the Federal line crossed this road.

March 27th, General Grant withdrew all save a small force from the north side of James river, and on the 29th moved the bulk of his army towards the extreme right of our lines, then resting below Burgess' mill. General Lee shifted to his extreme right Pickett's division and part of that of Bushrod Johnson's, March 29th; then took position beyond Burgess' mill and to the right of the road and nearly parallel With the White Oak road. 10 P. M., McCrae's brigade, of Heth's division, and McGowan's brigade, of my division, were moved from the line covering the Boydton plank road to the vicinity [21] of Burgess' mill, halting on the north side of Hatcher's run. These brigades had moved under direction of General Heth. The march was toilsome and fatiguing, the night excessively dark, and the road muddy from heavy rain then falling in torrents. Artillery was heard in direction of Petersburg, at times intermingled with small arms. On the lines at various points the dark clouds were made visible occasionally by rockets sent up from the two lines. Early the next morning-80th--these brigades were moved across the run and placed in line to the right of the road and at right angles to it, along a line partially entrenched. Skirmishers that had covered their front, whence they had moved, remained; they were thus weakened by about 150 men each. McCrae's brigade to the left of McGowan's, and Bushrod Jonhson's division, or a part of it, on his (McGowan's) right. In this new position the line of skirmishers became involved in a brisk fire as soon as posted. Scale's brigade, of my division, was moved from the right of the Petersburg lines to Burgess' mill, and occupied a line on both sides of the road. General Lee was early in the morning present on this part of the lines. These troops, save Scale's, were moved or extended farther to the right, their line being nearly parallel with the general direction of Hatcher's run. It rained very hard all day and most of the night. Late in the afternoon the Thirteenth and Thirty-eighth North Carolina regiments, of Scale's brigade, under command of Colonel Ashford, of the latter, were ordered forward to dislodge the enemy from a piece of woods close in front. This involved a sharp fight. The enemy were driven out with a loss of quite a number of prisoners. The Hon. Thomas Conley,¹ member of the English Parliament, and my guest at the time, was present with General Lee. [22]

Colonel Ashford was wounded, and on his return was complimented by the Commanding-General. This spirited affair enabled us to advance our skirmish line considerably. The Fifth and Sixth corps, of the Union army, bivouaced the night of the 30th facing Hatcher's run; one of Warren's-Fifth corps-divisions on the west side of the Boydton plank road. Early the following morning-31st-Warren moved farther to his left-west-approached quite near the White Oak road, and was assailed with such spirit by Gen. McGowan, in command of his own and Gracie's brigades, of Johnson's division, soon reinforced by Hunton's brigade, of Pickett's division, that he was driven back a mile, when, being reinforced by a division of the Second corps, which attacked the Confederates [23] in flank, while he fought them in front, he forced them back to their original lines, the most of the day being consumed in the battle. The attack was made about 10.30 A. M. Late in the afternoon Sheridan, who had advanced to the immediate vicinity of Five Forks, was driven back by Pickett to Dinwiddie Courthouse.

During most of the day, while the fighting was severe farther to the right, there was a very heavy skirmish going on about Burgess' mill, and on Cooke's brigade, near where the line intersected Hatcher's run, below the mill, and on Lane's brigade, to the left of Cooke. It was so heavy and threatening about the mill that Gen. Heth sent to me for a brigade, I being in charge of the lines from the run back to near Petersburg; but the firing increasing on my own front, and ,being probably heard and properly appreciated by him, he sent me the note below:

This left me free to choose between two evils, each equally dangerous; we, Gen. Heth and myself, were too weak to support the one, the other, or to maintain our own line if attacked with force and spirit. The brigade was not sent. At this time I was holding a line three or four miles long, with Cooke's, Davis',--and McComb's brigades of Heth's division, and Lane's and Thomas' of my division; on parts of my line the men were in one thin line ten feet apart, and no where was it held by men in double ranks. Col. Richardson, of the artillery, [24] was wounded seriously to-day on the line held by Davis' brigade; and near the same place and time my horse was wounded twice.²

The effect of the spirited fighting of McGowan, that forced Warren back upon Gravelly run, and the driving of Sheridan back to Dinwiddie Courthouse by Picket, was the cause, according to Mr. Swinton, of such anxiety at headquarters of the Army of the Potomac as to lead to the determination to withdraw the Second and Fifth corps, in order to hold, if possible, the line of the Boydton plank road and Gravelly run — Ord and Humphreys to hold the run. This was abandoned, according to Swinton, at the suggestion of Gen. Warren, who proposed to move towards Dinwiddie Courthouse and make a combined attack with Sheridan the following morning.

Sheridan having been forced back to Dinwiddie Courthouse, after dark Pickett withdrew, and retired upon Five Forks, several miles to the right of our lines, extending from Burgess' mill. The following morning, April 1st, our cavalry pickets confronting Sheridan were driven in. The Federal cavalry following towards Five Forks, was joined by Warren-Fifth corps-before 8 A. M. The cavalry delayed Sheridan a good deal, but he reached the vicinity of the Forks by 2:30 [25] P. M. About 4 P. M. a combined and simultaneous attack was made, the infantry moving against Pickett's left and rear, whilst dismounted cavalry assailed him in front. The attack succeeded. The position was carried with the loss of valuable lives, many prisoners and all of the artillery. Our extreme right was crushed. The extent of the disaster was not generally known till late the next day.

All during the night of April 1st the enemy's batteries around Petersburg kept up an almost incessant cannonade, solid shot and shell whizzing through the air and bursting in every direction, at times equal in brilliancy to a vivid meteoric display.³

The infantry pickets were also wide awake and kept up much more than their usual firing. About day-light it was [26] heard, and of such volume as to make the impression that it was not a mere skirmish-line engagement. I started for the lines, and on reaching the vicinity of Battery Gregg met a few of my men coming to the rear. They reported that our lines had been broken. Portions of Thomas' and Lane's brigades were in and near Batteries Gregg and Whitworth. I learned that the lines had been pierced on Lane's front near Boisseau's house and at a point to his right. Most of the enemy had turned to their left, sweeping up every thing as far as Hatcher's run; part had filed to their right and had driven our thin line back; not, however, without suffering seriously. Gen. Wright, commanding the Sixth corps, informed me subsequently that he lost 1,200 men in getting over the line. The enemy had reached the plank road in small numbers. One of Lane's regiments was forced back to the Southside road. The enemy were seen along our captured lines and on the plank road. Lane's and Thomas' men were reformed — in all about 600-moved forward in good spirits, and recaptured the lines to the vicinity of Boisseau's house, together with the artillery in the different batteries along it. This was reported to Gen. Lee.

Col. Venable, aide-de-camp to Gen. Lee, soon joined me with a message that Harris' brigade would report in a few minutes; it numbers little over 500 muskets. Heavy masses of the enemy were soon seen moving toward from their entrenched lines in a direction that crossed ours near the Carnes' house. It was useless to attempt engaging them with the force I had; Harris was, therefore, ordered toward a little beyond the Bank's house, advanced skirmishers, but with orders not to become engaged with his line of battle. It was the purpose to delay the forward movement of the enemy as much as possible, in order that troops from the north side of the James river might arrive and fill the gap between the right of our main Petersburg lines and the Appomattox.⁴ [27]

The enemy moving by the flank, crossed the Boydton plank road near the Pickerel house, north of it; then continuing the march across an open field of six or eight hundred yards halted, faced to the right, and preparatory to their advance, fired a few rounds from a battery. Several pieces of artillery were placed in rear of Harris, and opened fire on the enemy over a mile distant; they moved forward unchecked, and but little annoyed by this fire.

The fragments of Thomas' and Lane's brigades were withdrawn; a portion placed in the plank road, here deeply worn, and extending to the left, connected at Old Town creek with the right of Brig-Gen. Cox's North Carolina brigade; this was partially entrenched.⁵ A second detachment from these brigades was posted on the lines beyond or east of the Boydton plank road, and about 200 yards from Battery Gregg, this part of the line being along the bank of Old Town creek. The enemy had placed a battery supported with infantry near a house in a field seven or eight hundred yards beyond the creek. It had been posted so as to have Gregg and Whitworth in the same line, and shots that passed over the former could and did strike the latter, four or five hundred yards beyond.

The lines of battle of the enemy, imposing from their numbers and strength, advanced. Slowly but steadily our artillery — that in rear of Harris' brigade — was withdrawn, and the brigade, after a slight skirmish, retired. [28]

It was now that a little detachment was ordered to occupy Battery Gregg. It was made up of two pieces of artillery,⁶ and in all about 200 men, the infantry being composed of detachments from Thomas', Lane's and Harris' brigades the number from Thomas' brigade, as now remembered, being less than that from either of the other two. The most of Harris' brigade was ordered to Battery Whitworth. In this were three pieces of artillery. Gen. Harris was in command at Whitworth. At the time the detachments were placed in Gregg I did not know who was the ranking officer; did not regard it of much consequence, as I had determined to remain either in it or near it. I was in Gregg about 10 minutes. Saw that it had as many men as could fire conveniently. Extra ammunition was supplied, and the little detachments ordered to hold these two batteries to the last. Battery Gregg was a detached lunette, with a ditch eight or ten feet deep, about the same width, and the parapet of corresponding height and thickness. The guns were in barbette; its gorge was closed with palisades, and these with loop-holes, I believe. It was the intention to have connected these two batteries with a rifle trench, and earth had been excavated for a distance of thirty yards, commencing at the right end of the palisading of Gregg. The connection was never made; but it was by means of the parapet of this short, unfinished trench, that the enemy reached the crest of Battery Gregg. As the enemy's attacking forces advanced, a few guns on the main lines at Battery 45, the two guns in Gregg, and the three in Whitworth delivered a rapid fire. The enemy's battery in the open field beyond Old Town creek was in the meantime directing a brisk and well-directed fire upon Gregg and Whitworth. The enemy's front line coming withina good range, the musketry from the two little garrisons began, and with decided effect, to be easily seen. This inspired with increased courage our men, greatly diminished in numbers. The enemy drew nearer, but close in front of Whitworth were the cabins of a [29] brigade that had passed the winter there. Our men set these on fire, and the enemy attacking this part of the line, halted near by. Against Gregg, however, they continued to advance, nearer and nearer, till they were within less than sixty yards. The two guns in it ceased firing; those on the main line also. The three in Whitworth were withdrawn without any authority from myself, and the enemy's battery beyond Old Town creek was forced to desist, their own troops being between it and Gregg. The latter was now nearly surrounded. The heroism displayed by the defenders of Battery Gregg has not been exaggerated by those attempting to describe it. A mere handfal of men, they beat back repeatedly the overwhelming numbers assailing them on all sides. After they were surrounded the contest continued. The enemy finally gained the parapet, and were enabled to hold it, it being reached by means of the parapet of the unfinished trench previously referred to. As --they appeared at this point, they were either shot or thurst off with the bayonet. Again and again was this done. At length numbers prevailed, and the parapet of the little work was thickly covered with men, six flags being seen on it at the same time; and from this dense mass a close, and of necessity destructive fire, was poured down upon the devoted little band within. To prevent further sacrifice, and the object believed to have been accomplished, the troops in Whitworth were ordered to retire, as well as those that were near Gregg in the road, extending down Old Town creek, and Cox's brigade on their left. These were all reformed in the Petersburg lines, the men being in one thin line, with from 6 to 10 feet interval. The fight continued, at Gregg fifteen or twenty minutes after the Confederates were driven from the banquette.

It was Gen. Gibbon's command that captured Battery Gregg; and if I remember correctly, he informed me at Appomattox Courthouse, that sixty-seven of our men were killed, and. among the wounded was Lieut.-Col. Duncan, of HIarris' Mississippi brigade, the senior officer. Gen. Gibbon, also, according to present recollection, told me that he lost over 800 men [30] before it and Whitwolth; at the latter place but few. The enemy remained at Gregg; advanced no nearer to Petersburg from that direction; but a corps (6th) approached on the Cox road; were confronted by Field's division; did not attack; artillery ouly was placed in position, and shelled at intervals for several hours without inflicting loss.

Much has been said and written about the Battery Gregg fight, it being witnessed by many standing on the Petersburg breastworks; among this number was Gen. Lee himself; and while all the praise that has been awarded the little Spartan band that held it against such comparatively vast odds is justly due, there was yet another collision later on the same day, not often referred to, but in which the Confederates displayed, as usual, that courage known to be common to the rank and file of the Army of Northern Virginia. This contest, and the last between any of the fragments of our little army and the enemy near Petersburg, took place at Sutherland's depot, on the Southside railroad. When the lines were broken a little after day-light, the greater portion ot the attacking force turned to their left, and made a clean sweep of the lines to Hatcher's run. Those of our men that escaped being captured were either driven or retreated to Burgess' mill, crossed the run and filed to the right. From this part of the lines the troops were withdrawn, and successfully, by Gen. Heth, moving to the rear by the right flank, and then marching to the depot. There were four brigades that retired from this point: Cook's and McCrae's, of Heth's division, and McGowan's and Scale's, of my division.

While the troops were being withdrawn from Burgess' mill, Scale's brigade, commanded by Col. Hyman, Thirteenth North Carolina, held the bridge, not quitting it till the enemy were close upon his rear, left flank, and in his front. Mc-Gowan's brigade being formed in line, preparatory to moving, the enemy rushed foward and opened fire upon it, but our men were not unprepared, and returned instantly a prompt and effective fire, breaking their line at once, leaving the brigade [31] to follow the movement to the rear. The enemy followed closely, firing an occasional shot from a battery; this was responded to by some of our guns. The depot was reached and line of battle selected, nearly parallel to the railroad; its left being nearer to it; the right rested close to a house to the left of the road over which our troops had marched, the left near a church. It ran along an open ridge sloping to the front to a small stream six or eight hundred yards; beyond the stream was a similar ridge, save that it was covered with trees. Our men sought slight protection from piling up rails taken from neighboring fences. The enemy soon occupied the wooded ridge, the intervening space being about a half mile; they lost no time, but rushed forward in a disjointed manner, yelling furiously. Our artillery opened fire upon them, but without effect. They came up against the right still yelling. When at a convenient distance they received a cool, well-directed and destructive fire, that thinned their ranks, arrested the advance, and soon sent them to the rear ingreat disorder. The Confederates now gave vent to a wild and derisive yell. A second advance was soon made, and with better order and a more creditable exhibition of courage. They assailed this time our left, drove il the skirmishers, and came up at a sweeping charge cheering vociferously, but were again repulsed, driven clear off from the field, and this time followed by a line of skirmishers.

There was a respite of an hour or more, save a desultory artillery fire, during which the enemy could be seen massing in front of our left. Once more they came against the left flank, attacking us simultaneously in front, which they were enabled to do from their preponderating numbers. Our left was driven in. The front attack at the same time being vigorously pressed, our ranks were thrown into great confusion, the men nevertheless displaying their usual individual courage, though now unavailing. With ranks disorganized, many killed, wounded and captured, they were forced from the field, and with no friendly fortified line close in rear to receive them, [32] but the Appomattox, turbid and swollen from recent rains to such an extent as to make fording impossible. After seeking in vain for bridges, they finally reached the north bank by means of an indifferent ferry; but many threw away their arms from necessity, and crossed by swimming.

Such information as has been given of the collision at Sutherland's depot was derived from reports of two of my brigade commanders.⁷