there and if I found a regiment of the enemy flanking his position to charge them. I hurried to the point indicated, found that our troops, to the extent of a brigade and a half, had been driven from their works and the enemy in possession of them. I determined to charge, however, and succeeded in driving them from their position with but little loss. Our regiment numbered one hundred and twenty men. The enemy driven out consisted of the Forty-eighth and One-hundred-and-twelfth New York. We captured the colors of the Forty-eighth, took some prisoners and killed many whilst making their escape from the trenches. We lost in this charge one of our most efficient officers, Captain Ralph Elliott, a brother of General Stephen Elliott. He was a brave soldier and a most estimable gentleman.
The regiment was at the siege of Petersburg and did good service there. They threw up breastworks under a heavy fire, and held them for eight days until relieved. The regiment was then held in reserve at Petersburg and was thrown continually to the extremities of the line to resist the flank movements of the enemy. It was afterwards sent to the Valley and operated there under General Early for several months, sharing his victories and defeats. It was then ordered back to the lines in front of Richmond, and was marched almost every night in midwinter, the ground covered with snow, to some threatened point, and was at last sent to South Carolina, in January, 1865, to aid in defending its native State from the invasion of Sherman. But they were marched to Charleston whilst Sherman was burning Columbia, evacuated that place with scarcely an enemy in sight, and were conducted in ignominious retreat into North Carolina, while Sherman, unresisted, was destroying the vitals of their State. The regiment was engaged in the two small battles in North Carolina—Bentonville and Averasboro'. They were small affairs and merely intended as temporary checks to the enemy. General Joe Johnston, I believe, never had any other object in view. The regiment was reorganized at Smithfield, North Carolina, by the consolidation of the Twentieth with it. It retained its name and colors. It had five hundred men present for duty. Its officers were William Wallace, Colonel; J. D. Grahame, Lieutenant-Colonel, and J. S. Leaphart, Major. The regiment remained at Smithfield for some weeks, reorganizing and drilling, and then marched to join General Lee. At Raleigh we heard rumors of his surrender, which were not believed; but soon
