52 HENRY HILL GOODELL 



and so tired out was I that I fell right down on the bare 

 ground and never woke till 8 or 9 o'clock next morning. 



May 26, we remained on the reserve till 4 P.M. when the 

 three right companies were ordered to the front. We had 

 a splendid sight of an artillery duel going on in which the 

 practice of Nims's battery was perfect. They dismounted 

 two or three guns, and altogether were so sharp that the 

 rebel gunners did not dare load their pieces. 



May 27. We were relieved at 5 A.M. by the 13th [Con- 

 necticut], but were almost immediately after ordered out to 

 the support of a new section of Nims's battery which had 

 just been got into position. Here we lay for five or six 

 hours flat on our faces, while the enemies' shells burst in 

 most unpleasant proximity. Then our regiment and the 

 159th [New York] were ordered over to the support of 

 General Weitzel on the right. We marched almost on the 

 double-quick through the woods, and were ordered by 

 General Grover to advance to the front and carry an earth- 

 work. We were told there were hardly any rebels there, 

 and Mayor Burt of the 159th, who was in command, was 

 told that his regiment alone was sufficient to carry the 

 works, and to send back the 25th if it was not needed. A 

 more bare-faced lie never was got up, as the sequel will 

 show. We pushed on through the woods, rushed down a 

 hill swept by the enemy's artillery, turned a sharp corner 

 and emerged on the entrance to a plain. I shall never forget 

 that sight : the valley was filled up with felled trees, ruins 

 of houses and debris, while thick and heavy rolled the 

 battle-smoke. There was a hill on the left strongly in- 

 trenched, and from its centre loomed up a big gun, black 

 and gloomy, threatening to annihilate us; just below, on a 



