of this brigade-Twenty-third Georgia, Twenty-eighth Georgia, and Thirteenth Alabama-preserved their positions in rear, but did not engage the Yankees. The Fifth and Twenty-sixth Alabama (Rodes' brigade) encountered a battery in their front, which they charged and captured. Colonel C. C. Pegues, the noble Christian commander of the Fifth Alabama, fell mortally wounded in this charge.

Upon falling (says General Rodes) he called to the next officer in command, Major [E. L.] Hobson, and told him that the Fifth had always been in the advance, and that it was his last wish that it should go ahead and allow no regiment to pass it. Major Hobson gallantly carried out his wishes, and led the regiment constantly ahead of all others in the division except the Twenty-sixth Alabama, which, under its brave Colonel (O'Neal), kept steady with it.

In crossing the swamp-

The Third Alabama encountered troops of our own ahead of them and halted. The Sixth did not, but moved on at a rapid pace into the field in front of the enemy's battery and in face of their infantry, encountering there an enfilading fire from the battery and a heavy fire of musketry in front, and finding themselves unsupported, the men were required by Colonel Gordon to lie down, and finally, no support arriving, they retired under cover in perfectly good order, and there awaited, with the Third Alabama, further orders.

In regard to the Twelfth Alabama General Rodes says:

The Twelfth Alabama, which in some confusion had shifted to the left late in the evening, joined the troops which came up on the left of Hill's division.

Anderson's brigade on the left, met the Yankees on the edge of the swamp and was first engaged. The contest was short but bloody, and the woods were entirely cleared of the Yankees, who fell back behind a fence and ditch and the brow of a hill.

My division now occupied the edge of the wooded swamp, separated from the Yankees by an open field some 400 yards wide. Confederate troops upon our right, subsequently discovered to be Winder's and Lawton's brigades, were advancing across the plain to attack them. I found Generals Anderson and Garland discussing with great enthusiasm the propriety of attacking the Yankees in flank with their two brigades, while Lawton and Winder attacked in front. The only objection to the movement was that a Yankee battery on our extreme left could enfilade our line on its advance. Garland observed, "I don't think it can do much harm, and I am willing to risk it." Anderson responded in the same spirit, and I ordered an advance of the whole division. To prevent the destruction of life from the battery I resolved to make an attempt to capture it. Two regiments of Elzey's brigade (I think) were found separated from their command, and these I ordered under my volunteer aide, Mr. Sydnor, perfectly acquainted with the ground, to get in rear of the battery, while the Twentieth North Carolina, Colonel Alfred Iverson: the Third North Carolina, Colonel Gaston Meares, and the First North Carolina, commanded by Captain H. A. Brown, were ordered to make a direct advance. Unfortunately Colonel Iverson alone carried out his orders fully.

Says General Garland:

Colonel Iverson was seriously wounded at an early period while gallantly leading up his regiment to take the battery. The regiment after he was wounded as led by Lieutenant Colonel Franklin J. Faison. It advanced gallantly and took the battery, which it held from ten minutes. The gallant Faison received a mortal wound in the very act of turning a captured piece upon the fleeing foe. He was greatly beloved and his memory will be cherished with veneration and pride. The enemy soon returned to the battery and the regiment having sustained a loss of 70 killed and 202 wounded and being without support, retired, by order of Major [William H.] Toon.

40 R R-VOL XI, PT II