General Sykes commanding, was already in position on the left of the road, and ten heavy guns from the Artillery Reserve soon came up under the special command of Brigadier General R. O. Tyler, commanding the reserve artillery of the army. The corps artillery was in part distributed among the divisions, and the rest parked a short distance in rear of the line, in readiness to move whenever wanted.

The flankers, who had moved on our right during the march, were at once pushed forward a few hundred yards as a skirmish line, and, while the troops rested, the general position and that of the enemy were reconnoitered, resulting in the plan that while the Fifth Corps should move to the front, and if possible obtain possession of the river by artillery fire.

The task of carrying the ridge was intrusted to General A. P. Howe, commanding Second Division, who had assigned to him for that purpose, in addition to his command, Shaler's brigade of the Third Division, and Martin's and Waterman's rifled batteries. With this command and the skirmish line of the corps, General Howe moved steadily forward, taking the ridge and establishing thereon the batteries mentioned, from which he at once opened fire upon the enemy and his works. To these batteries six 20-pounder Parrot guns, under the command of Captain Taft, of the Artillery Reserve, were soon added by General Tyler, and the artillery fire, which was handsomely executed, was warmly kept up for some time, with the evident effect of slacking the fire of the works, but without silencing them or compelling the enemy to withdraw.

Soon after the artillery was established some movements on the part of the enemy indicated the design of re-enforcing his troops on our side of the river, and consequently the remainder of the corps was brought forward to meet any attack of the enemy, and to be dislodging him. The movement of this force over open ground for nearly a mile, under the fierce fire of the enemy's batteries, was handsomely effected, and, fortunately, with little loss. It was soon under partial shelter of the ridge upon which our batteries were posted.

Continuing the fire till near dark, aided by the fire of two batteries of the Fifth Corps, advantageously posted, it was found that the enemy was not to be dislodged thereby, and that the works must be carried by assault, or we should fail in carrying out our part of the plan. Under most circumstances I should have hesitated in ordering the assault of so strong a position, and believed its success hopeless; but the Fifth Corps had already seized the rifle-pits on the river, on the left of the road; General Howe, with his division, had seized the pits on our extreme right, and established his artillery so as to flank the rest of the line, all the while holding his troops in position threatening a flank attack and thereby engaging the attention of a part of the enemy's force; and the fact that the works to be assaulted would mainly cover the advancing column against the enemy's fire from the opposite bank, these, with the consideration of the reliability of the troops forming the attacking column, convinced me that the works could be carried by moving up in the angle between the fires of our batteries and those of the Fifth Corps.