There was a general line of battle formed this morning and
orders given to make a charge all along the lines. The center charged in full
force, but as the flanks failed to charge, soon had to fall back. The Eleventh
and Sixteenth Iowa furnished the skirmishers for our brigade and charged the
rebels' skirmish line, but were driven back to their old line. Our side lost
several in killed and wounded, and what little was gained did not pay for the
loss of life. Company A of our regiment was in the charge and had one man
killed; so close was he to the rebel works that our men had to raise the white
flag in order to get his body. The Fifty-third Indiana made a charge on the
rebel rifle pits and lost about forty men, taken as prisoners. When they made
the charge, the rebels lay down in their pits, allowing them to come close up,
when they rose up with their rifles drawn and said: “Come on, boys, we won't
hurt you,” and took them prisoners.
Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B.,
Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 201-2
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