our flag, but I now discovered that the line had diminished by the men falling behind, and the nearer we approached the enemy the greater was this evil; but as vacancies occurred in the ranks they were promptly closed from the flanks. On arriving within 70 yards of the enemy I found that we had not more than 200 men in line and in supporting distance of the flag; but the hill-side was covered with those who had fallen behind, yet slowly advancing, still loading up of those scattered men before advancing the attack farther. Here I discovered that the whole command devolved upon me, all evidence of any other organization than that of the Fifth Texas having disappeared from the field. In this I was assisted by Captain Turner; but the enemy would not permit our delay. By the time the line had closed upon the flag, which had halted immediately in front of the colors of the colors of his left regiment, the commander of that regiment dashed through his lines to the front and commanded his men to charge, the fled behind the batteries at the head of the hollow, the whole line following in the same trace. On discovering this we halted and poured our fire upon them as they passed. We might have made an advantageous movement and cut off the rear of their line, but their right was obstructed form our view by high ground until they reached a point about opposite to our left, and we deemed victory too secure to hazard the result by a movement the certainty of which could not be clearly foreseen. we pursued, keeping up our fire until the last on head taken shelter behind heir guns. Our attention was now attracted to the open field north of the timber. Here was to be seen the heaviest line of the day advancing steadily across the field, firing rapidly as they advanced upon our troops (Jenkins' brigade), who had fought upon the right and up through the timber, and at that time occupying a position in the timber fronting this line. Now that we had disposed of our immediate foe our next impulse was to assist our fiends, and accordingly turned our fire form the enemy's battery, which was playing across our front upon General Jenkins, when it was determined to move down to the timber by the right flank to a point opposite General Jenkins' line and there file out and form upon his left. In this movement I was wounded and had to quit the field, when the command devolved upon Captain Turner.

We went into the last attack with the new brigade not expecting to act a very conspicuous part in the new drama, but rather as auxiliaries to the brigade, and I felt surprised and disappointed when I found that we had the whole work left upon our hands. Yet we shrank not from the responsibility, and, with the smiles of fortune upon our side, we succeeded in breaking the line, though it was fully five times our strength. This was the third heavy line the Fifth Texas had encountered that day, in each instance achieving complete success. But for the timely breaking of that line the fortunes of the day might have been charged. Had it remained intact ten or fifteen minutes longer it might have co-operated with the heavy line then advancing upon our