When the Third Division, to which my regiment belonged, charged over our breastworks and across the space between our line and the enemy's line, they came upon the enemy's works to the right of the crater; but by that time the enemy had recovered from his surprise, and was concentrating a terrible fire upon all that region. The men instinctively sought shelter in the excavation made by the explosion, but when we arrived at that point we found the crater filled with troops of General Ledlie's division. There seemed to be complete chaos reigning there. The lieutenant-colonel of our regiment, who was in command, Colonel Buffum, tried to rally the men, as did officers of other regiments, and to push on to Cemetery Hill; but General Ledlie, who should have been with his command, remained behind in a bomb-proof. I remember seeing him, as we passed the front, secure in a bomb-proof. His troops had fallen into confusion in the way I have explained, and he was not there to remedy the situation. It seemed impossible for the officers to accomplish anything in the midst of the reigning confusion. The Fourth Rhode Island, the few of us that were together at that time, followed the colonel and the color bearer out beyond the enemy's works towards Cemetery Hill, but we encountered such a hurricane of shot and shell that it was impossible to face it, and we were driven back again into the shelter of the enemy's works, where we remained. The attempt to capture Cemetery Hill had proved a failure. Many of the men and officers tried to get back to our own line, but the enemy by that time had a raking fire over the space between their line and our own, and it was almost sure death for any person to undertake to cross it. Very few of those who did, escaped being killed or wounded. The space between was so covered with the dead and the wounded that it was possible for a person to go from one line to the other without stepping on the earth. I have learned since that an order was issued for the troops in the crater to return to our own lines, but I myself did not hear of such an order, neither did Lieutenant-Colonel Buffum. We remained in the crater. It was on the 30th of July, as I have said, and one of the hottest days of the summer. The enemy had gotten range upon the crater, and were dropping mortar shell into our midst, but we held them at bay until our ammunition gave out. Finally they made a charge, and succeeded in reaching the crater, and were firing directly down upon us. General Bartlett, the highest officer in rank in the crater, a general from Massachusetts, gave the order for us to surrender. An officer of my regiment, a lieutenant of the Fourth Rhode Island, Lieutenant Kibby, tied a white handkerchief on his sword, and held it up in token of surrender. The enemy ceased firing.