At last with gladness we responded to the order to advance, although it seemed as though we were marching into the very jaws of death. The scene as we cleared the woods and approached the field was grand beyond description. For miles the moonless sky was lit up by the incessant flashes of artillery and musketry and exploding shells, and it seemed as though we were stalking forth into a very sea of fire and flame. But nothing mortal could withstand that artillery, and again we were compelled to seek shelter from its fury. For half an hour longer it continued, when it perceptibly slackened, and soon ceased altogether. Completely unnerved and prostrated by the fire we had been compelled to endure so long, we threw ourselves upon the ground in the midst of the dead and dying, not to sleep, but to lay awake and watch the enemy’s lanterns flitting over the field, where they were busily engaged removing the wounded, and to listen to the cries of our own poor fellows who lay mangled and dying upon that field of awful carnage. At length I fell into a broken sleep, from which I was awakened before day by Colonel Johnson, and ordered to hold myself in readiness to advance my company, along with Captains Herbert and Edelin, at the first appearance of daylight. As it dawned we moved forward over heaps of dead and wounded, and in a short time after encountered a small force of the enemy, which retired after exchanging a volley with us, and it now became evident that McClellan had withdrawn during the night. Soon after day the rain commenced to fall in torrents, and drenched to the skin and miserable, we set to work to remove our wounded and bury our dead, of which there seemed no end. The majority of the wounds were of the most dreadful description, being inflicted principally by fragments of shell, whilst most of the killed were horribly mangled. Very many had fallen in the woods, and as the rain accumulated in the dense foliage, huge limbs that had been shattered the day before by artillery, would give way and come to the ground, crushing the poor wretches who had dragged their already maimed bodies under them for protection from the pitiless storm. Altogether, Malvern Hill was the most dreadful field I ever beheld, and I hope never to witness such another. By night of the 2d our melancholy task was done, and next morning we moved upon the enemy at Harrison’s Landing. After slight skirmishing here for several days, General Lee thought it best to withdraw, as McClellan’s position was a strong one, and the army therefore sought the more healthy country around Richmond wherein to encamp.