On May 8 we passed near where Generals Warren and Longstreet fought on the 6th, and saw many sickening sights. The wads from the guns had fired the thick beds of leaves in the black-jack thicket, and some of our wounded had been burned, and their charred remains were close to our line of march. We moved very slowly on the 9th of May; but on the 10th, early in the morning, our advance was in position a few miles northeast of Spottsylvania Courthouse, and General Grant made a furious charge, trying to dislodge us, but General Lee held the position. General Sedgwick was killed, and near by is a handsome monument erected to him. On the night of May 10, by the aid of engineers’ voices (it was a very dark night), the dead angle was formed, and we commenced to dig lively with our bayonets, throwing out the dirt with tin plates. On the night of May 11 the trench was completed and occupied by us, as we expected an attack at any moment. In building the trench we threw the dirt out in front, and on top of the dirt placed some small pine logs, cut out of the thicket. The logs would be of no use in case artillery was used, but we knew that General Grant could not use it on account of the wilderness, but the little logs served their purpose in catching Minie balls. All night there was a steady drizzling rain, and soon after daylight on the morning of the 12th of May we heard the pickets firing, and soon they came running in and scampered over the breastworks and yelled out, “Boys, the Yanks are coming in three columns!” and soon we were engaged with General Hancock’s Corps. The battle raged furiously for a while, and the front column of the Federals was not more than thirty feet from our line. Soon I heard one of our men say: “Stop firing; they will kill all of us.” I heard a voice in our rear say, “Surrender,” and it was accompanied with an oath. I looked up, and General Thomas Francis Meagher’s Brigade was in our rear, and some of our men were being shot and clubbed to death with guns after they had thrown down their arms. The big, burly Irishman that had called on me to surrender had his gun within two feet of my body and his finger on the trigger. Why he did not shoot, I will never know. Major General Edward Johnson, commanding my division, and Colonel Norvell Cobbs, of my regiment, had dismounted previous to the battle, and were near me in the trenches, and we leaped the breastworks, grabbing the pine logs on top to assist us over, and we were in the midst of the attacking column in front. Eleven hundred men were captured, which comprised all of General Johnson’s division except seven of my regiment that were on our extreme right. When we reached General Hancock’s men they displayed the excitement incident to a fierce charge, and I think we had about four guards to each prisoner. They rushed to us and said, “To the rear, quick, men”; and away they ran with us. Of course we know that it was not our personal safety