Battle fields and camp fires of the Thirty-Eighth : an authentic narrative and record of the organization of the Thirty-Eighth Regiment of Wis. Vol. Infy, and the part taken in the late war ...

              CHAPTER   Y.
Tlie morning of the ever memorable 30th <Tf July,
broke over the besiegers and the besieged. Companies B and E, occupied a position in the most advanced line of Avorks, while the remainder of the
battalion Was posted in the second line, a few rods
to the rear. At early dawn the men made their
accustomed preparations, expecting to be relieved
in a fcAV moments, and to move to the rear to procure the rest so much needed by eA'ery soldier, who
after being under fire all day is obliged to keep watch
during the night.
It was, Avhile Avaiting the expected relief, that the
battalion was surprised to behold and hear the terrible explosion of Burnside's mine, under the rebel
fort directly in our front and only a feAV rods distant
The folloAving extract from the columns of the NeAV
York Times, written by an eye-Avitness, gives a Arery
graphic account of the ¡position and the reasons foi
the moArement :
"Headquarters in front of Army of Potomac, )
Saturday Evening, July 30th, 1S64. [
With the passage of the James was exhausted all
possibilities of a movement by the left flank, with
Richmond as the objective point. Nothing, therefore, remained to Gen. Grant but to assault the rebel