creek, and made frequent attacks upon our troops at night. They were several times kept under arms through the night, expecting a general assault by the enemy. Sharpshooting and skirmishing continued almost without intermission, and men were at no time safe from rebel bullets. Rebel gunboats approached the mouth of Warwick Creek, and with their assistance the rebel infantry attempted to turn our left flank, but were repulsed and driven back.

Lee's Mills are about two miles from the James River, and six from Yorktown. On the morning of the 16th of April, 1862, the Second Division of the Sixth Corps was ordered to move, and it was understood that they were to make an assault upon the enemy's works. The troops were massed near some ruins, known as "The Chimneys," the Second, or Vermont Brigade, holding the front line, supported by the First and Third Brigades. Warwick Creek here makes up from the James River, in places narrow and deep, with abrupt banks, the land generally spreading out into marshes or swamps. On the west side were two rebel forts, with extensive rifle-pits. In front of them was an open space of some two or three hundred rods, and in the rear a dense wood, while thick wood also fringed the forts on each side. On the enemy's right the ravine through which the waters of the creek flowed expanded into a wet swamp, and the stream was so

dammed up below as to flood it, thus rendering a flank movement in that direction almost impossible.

A little farther down the creek the rebels had another fort, with rifle-pits, commanding the road to Lee's Mills, which passed by these works at a distance of between two and three hundred rods. It was resolved to drive the rebels from this commanding position. At about nine o'clock in the morning, a portion of the Third Vermont, supported by Mott's Battery, advanced, as skirmishers, toward the eastern bank of the creek. The first shell they fired exploded

directly over the rebel fort. With a well-manned battery of six guns our troops opened upon the rebels, with great rapidity and precision, a deadly fire of shot and shell, which was replied to with equal vigor. Their first shell exploded in front of one of our guns, killing or wounding every man but one.

An incessant fire was kept up on both sides for three hours, the marshy creek alone separating the contending forces. Soon one half the guns in the rebel forts were silenced by the fire from our batteries. The rebels then ceased to reply, and evacuated the fort. Sharpshooters were sent forward to reconnoiter, but could not ascertain what had become of the garrison. We had thus far lost seven men, and no enemy was to be seen, when our troops had three or four hours for rest.

At about four o'clock in the afternoon the rebels again appeared in possession of another breastwork, upon which they had mounted several guns. They were seen swarming through the woods in the vicinity of the fort in large numbers. Mott's Battery had been reënforced by Ayer's and Wheeler's Batteries, numbering, in all, twenty-two guns. They were brought up to within five hundred yards of the fort, to cover the charge of the Vermonters. Two companies from the Third Vermont were ordered forward, and down from the woods they came in most gallant style, rushed into the creek, where the water and mud were waist deep, and through it to the rifle-pits of the enemy, amid a shower of bullets from a long line of rifle-pits upon the opposite banks. The Vermonters pressed forward, loading and firing as they advanced. Their killed and many of their wounded sank in the stream. "But," says Abbott, in his History of the Civil War, "their comrades, instead of turning back with the wounded, seized them by the arm or the collar of the coat, and pushed resolutely on to meet the intrenched. foe. As soon as they got foothold on the western bank, with a cheer, which rang like the clarion of victory, they made a dash at the enemy, concealed in the long line of rifle-pits. The rebels, in panic, fled, and sought protection behind the redoubts. The victors found, to their dismay, that many of their car