135                                HISTORY OF THE SEVENTY-EIGHTH REGIMENT O.V.V.I.

precision right among the rebels, sending living and dead in every direction – particularly in the direction of the woods. The field was cleared, and the gun kept thundering away. When the rebels retreated our Brigade followed.

           In riding over the ground next day, I came to where the charge was made upon the rebel battery. The road was strewed with dead horses and broken harness, and a few broken gun carriages. Near by, six dead horses marked the spot where a single gun had been planted to deal death among our men. The gun was gone, but deep marks in the hard ground told of the fearful rebound it gave at each discharge. Within ten feet of the spot on which the gun stood, nine graves ranged side by side, disclosing the resting place of those who fell beside it.

           The battle was over, the enemy routed, and "On to Vicksburg!" was the word. On we went, and by midnight were within four miles of the city. We now occupy the rear of the city, our lines extending from Warrenton on the Mississippi to Haines' Bluff on the Yazoo river.

           On the morning of the 22d our guns were thundering, and each day the cannonading had been going on. We have free communication with Young's Point by way of Haines' Bluff, and with all below by way of Warrenton, and are receiving provisions and ammunition, in fact supplies of all kinds, by way of the Yazoo. Since coming to Vicksburg, the Second Brigade has been constantly in the field, and the Seventy-Eighth Regiment has been close upon the trenches, shielded by a ridge, waiting for their time to come to "go in."

           There is no time for writing; I am in the midst of the wounded at the field hospital of the Third Division, and send this more for the purpose of giving a list of the killed and wounded than for anything else.

           Our march from Milliken's Bend has been triumphant and full of incidents, and I regret exceedingly that I have not been permitted to pen a detailed account of it.

           At Thompson's Hill, Jackson, Raymond, Champion Hills, Black River Bridge, and in all the skirmishes, we have completely whipped and discomfited the rebels, and drove them before us like scared sheep.

           Herewith I send you a list of the killed and wounded of the Seventy-Eighth Regiment, in the battles of Raymond and Champion Hills:

WOUNDED.

           At the battle of Raymond, May 12, 1863, and left in the hospital at Raymond:

           Corporal Simeon H. Cockins, Company A, arm fractured; private Solomon J. Donelson, A, fore-arm, buck shot; private Charles B. Mason, D, shoulder, severely. (This was an accident, the wound being inflicted by his own gun.) Private David Miller, D, head, severely; private Isaac Drum, B, head, slight; private William C. Younger, B, thigh, slight; private Thomas Hartsell, H, head, scalp wound; Corporal Oliver Story, F, abdomen, since died; George W. Richardson, A, thigh, flesh wound.

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