was likelier, thought Hoke, “to demoral-
ize my men by your shells falling short
and bursting among my men” than to
hurt the enemy. Artillery would only help
“if you will bring your guns up to my line
and charge with my men.” Alexander
replied that such a move would get his
horses killed. “Yes,” answered Hoke,“and my men are going to be killed. Are
your horses of more value than the lives
of my soldiers?”
Hoke’s objections were for naught, and
the bombardment began. Lee’s plan called
for Hoke, with five brigades, to attack the
new western façade of Fort Harrison. Field
would bring his three brigades from theeast and attack the original front of the
fort. His troops would wait in a ravine
until Hoke was in position, then both
forces would attack at the same time. The
Confederate plans fell apart quickly. Brig.
Gen. George “Tige” Anderson’s Georgian
brigade of Field’s division impetuously
poured out of the ravine and charged Fort
Harrison. Rushing ahead of any support,
the brigade was wrecked in the futile
charge. Brig. Gen. John Bratton of South
Carolina, whose brigade was to follow
100 yards in the rear of Anderson, felt
obligated to support the Georgians and
sent his own men against the fort. As
Anderson’s men reeled back, one of Brat-
ton’s regiments captured a small redan.
While it had no major effect on the battle,
the capture of the redan distracted the Fed-
erals and enabled some of the Confeder-
ates to escape.
Field’s third and last brigade, that of
Colonel Pinckney D. Bowles of Alabama,
also charged and was driven back with
heavy losses. Hoke’s attacks began too
late, after Field’s forces were broken up
by the heavy Union fire. Hoke’s first
attack was broken up and repelled,
largely from the concentrated fire of the
Federals’ seven-shot Spencers. Private
Alexander of the 2nd Pennsylvania Heavy
Artillery talked to a wounded North Car-
olina prisoner after the battle. Thinking
of the firepower of the repeating rifles,
the Rebel said, “You’uns did not seem to
load your guns.”
With Lee’s personal urging, two more
attacks by Hoke followed, but they were
unable to dislodge the Union troops from
Fort Harrison. Most of the Confederate
casualties of the battle occurred on the sec-
ond day during these charges. A survivor
of Clingman’s brigade, then commanded
by Colonel Hector McKethan, wrote that
the brigade charged Fort Harrison with
857 men and lost 587 of them in 10 to 15
minutes. The 8th North Carolina went
into the battle with 175 officers and men.
Only about 25 were able to report for duty
the next morning. The regiment’s battle
flag was gone. Trapped under hopelessly
heavy Union fire, the color bearer tore theTOP: African American troops photographed in camp at Fort Harrison, renamed Fort Burnham after
slain Brig. Gen. Hiram Burnam. ABOVE: Artist James Walker broke new ground in 1865 by showing
dead black and white soldiers lying together on an unnamed battlefield.All: Library of CongressCWQ-EW16 Chaffins Bluff *missing map_Layout 1 10/22/15 2:02 PM Page 28