Colonel Henagan, of the Eighth, being in command of the brigade, ordered breastworks to be thrown up on the opposite side of an old road, in which the enemy lay and which they had partly fortified.  The next day, about 3 o’clock, the enemy opened upon us a heavy fusilade with their siege mortars and guns from their gun boats and ironclads in the James.  These were three hundred-pounders, guns we had never before been accustomed to.  Great trees a foot and a half in diameter were snapped off like pipe-stems.  The peculiar frying noise made in going through the air and their enormous size caused the troops to give them the name of “camp kettles.”  They passed through our earthworks like going through mole hills.  The enemy advanced in line of battle, and a considerable battle ensued, but we were holding our own, when some watchers that Colonel Henagan had ordered in the tops of tall trees to watch the progress of the enemy, gave the warning that a large body of cavalry was advancing around our left and was gaining our rear.  Colonel Henagan gave the command “retreat,” but the great “camp kettles” coming with such rapidity and regularity, our retreat through this wilderness of shrubbery and tangled undergrowth would have ended in a rout had not our retreat been impeded by this swamp morass.  We reached the fortification, however, on the bluff, the enemy being well satisfied with our evacuation of the position so near their camp.

The brigade, with the exception of marching and counter-marching, relieving other troops and being relieved, did no further service than occupying the lines until the 6th of August.  The brigade boarded the train on that day at Chester for destination at that time unknown.

About the first of July the enemy, commanded by General Burnside, undertook to blow up a portion of our lines by tunneling under the works at a convenient point suitable for assault, and attempted to take our troops by surprise.  The point selected was that portion of the line first held by Kershaw’s Brigade, near Cemetery Hill, and in front of Taylor’s Creek, near Petersburg.  The continual night assaults on us at that point and the steady advance of their lines were to gain as much distance as possible.  From the base of the hill at Taylor’s Creek they began digging a tunnel one hundred and seventy yards long, and at its terminus were two laterals, dug in a concave towards our works, of thirty-seven feet each.  In these laterals were placed eight hundred pounds of powder, with fuse by which all could be exploded at once.

General Beauregard, who commanded at this point, had been apprised of this undertaking, and at first had sunk counter-mines.  But this was abandoned, and preparations were made to meet the emergency with arms.  At this point and near the “Crater,” as it was afterwards called, were stationed Colquit’s (Ga.), Gracie’s (Ala.), and Elliott’s (S.C.) Brigades.  Elliott’s was posted immediately over it with Pegram’s Battery.  Rear lines had been established by which the troops could take cover, and reinforcements kept under arms night and day, so that when the explosion did take place, it would find the Confederates prepared.  Batteries were placed at convenient places to bear upon the line and the place of explosion.