Editor’s Note: This article was transcribed by Bryce Suderow and is included in a collection of Union and Confederate accounts of the fighting on July 27, 1864 at the First Battle of Deep Bottom. His transcription of this article is published here with his written permission.
Mr. A. Davidson’s Dispatches
Deep Bottom, July 26 1864
In addition to the troops which have been for some time in front of our position at Deep Bottom Kershaws division from Petersburg was added Saturday night and some sharp fighting has been going on since resulting thus far in the capture by our heroes of three prisoners. One captain of the 162d New York is missing and six to eight men were wounded last evening. Lieutenant Colonel Hooper of the 24th Massachusetts was captured while reconnoitering near our picket lines on Sunday morning. He was field officer of the day and in the line of his duty.
July 27, 1864
General Foster’s pickets having been much annoyed by rebel sharpshooters, he yesterday ordered an advance for the purpose of gaining possession of a road running through the woods nearly parallel with his picket line in the vicinity of Four Mile Creek and occupied by the rebels. The advance was hotly contested and for much of the day partook mainly of the character of heavy skirmishing, the forces upon each side firing from behind trees, sometimes at a distance of only fifteen paces. At evening the object of the advance was realized, the road being gained and held.
The following is a list of casualties in the 11th Maine which bore a prominent part in the contest:
1. Capt. F.W. Wiswell, Co. E, leg, slightly
2. Corp. Lacassard Sassell, Co. E, belly, slightly
3. Corp. Horace S. Mills, Co. G, head, slightly
4. Corp. Kenny C. Lowell, Co. E, face
5. James R. Ash, Co. C, face and breast, severely
6. James S. Leighton, leg and lung, mortally
7. John H. Parker, Co. C, face and back, severely
8. George H. Robinson, Co. C, hip, slightly
9. Moses M. Burse, Co. E, killed
10. Horace H. Burse, Co. E, side & right arm, amputated
10. George A. Beals, Co. E, right hip, severely
11. Parker W. Leach, Co. F, forearm, severely
12. Robert H. Newall, Co. F, knee, slightly
13. Archibald Faggard, Co. G, face and neck, mortally
14. Charles W. Royal, Co. G, arm, slightly
15. Everett B. Small, Co. G, shoulder, slightly
16. Simon Wood, Co. G, shoulder, slightly
17. Frank Johnson, Co. G, arm, slightly
18. Samuel B. Morton, Co. G, hip, slightly
19. Charles Douglas, Co. G, hand, slightly
20. Joseph Meader, Co. H, leg
21. John Finnegan, Co. I, leg, slightly
22. Charles H. Corsen, Co. I, leg, slightly1
Source:
- “Mr. A. Davidson’s Dispatches,” New York Herald, July 30, 1864, p. 1 ↩