Numbers 304. Report of Captain William H. Whitner, Assistant Adjutant and Inspector General, C. S. Army, of operations July 30.1
HEADQUARTERS JOHNSON’S DIVISION, August 31, 1864.
GENERAL: In obedience to your instructions, received yesterday afternoon, I have made inquiries on the various points, and respectfully report–
First. The mine sprung on Pegram’s salient on the 30th ultimo did blow up a considerable portion of the main parapet-more than half. This is the concurrent testimony of the officers of Elliott’s brigade. The two left guns of Pegram’s battery were thrown by the explosion-one at least twenty yards and the other forty yards-from the point they were in position. The last still remains where it was thrown. This proves that the main parapet was blown up.
Second. The statement of the distance from the barricade erected by the Twenty-second and Twenty-third South Carolina Regiments on the right to the crater is, as ascertained by actual measurement, eighty-eight yards.
Third. There is a great diversity of opinion as to the time the first charge was made by General Mahone. But one officer of the division spoke with certainty-Colonel McMaster, Seventeenth Regiment South Carolina troops. His written statement* is inclosed.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
WM. H. WHITNER,
Assistant Adjutant and Inspector General.
Major General B. R. JOHNSON.
—————
*Not found.
—————
Source:
- The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Volume XL, Part 1 (Serial Number 80), page 795 ↩