Attack of the 17th Massachusetts

Attack of the 17th Massachusetts. . It was along the top of this railroad embankment that one Union regiment, the 17th Massachusetts, approached the railroad bridge one quarter mile to your left. As the men of the 17th fought their way along the top of the embankment they came under heavy fire from Confederate troops who had taken refuge in the tree line behind you. One survivor of the regiment recalled: “from the skirt of woods bordering the field on the left, came whiz-z-z, a volley of musketry fired by file, followed in a half a minute’s time by another volley delivered at once....And then commenced a scene that it would be vain to attempt to describe....In less time than I can relate it, every man who was not wounded, had jumped, tumbled headlong or rolled over into the ditch at the right of the track and the regiment was thrown into the wildest confusion.” After regaining their composure, the Massachusetts men began to “commence a rapid fire upon the enemy, using the elevated bed of the railroad as a breastwork.” To add to their woes, the 17th was also subjected to artillery fire from a railroad car fitted with a cannon which was located at the entrance of the railroad bridge to your left and was firing down the tracks. One Union soldier noted that this gun “sent its bolts with such earnest precision as to force us to leave the track and hug the embankment.”