of their heroic self-sacrifice. It now became necessary to merge the troops of the first division with those of the second and third. The troops were divided but the name was retained. General White was relieved, and General Willcox was placed in command of the first division and General Potter in command of the second as thus compacted. The colored troops formed the third division and retained their organization.

The month of September passed quietly away. The Ninth Corps had the opportunity of rest. No severer duty was required than the strengthening of the positions already gained. Towards the close of the month there were indications of more active service. A further prolongation of our lines to the left had been determined upon, and the Ninth Corps was destined to take part in the movement. On the 28th the first and second divisions were massed in preparation for the advance, and on the 30th the troops moved out of their encampment. General Parke was to cooperate with General Warren in an endeavor to secure the intersection of the Poplar Spring and Squirrel Level roads. When that point was gained, the command was to open a road across a swamp in the rear to the vicinity of the Pegram estate below the Poplar Spring church. General Warren came in contact with the enemy about noon near Peebles' farm. The rebel forces were posted in a strong position on a ridge of a range of hills. General Charles Griffin's division made a gallant attack, forced the lines and captured one gun and a small number of prisoners.

The enemy retired to an intrenched position about half a mile in the rear of his former line. General Parke moved up to the support of General Warren and pressing beyond the Peebles farm, marched through a belt of timber and came out in a large clearing in which stood the Pegram house. General Potter's division moved beyond the house, entered the timber and attempted to advance up the acclivity upon which the enemy was posted. General S. G. Griffin's brigade made the attack, but was met by a counter charge in superior numbers. The enemy's line overlapped our own, broke in between the Ninth

Corps and the fifth, threw General Potter's line into confusion and swept from the field a thousand prisoners or more. At one time it seemed as though the entire division would be broken in pieces; but the steadiness, with which the 7th Rhode Island, under the command of Brevet Colonel Daniels, held. the left flank, prevented such a disaster and aided General Potter in reëstablishing his disordered ranks. General Willcox's division, promptly coming up in support, enabled the first division to rally and reform. At this critical moment, General Charles Griffin's division was hurried forward promptly, attacked and completely stopped the advancing foe. Night coming on put an end to the engagement. The Ninth Corps moved to the line of works which had been captured from the enemy at the Peebles farm. The right connected with the fifth corps; the left was refused covering the Squirrel Level road. This position was intrenched and held. The fruit of the day's operation was an extension of our lines for a distance of about three miles beyond the Weldon railroad. The casualties of the Ninth Corps were sixty-seven killed, four hundred and eighteen wounded, and one thousand five hundred and nine missing-much the larger portion of which fell upon General Potter's division. Towards night a severe rain-storm set in and continued through the subsequent day. In front of the Ninth Corps all was quiet, but the fifth was attacked in the morning and again in the afternoon. In both instances the enemy was signally repulsed with great loss.

On the 2d of October a reconnaissance was made by the second and Ninth Corps. The enemy was found in force covering the Boydton plank road. Our intrenched line was returned running through the Pegram farm. On the 4th General Ferrero's division was moved up and joined the Corps. By the able and willing help of the colored troops the work of intrenchment was pressed with renewed vigor. Two redoubts were thrown up on the front line, three on the flank, and two on the rear with strong infantry parapet connections and heavy slashing in front. Nothing more important than the usual pick

et firing took place for several days, but on the 8th, a demonstration was made upon the Squirrel Level road by two brigades of the first division, under the personal direction of General Willcox. The enemy was found at all points in front and on the alert. The advanced picket line was established and General Willcox returned. The affair cost the Corps a loss of three killed and thirteen wounded. In these operations, General Parke ascertained that the morale of the command was suffering, and its efficiency was reduced by the presence of conscripts, substitutes and "bounty jumpers." The veterans in every engagement added to their former fame, but many of the new recruits were found sadly deficient in the qualities of the soldier. Notwithstanding this unfavorable circnmstance, the Corps performed a very creditable work in the engagements upon the extreme left of the army.

The month of October was occupied in strengthening the position which we had gained upon the left. The gain was permanent. Our forces could not indeed dislodge the enemy from his strong position along the Boydton plank road, but they established their lines within a mile and a half of it, and within three miles of the South side railroad. The brilliant operations of General Sheridan in the Shenandoah Valley gave fresh encouragement to the army in front of Petersburg. General Grant determined to make another effort against the enemy's works upon our left. It was known that the line of Hatcher's run was fortified, but General Grant hoped that the defences might be turned. The movement by the flank was entrusted to General Hancock. Meanwhile, the Ninth and the fifth corps were to make demonstrations in front. The Ninth Corps was in position on the extreme left of the army, holding the line through the Pegram farm, refusing on the left flank and then returning on the rear. On the 27th, General Willcox moved out his division at three and a half o'clock in the morning. General Ferrero's division followed immediately, and General Potter's brought up the rear. By daylight, the entire corps was marching quickly down the Squirrel Level road.

Colonel Cutcheon's brigade was sent forward in advance, with the design of capturing the enemy's videttes, and, if possible, of surprising the forces covering the Boydton road. Both designs failed; the first by a premature discharge of a musket, which alarmed the enemy's outposts, and the second by the vigilance of the rebel troops.

The works in front of Hatcher's run were found to be strongly constructed, and protected with abatis and slashed timber. The Ninth Corps was deployed, with General Willcox's division on the left, General Ferrero's in the centre, and General Potter on the right and in support. General Willcox formed his division with Colonel Cutcheon's brigade in the centre, and the brigades of Generals Hartranft and McLaughlin on the flank. General Ferrero formed his division with Colonel Bates's brigade on the left and Colonel Russell's on the right. In front, were thick woods, with a heavy undergrowth. Through these General Ferrero advanced, driving in the enemy's skirmishers, until within one hundred yards of the rebel works. There the fallen timber and the abatis were impediments too difficult to overcome. General Ferrero intrenched and held his ground. General Willcox found no opportunity of piercing the enemy's line. Nothing was to be done except to intrench in turn. The object to be accomplished was to occupy the attention of the foe while General Hancock was to make a serious attack; but the enemy made a counter attack, and for a time there was some hard fighting with doubtful results. Both parties finally gave up the contest, with but little advantage to either. A few flags and prisoners were taken on both sides. Our troops held the position through the night of the 27th, but on the morning of the 28th, they received orders from headquarters to withdraw to the former lines. They retired, closely followed by the enemy, without material loss. When within a mile of its encampment, the Ninth Corps formed in line of battle, and the divisions retired in that order, one through the other. The first division formed in line while the second and third passed through. The Corps was all in by

six o'clock in the evening, having suffered a loss of eight killed, one hundred and twenty-seven wounded, and fourteen missing. This movement closed the operations on the left, so far as the Ninth Corps was concerned. Early in December, the troops returned to the front of Petersburg. The Ninth Corps held the right of the line of the army, reaching from the Appomattox to battery twenty-four. General Willcox's division occupied the right, General Griffin's brigade the left of the line, including Fort Sedgwick-called by the soldiers Fort Hell-Forts Davis and Hayes and the battery. Through the winter, the Corps remained in this position, occasionally detaching a brigade or division in support of movements made by other corps. Some changes also took place in the organization. Early in December, it was decided by the military authorities to detach the colored troops from the different corps in which they had previously served, and organize a new corps, the twenty-fifth. The colored division of the Ninth was accordingly separated from the command. It was moved down to Bermuda Hundred, and General Ferrero was placed in charge of the defences of that point. The colored troops had done a faithful service, and would doubtless have accomplished more had they been permitted. But the old army officers did not in all cases take kindly to them. General Burnside had been very favorably disposed to them from the start, and General Parke agreed with his friend and chief. But it has already been seen how chary General Meade had been in giving them any more conspicuous service than the guarding of the trains, the digging of intrenchments, and the hewing down of the forests. But the negroes wrought well, drew commendation even from reluctant lips, and won promotion for their officers. General Ferrero, no less from his own merit than from the good conduct of his command, received the brevet of Major General, to date from the 2d of December, 1864.

A considerable number of Pennsylvania troops, enlisted for one year's service, arrived in camp about the 1st of December, and took the place of the colored soldiers. Six regiments of