To  them  it  was  a  glorious  day  and  the  birds  filled  all  the  plain
with  music.  Suddenly,  the  storm  cloud  of  war  burst  over  the
plain  and  turned  its  quiet  into  tumultous  uproar.  At  9  a.  m.  the
Rebels  opened  a  converging  artillery  fire  of  30  guns  at  right
angles  over  Warren's  position,  and  attempted  to  sweep  the  Fifth
Corps  from  its  position.  This  having  failed,  a  desperate  assault
was  made  all  along  the  right,  but  was  everywhere  repulsed,  and
the  Rebels,  bleeding  and  torn,  sullenly  retired  from  the  dead-
ly fire  poured  from  the  Union  entrenchments.  While  the  attack
on  the  right  was  in  progress,  the  enemy  pushed  a  heavy  column
down  the  Vaughn  road,  and  under  cover  of  the  dense  woods,  at-
tempted to  reach  and  turn  Warren's  left.  Griffin's  Division  was
strongly  entrenched  here,  with  one  Brigade  advanced  about  500
yards,  where  it  connected  with  Ayres  on  the  right.
General  Warren,  in  summing  up  the  operations  on  the  Wel-
don  railroad,  remarks :  "During  these  four  days'  operations,
men  and  officers  performed  their  duties  as  well  as  any  ever  did
under  the  circumstances.  The  heat  of  the  first  day  was  exces-
sive.    The  men  were  kept  working  night  and  day  and  were  every


PENNSYLVANIA  VOLUNTEER   INFANTRY  1 23

day  wet  through  with  the  rains.  The  P.  and  W.  R.  R.  was  a
serious  loss  to  Lee,  since  it  cut  off  one  of  the  main  sources  of
supply  for  his  army,  and  this  is  evident  from  the  desperate  at-
tempt made  to  regain  it."  .,  r^-.
