Encouraged  by  their  officers  and  headed  by  the  leading  spirits
in  each  organization,  the  men  started  on  with  a  rush  which
soon  carried  them  for  the  most  part  beyond  the  line  of  the
artillery  fire,  and  they  had  only  the  musketry  to  face.  Offi-
cers and  men  vied  with  each  other  in  the  race  for  the
works,  and  all  organization  was  lost  in  the  eagerness  and
enthusiasm  of  the  troops.  The  lines  of  abatis  were  reached
and  brushed  away  like  cobwebs,  and  the  men,  cheering
like  mad,  dashed  through  the  ditch  and  poured  over  the
works  in  a  resistless  torrent.  The  first  man,  as  it  is  confi-
dently believed,  to  spring  down  from  the  parapet  into  the
ranks  which  defended  the  works  was  Captain  Charles  G.
Gould  of  the  Fifth  Vermont.  That  regiment  led  the  col-
umn, and  Captain  Gould's  company  was  next  to  the  extreme
left  company  in  the  regimental  line.  Under  shouted  orders
to  "  bear  to  the  left,"  coming  from  whom  or  for  what  pur-
pose does  not  distinctly  appear,  that  portion  of  the  regiment
became  separated  from  the  rest,  and  moved  to  the  left,  out  of
the  ravine.  Here  the  enemy's  intrenchments  projected  at  an
angle,  bringing  the  works  at  that  point  somewhat  nearer  to  the
head  of  the  column  than  those  directly  in  front.  There  was-
as  yet  not  light  enough  to  disclose  the  points  most  open  to
attack ;  but  the  enemy's  artillery  was  firing  from  the  angle,
and  rallying  a  handful  of  men,  and  followed  by  Lieutenant
Pratt  of  his  company  and  by  Color  Sergeant  Jackson  Sargent,
with  the  regimental  colors,  Gould  made  a  dash  for  the  bat-
tery, pushed  through  the  abatis,  made  his  way  through  the
ditch,  mounted  the  parapet,  and  sprang  inside  the  works.
