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.”
Marker is on Old Mt. Olive Highway south of U.S. 117, on the left when traveling south.
Courtesy hmdb.org
