The crisis was over now; the bold forward movement had saved the Brigade from even one blot upon its bright record of fame. The shouts of our men, and their sudden dash toward the sunken road, so startled the enemy that their fire visibly slackened, their line wavered, and squads of two and three began leaving the road and running into the corn. Now the rush of troops was heard in the rear; now the air was rent with wild yells. It was altogether too much of a shock for the enemy; they broke, and fled for the corn-field. The next moment, Caldwell’s brigade, led by General Richardson in person, with Cross, Barlow, and all its other heroes, came sweeping up behind the shattered lines of the Irish Brigade. “The lines were passed by the Irish Brigade breaking company to the rear, and General Caldwell’s by company to the front, as steadily as on drill.”[36]
The night of the enemy was now complete. In a few moments Caldwell’s men were in possession of the road, and driving the Confederates through the corn-field and into the orchard beyond. The Irish Brigade, upon being thus relieved, fell back a short distance to the rear, retiring behind the first hill it had passed upon moving to the front. It had been in battle one hour and fifteen minutes. It was a sad sight to witness the broken and decimated ranks of the Sixty-third and Sixty-ninth, as they halted under the brow of the hill. The Sixty-third had lost very heavily of its officers and men, while the Sixty-ninth suffered even worse. Of seventy-two recruits who had joined the latter regiment a few days before, and who went into the battle with new uniforms, but two of the number escaped unhurt. Even in retiring from the front, the Brigade had suffered greatly from the fire of the enemy’s artillery, the Twenty-ninth suffering with the rest, though fortunately escaping the battle with a loss of only forty-four.
Panting from heat and exhaustion, the men at once stretched themselves upon the ground; but the Twenty-ninth had only rested a half-hour before they were again summoned by General Richardson to come to the front. Upon approaching the crest of the hill near the sunken road, the regiment was observed by General Richardson, who was personally directing the fire of a battery in a very exposed position. He beckoned Colonel Barnes to his side, and said, “I pray you, give me a canteen of water; I am dying of thirst.” The Colonel going back to the regiment, brought one of the numerous canteens, freely offered; but the General had barely raised it to his lips, when an exploding shell mortally wounded him.