During the night of the 18th we moved out in front of the Hare house, and built a line of breast-works, which position remained substantially the same during the entire siege. We remained in these works during the 19th and 20th. On the 21st we moved to the left of the Jerusalem plank road and took a position on the left of the 5th corps, and there built another line of works.
It was during these first days of the fighting around Petersburg that our adjutant, Clark M. Lyons, was killed, as was also Henry M. Adams, second lieutenant of Company I. Captain J. R. Lyons was severely wounded, and about twenty-five enlisted men were killed or wounded.
On the morning of the 22d we advanced about half a mile toward the rebel line, where we built a line of works, with nothing to work with but our bayonets and tin plates.
In the afternoon we had a hard fight with Mahone's division, which succeeded in making a flank movement, and getting on our left flank and rear, when we were compelled to fall back to our position of the 21st. In this action our brigade lost heavily in prisoners, our regiment losing about twenty, among them Lieut. James F. Ruger, of Company F. A brave and gallant sergeant of Company K, Pat. Dempsey, was also captured here, and died in Andersonville prison. In the evening we again advanced and retook our former position. It was between these two lines that Fort Alex. Hays was built afterward, and named in honor of our old brigade commander. We remained here for some time, doing picket duty and building entrenchments, for it was now decided that Petersburg must be besieged. This old Virginia town had, in 1860, a population of a little over eighteen thousand. It is situated on the south side of the Appomattox river about twenty-five miles from its mouth at City Point, and is twenty-three miles south of Richmond.
When we first reached the front of Petersburg, Lee's army depended for its supplies on two railroads, running south,--the Weldon railroad, and the Lynchburg (South Side) railroad. To encircle Petersburg as completely as a siege demanded, it was essential that these two roads should be covered by our army. The first was controlled by us, in the last week in August, but the South Side never, until the city fell.