Note J — Chapter XVIII

Colonel Hunt says: "Accident gave the brigade the position in front of the salient, and it sustained its reputation by charging, retaking and holding it for seventeen hours. No one can describe what we endured during that struggle. The trunk of that oak tree now on exhibition in Washington tells better than words the heroic endurance of the Confederate soldier, and gives a faint idea of the storm of minie balls hurled at us. When we took the works, the bark on it was intact. It stood near the right center of the salient. A little to the left and in front of it stood a hickory tree about eight inches in diameter, of which I have never seen any mention. The hickory was shot down before night and fell across the works, catching some of the men in its branches. Its body and branches were chipped into splinters by minie balls.... I saw some very reckless acts of individuals, for instance Private W. W. Davenport, of the Thirteenth, and a boy of the Twelfth, whose name I cannot recall, mounted ammunition boxes, not over ten feet from the hickory, and fired over the salient while three or four men loaded guns for them until the minie balls almost stripped the clothing from them. During the afternoon the enemy's front line would seek protection under cover of our works and fire by placing the muzzles of their guns below the top logs of the works, while their second line would fire over their heads. Frequently our men would seize their muzzles and direct their fire to the rear."