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4 Chapter 1 “send forward skirmishers to capture and hold a line of rifle pits which were about three hundred yards distant, filled with [the] enemy’s sharpshooters and covered by a strong line [of] abatis.” Merriam selected twenty men to engage some troubling enemy sharpshooters in pits on some high ground to his left. As planned, Captain Brown of the 73rd Regiment and elements of the 86th Regiment (part of Major Mudgett’s unit) led the way as the troops raced from their parallel trenches and pits to the enemy’s fortifications. The capture of the outer line took only a few minutes, despite a “galling fire of musketry and artillery from the three lines of rifle pits and from the main fortifications.” But intense artillery and infantry fire on the advancing front, coming from both flanks, threatened to slow or stop the attack. Merriam observed the gathering of enemy reinforcements on his center front and ordered Companies B, I, and A forward in support in rapid succession. Company A’s men carried spades, by order of General Pile, to reverse the captured rifle pits. At this point, with his regiment totally involved, Merriam joined the advance. Nearby Major Mudgett fell, shot through the head; Captain Brown had fallen mortally wounded; and Capt. Louis A. Snaer, commanding Company B, collapsed at Merriam’s feet with a severe wound. Joined by his only remaining company commander, Merriam took over command of Companies B, G, and I and rushed the enemy’s second line of defense. He reported, “The fire from the fort and remaining pits was still unabated, the grape and shell from the heavy guns making havoc over all the ground.” In addition, Merriam feared a Confederate counterattack.7 Now other Fort Blakeley besieging units became aware of the fury of the First Brigade’s assault. Other brigades of Brig. Gen. John T. Hawkins’s Colored Division, mostly to the right front, began storming the enemy rifle pits in their sectors and tried to conform their lines with the advancing 73rd and 86th Regiments. “Having obtained information of the character of the ground beyond the first line of pits,” with his “skirmishers having advanced so far as to be able to act effectively upon the gunners of the enemy,” and having largely silenced the troublesome artillery fire from the enemy’s Redoubt No. 2, Merriam appealed to General Osterhaus for permission to assault the enemy’s main works with his whole regiment. According to Merriam’s later candid report, Osterhaus refused, saying, “I will go and order the white troops up.” Merriam thereupon once again appealed to General Pile, stressing, “We have already fought the battle , unless we get over the main works we will not get the credit.” Pile replied: “You are right, Colonel. When you see Andrews’s Division start to advance, charge the main works with your regiment and I will follow you with the rest of the brigade.”8 Merriam gave the signal, and his regiment charged forward with “deafening yells.”The regimental skirmishers rejoined the ranks, and the men overcame Redoubt No. 2. Merriam, in his “after-action report,” said that he led his men “directly over the remaining lines of pits and then over the main parapet, with small loss and without discharging a musket, planting my regimental flag on the Medal of Honor 5 parapet at least two hundred yards in advance of every regiment on this part of the line.” He later recalled, “My colored sergeant [Edward Simon] went over the works at my elbow a few steps in front of the line, and was, at my request, promptly commended in department orders for his bravery.” In his CivilWar diary , Merriam proudly recorded on Sunday, April 9: “My regt first placed its flag on the parapet. It has been a day of laurels . . . was enthusiastically cheered for reaching parapet first and warmly congratulated by Genls. Pile and Hawkins.”9 With the main defense line breached and other lines crumbling, the Confederates began running in disorder. Merriam and General Pile believed the Rebels were fleeing to the Federals’ right in order to escape capture by the First Brigade’s black troops. Merriam reported, however, that he captured nine pieces of artillery (including three heavy siege guns and two mortars), several hundred small arms, a large quantity of ammunition.The 234 captured officers and men were placed under guard by the 73rd for the night...

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