After the repulse of the advance columns of the enemy, it was perceived that a party more daring had crossed the ditch of the redoubt on the left, planted two flags upon the parapet, entered a breach made by their artillery, taking a few prisoners and driving the garrison from the angle of the fort. Alive to the importance of the position, General Lee issued and reiterated orders to Colonel [C. M.] Shelley, commanding the Thirtieth Alabama, and Lieutenant-Colonel [E. W.] Pettus, commanding the Twentieth Alabama, who occupied the fort, to retake it at all hazards, offering the flags to the command capturing them. After several vain attempts, they refused to volunteer, nor could the most strenuous efforts of their chivalric commanders urge or incite them to the assault. General Lee then directed the colonel of the Legion to have the fort taken. He immediately went, taking with him one battalion of the Legion to aid or support the assailants, if necessary, in forming Captain [L. D.] Bradley and Lieutenant [J.] Hogue, who respectively commanded the companies that had been previously sent as a support to the garrison. These gallant officers not only willingly agreed, but solicited the honor of leading their companies to the assault, not wishing to expose a larger force than necessary. Captain Bradley was ordered to select 20 and Lieutenant Hogue 15 men from their respective companies. Lieutenant-Colonel Pettus, thoroughly acquainted with the locality and its approaches, came, musket in hand, and most gallantly offered to guide and lead the party into the fort. Three of Colonel Shelley’s regiment also volunteered. With promptness and alacrity they moved to the assault, retook the fort, drove the enemy through the breach they entered, tore down the stand of colors still floating over the parapet, and sent them to the colonel commanding the Legion, who immediately transmitted it, with a note, to General Lee. This feat, considered with the accompanying circumstances¾ the occupation by the enemy; the narrow pass through which the party had to enter; the enfilading fire of musketry and artillery they had to encounter in the approach; the unwillingness of the garrison, consisting of two regiments, to volunteer, and permitting the flags to float for three hours over their parapets; the coolness, courage, and intrepidity manifested¾ deserves the highest praise for every officer and man engaged in the hazardous enterprise. The enemy, driven from the fort, ensconced themselves behind the parapet in the outer ditch. Two companies were immediately ordered to the fort, to aid in dislodging the enemy. Many of the men mounted the parapet and fired into the ditch, subjecting themselves to the aim of its occupants and the concentrated fire from the enemy’s lines. A few shells used as hand-grenades bursting among the enemy, soon caused them to surrender, although so soon as we ceased casting missiles, under cover of the approaching darkness, more than half of the number escaped. In the pursuit, Lieutenant-Colonel [J.] Wrigley, of the second battalion, captured the other stand of colors snatched by the enemy from the parapet, but dropped in his flight(88).