The enemy is gradually forcing his way towards headquarters. Hancock's
artillery helps keep him in check for a limited period; but the
batteries of Stuart, Anderson, and McLaws, all directing a converging
fire on the Chancellor House, make it, under the discouraging
circumstances, difficult for him to maintain any footing.
When Couch had temporarily assumed command, Hancock, before Geary was
forced from his intrenchments by Anderson, disposed the Second Corps,
with its eighteen pieces of artillery, in two lines, facing respectively
east and west, about one mile apart. But Geary's relinquishment of the
rifle-pits allowed the flanks of both the lines to be exposed, and
prevented these dispositions from answering their purpose. Hancock
clung to his ground, however, until the enemy had reached within a few
hundred yards. Then the order for all troops to be withdrawn within the
new lines was promulgated, and the removal of the wounded from the
Chancellor House was speedily completed,--the shelling by the enemy
having set it on fire some time before.
Hancock's artillery at the Chancellor House certainly suffered severely;
for, during this brief engagement, Leppien's battery lost all its horses,
officers, and cannoneers, and the guns had to be removed by an infantry
detail, by hand.
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