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Pamplin Park • Breakthrough Trail • Tudor Hall • Fortifications • Markers • Timeline

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Text from the marker

We Fought Desperately wayside marker

The passage of the picket posts and abatis shattered regimental formations in the Vermont Brigade. The attack degenerated into a rush of disorganized men rather than an example of textbook tactics. Orderly Sergeant Thomas H. McCauley of the 2nd Vermont bore the brigade flag at the head of this mass of determined soldiers.

The bluecoats tumbled into the moat and then scaled the steep walls of the Confederate line. Troops from the 18th and 37th North Carolina awaited them along with cannoneers manning the guns in the artillery position in front of you. “We fought desperately, but our thin line was pushed back by sheer force of numbers until it was broken in pieces,” remembered one Tarheel officer.

As other Federal brigades reached the Confederate works on either side of the Vermonters, a brief but bitter hand-to-hand battle raged along nearly a mile of the ramparts. Clubbed muskets and bayonet thrusts characterized this awful melee. Northern and Southern soldiers displayed equal and admirable bravery, but inevitably, the superior Union numbers spelled the difference. Hundreds of Confederate troops surrendered while others retreated through the abandoned winter huts of McGowan’s Brigade seeking safety in the rear. By 5:15 a.m., the Stars and Stripes flew above the Confederate works.

Caption to the drawing

This scene might represent any one of the numerous places where the Sixth Corps broke the Confederate line. Nineteen of the forty-two Union regiments which participated in the attack claimed to be the first troops to achieve the Breakthrough.

Location of the marker

The “We Fought Desperately wayside marker” is on the Breakthrough trail at Pamplin Historical Park near Petersburg, Virginia. (37° 10.955′ N, 77° 28.34′ W)