Orders were issued for a general assault along the lines at 11 o’clock A. M. The echo of the signal-gun had scarcerly died away, when our [Co. W. L. Landram’s 2nd Brigade] was ordered forward to take the fort [Railroad Redoubt] in our front, situated on a hill, in an angle of their intrenchments, where their guns commanded every approach. Down the ravine we started on the double-quick, checking our speed for a moment in a deep gully, to reform our line before facing the fort, whose incessant fire shook the ground at every discharge. Then on we went, up the hill, through the brush and undergrowth, but did not check our speed until the right of the Regiment, in conjunction with the left of the 77th Illinois, reached the fort. Leaping into the ditch, and climbing the parapet, the colors of the 48th Ohio and 77th Illinois were planted on the fort. The rebel gunners surrendered and were hurried to the rear. During this charge Major Moats was mortally wounded in the knee. We were now exposed to an enfilading fire from the right and left, which was thinning our ranks at a fearful rate. We were left there to contend against great odds, without any assistance whatever. At 4 P. M. the rebels massed their troops on our front, and attacked us with great fury, and re-took the fort, capturing the colors and fifty men of the 77th Ills. Ike Carmin, one of our colorguards, with a bayonet-wound in the leg, clung to our flag and saved it from sharing the same fate. This was the signal for a second attack on both sides. Another charge was ordered all along the line. It was a glorious sight to see our troops advancing in plain view over the hills, to our asssistance. But as soon as they got within range of the rebel fire, they were mown down and almost annihilated. So destructive was the concentrated fire of the enemy, that not a single man of those sent to reinforce us reached our line. In the meantime, a few spades and shovels had been brought up, with which the regiment [48th Ohio] hastily threw up rude entrenchments, from which they kept up an unceasing fire until dark, when the firing ceased and all became quiet. We remained on the battlefield until the town clock in Vicksburg struck the hour of 10 P. M., when we were ordered to retreat, which we accomplished without being discovered by the enemy. . . The 48th Ohio lost ten killed and twenty-five wounded. (History of the Forty-Eighth Ohio Vet. Vol. Inf., John A. Bering and Thomas Montgomery, Hillsboro, Ohio, 1880)

Gen. Sherman, in his “Memoirs” says: “The two several assaults made May 22d, on the lines of Vicksburg, had failed, by reason of the great strength of the position, and the determined fighting of its garrison. I have since seen the position at Sevastopol, and without hesitation, I declare that at Vicksburg to have been the more difficult of the two.”

Fire was renewed at daylight. At twelve we were ordered to reinforce General Lee. Where a charge was being made by the enemy who reached our ditches and one man mounted them. We marched under some of the hottest fire for a half mile. We succeeded in reaching the trenches and repulsed the enemy, capturing forty prisoners and a flag and killing a great many of the enemy. We lost Captain [Sterling] Turner, Company F, my Company, shot through the head. Ed Cox [Co. F], wounded in the leg. Wm. McCarrel, slight in face. Eaton, Company D, in hand. Heard, Company D, killed in ditches, shot in head. The enemy charged several times with no success but with heavy loss. (Isaac Stamper, 43rd Tennessee)

The land forces charged our lines making a vigorous assault along our center near the Railroad. An Iowa Regiment charged up and succeeded in planting their standards on one of our Redoubts but were charged in turn and driven into the ditch where they lay until grenades were thrown amongst them when they surrendered to the number of fourteen, a Lieut. Colonel being amongst them . . . Col. Potter [Pettus] of the 20th [Alabama] behaved gallantly leading a charge made by a portion of Waul’s Texas legion against the Redoubt in possession of the enemy. The brave colonel tore down the hostile flag and trampled it under foot and drove the enemy back. (A Tennessean At The Siege of Vicksburg: The Diary Of Samuel Alexander Ramsey Swan, May-July, 1863. Tennessee Historical Quarterly, December 1955