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Contents
1. Cover
2. Title Page
3. Copyright Page
4. Dedication
5. Contents
6. Acknowledgments
7. Introduction

1. Objectives Map: GPEN Exam

8. Chapter 1 Planning and Preparation

1. Penetration Testing Methodologies

1. Penetration Testing Execution Standard

2. NIST Technical Guide to Information Security
Testing and Assessment
3. Penetration Testing Framework
4. Open Source Security Testing Methodology
Manual
5. OWASP Web Security Testing Guide
6. MITRE ATT&CK
7. CAPEC

2. Pre-engagement Activities

1. Testing Phases
2. Rules of Engagement
3. Scope
4. Other Pre-engagement Documentation
5. Third-Party Providers

3. Chapter Review
 1. Questions
2. Answers
9. Chapter 2 Reconnaissance

1. Open Source Intelligence

1. Organizational Culture
2. Social Media Behavior
3. Information Technology

2. Discovery Methods

1. Regional Internet Registries

2. Querying DNS Records
3. Search Engines
4. OSINT Collection Tools
5. Metadata Analysis

3. Chapter Review

1. Questions
2. Answers

10. Chapter 3 Initial Access

1. Exploitation Categories

1. Server-Side Exploitation
2. Client-Side Exploitation
3. Privilege Escalation

2. Network Basics and Not-So-Basics

1. TCP Three-Way Handshake

2. TCP and IP Headers

3. Scanning and Host Discovery

1. Monitoring Network Scans

 2. Lab 3-1: Using Wireshark
3. Nmap Introduction
4. Ping Sweeping
5. Network Mapping
6. Port Scanning
7. Vulnerability Scanning
8. Lab 3-2: Scanning with Nmap
9. Lab 3-3: Vulnerability Scanning with Nessus
4. Packet Crafting with Scapy

1. Lab 3-4: Scapy Introductory

2. Lab 3-5: Evil Scapy Scripting

5. Web Application Penetration Testing

1. Web Application Vulnerabilities

2. Lab 3-6: BeEF Basics
3. Lab 3-7: OWASP ZAP
4. SQL Injection Attacks
5. Lab 3-8: SQLi
6. Lab 3-9: Blind SQLi and Sqlmap
7. Command Injection
8. Lab 3-10: Command Injection
9. Client-Side Attacks
10. Lab 3-11: Stored XSS

6. Time-Saving Tips
7. Chapter Review

1. Questions
2. Answers
11. Chapter 4 Execution

1. Command-Line Interface

1. Linux CLI
2. Windows CLI

2. Scripting
 1. Declaring Methods and Variables
2. Looping and Flow Control
3. Error and Exception Handling
3. Metasploit Framework (MSF)

1. MSF Components
2. Lab 4-1: Navigating the MSFconsole
3. Service-Based Exploitation
4. Lab 4-2: Exploiting SMB with Metasploit
5. Lab 4-3: Exploiting ProFTPD with Metasploit
6. Metasploit Meterpreter
7. Lab 4-4: Upgrading to a Meterpreter Shell

4. Chapter Review

1. Questions
2. Answers
12. Chapter 5 Persistence, Privilege Escalation, and Evasion

1. Persistence

1. Windows Persistence
2. Lab 5-1: Scheduled Tasks
3. Lab 5-2: Configuring a Callback via Windows
Services
4. Lab 5-3: Persistence with PowerShell Empire
5. Linux Persistence
6. Privilege Escalation
7. Lab 5-4: Linux Privilege Escalation
8. Lab 5-5: Windows Information Gathering and
Privilege Escalation

2. Evasion

1. In Memory vs. On Disk

2. Disk Location
3. Code Obfuscation
4. Lab 5-6: Windows Defender Evasion

3. Chapter Review
 1. Questions
2. Answers
13. Chapter 6 Credential Access

1. Windows Password Types

1. NTLM Challenge-Response Protocol

2. NTLMv1 and LM
3. NTLMv2
4. Kerberos

2. Unix/Linux Password Types

1. Message-Digest Algorithms
2. Secure Hash Algorithms

3. Types of Password Attacks

4. Password Cracking

1. John the Ripper

2. Hashcat

5. Harvesting Credentials

1. Exfiltration from the Local Host

2. Lab 6-1: Extract SAM from the Windows Registry
3. Lab 6-2: Hashdump
4. Lab 6-3: Dump Credentials from Memory
5. Exfil from the Local Network
6. Lab 6-4: Responder

6. Chapter Review

1. Questions
2. Answers

14. Chapter 7 Discovery and Lateral Movement

1. Discovery
 1. Windows Situational Awareness
2. Lab 7-1: Recon with PowerView
3. Lab 7-2: Recon with Empire
4. Lab 7-3: Information Gathering with SharpHound
5. Linux Situational Awareness
2. Lateral Movement

1. Linux Pivoting
2. Lab 7-4: Port Forwarding
3. Windows Pivoting
4. Lab 7-5: Pass-the-Hash
5. Lab 7-6: Built-in Tools
6. Lab 7-7: Lateral Movement, Owning the Domain

3. Chapter Review

1. Questions
2. Answers
15. Chapter 8 Data Collection and Exfiltration

1. Data Collection

1. Data from Local System

2. Data from Information Repositories

2. Data Exfiltration with Frameworks

1. Lab 8-1: Exfilling Data with Metasploit

2. Input and Screen Capture
3. Clipboard Data
4. Lab 8-2: Exfilling Data with Empire
5. Exfilling Sensitive Files
6. Timestomping

3. Data Exfiltration with Operating System Tools

1. Scheduled Transfer
2. Lab 8-3: Exfilling Data Using Linux Cron Jobs
3. Lab 8-4: Exfilling Data Using Windows Scheduled
Tasks
 4. Chapter Review

1. Questions
2. Answers
16. Chapter 9 Writing and Communicating the Pentest Report

1. The Pentest Report

1. Report Writing Best Practices

2. Preparing to Write the Report
3. Writing the Report

2. Report Handling
3. Chapter Review

1. Questions
2. Answers

17. Appendix A Penetration Testing Tools and References

1. Credential Testing Tools

2. Debuggers
3. Evasion and Code Obfuscation
4. Networking Tools
5. Penetration Testing Frameworks
6. Reconnaissance (OSINT)
7. Remote Access Tools
8. Social Engineering Tools
9. Virtual Machine Software
10. Vulnerability and Exploitation Research
11. Vulnerability Scanners
12. Web and Database Tools
13. Wireless Testing Tools

18. Appendix B Setting Up a Basic GPEN Lab

1. What You Need

2. Home Base (Host Machine) and Domain Controller
3. Windows Clients
4. CentOS VM with Web Apps
 5. Kali Linux Attack VM
6. Backing Up with VM Snapshots
7. Metasploitable VMs
8. Complete Lab Setup
19. Appendix C Capstone Project

1. Capstone Tasks
2. Exercise One: Reconnaissance
3. Exercise Two: Initial Access
4. Exercise Three: Exploit Chaining
5. Exercise Four: Exploit Chaining Redux
6. Capstone Hints
7. Exercise One: Reconnaissance
8. Exercise Two: Initial Access
9. Exercise Three: Exploit Chaining
10. Exercise Four: Exploit Chaining Redux
11. Capstone Walkthrough
12. Exercise One: Reconnaissance
13. Exercise Two: Initial Access
14. Exercise Three: Exploit Chaining
15. Exercise Four: Exploit Chaining Redux

20. Appendix D About the Online Content

1. System Requirements
2. Your Total Seminars Training Hub Account
3. Privacy Notice
4. Single User License Terms and Conditions
5. TotalTester Online
6. Other Book Resources
7. Technical Support

21. Glossary
22. Index

Guide
1. Cover
 2. Title Page
3. GPEN GIAC® Certified Penetration Tester All-in-One Exam Guide

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 Another Random Document on
Scribd Without Any Related Topics
obliged to evacuate those places. His next blow was aimed at
Columbia. This beautiful city is one hundred and twenty-eight miles
from Charleston. The rebels, under Hampton, abandoned it on the
16th, having first fired a large quantity of cotton which was there
accumulated. On the 17th it was surrendered to General Sherman,
who, in anticipation of the occupation of the city, had issued to
General Howard orders concerning the conduct of the troops. These
were to destroy absolutely all arsenals and public property not
needed for his own use, as well as all railroads, depots, and
machinery useful in war to an enemy, but to spare all dwellings,
colleges, schools, asylums, and harmless private property. But, as it
turned out, before one single public building had been fired by order,
the smoldering fires, set by Hampton’s orders, were kindled by the
wind, and communicated to the buildings around. About dark they
began to spread, and got beyond the control of the troops, and raged
until about four A. M., when the wind subsiding, the flames wore
subdued. “I was up nearly all night,” says General Sherman, “and
saw Generals Howard, Logan, Woods, and others, laboring to save
houses and protect families thus suddenly deprived of shelter, and of
bedding and wearing apparel. I disclaim on the part of my army any
agency in this fire, but on the contrary claim that we saved what of
Columbia remains unconsumed. And without hesitation I charge
General Wade Hampton with having burned his own city of
Columbia, not with a malicious intent, but from folly and want of
sense in filling it with lint, cotton, and tinder.” During the 18th and
19th, the arsenal, railroad depots, machine shops, foundries, and
other buildings were destroyed by detailed working parties, and the
railroad track torn up down to Kingsville and the Wateree bridge,
and up in the direction of Winnsboro’.
The next principal point was Cheraw, which was entered, after a
toilsome march, on the 3d of March. Charleston had, meanwhile,
been evacuated by General Hardee, on the 18th of February, and
many guns and much ammunition had been conveyed thence to
Cheraw. These were now captured by General Sherman, who also
broke up the railroad as far as Darlington, and the branch road from
Florence to Cheraw. He then pushed on to Fayetteville, which he
occupied on the 11th of March. The enemy, broken into small
detachments, were all the while retiring before Sherman’s advance,
but at the same time were harassing him by occasional dashes. One
of these, made by Hampton, on the 9th, led to a brisk engagement
between his forces and Kilpatrick’s cavalry, in which the latter were
victorious. But the rebels, fearing for Raleigh, now endeavored to
concentrate in Sherman’s front. Beauregard’s troops, from Columbia,
Cheatham’s from the West, the garrison of Augusta, and Hardee’s
from Charleston, were to be speedily massed together, under the
command of General J. E. Johnston. General Sherman’s plan was to
feign an attack on Raleigh, but really to push on to Goldsboro’. One
obstacle in his path was Hardee, who, with twenty thousand men,
had made a stand between Cape Fear river and South river. General
Williams, with the Twentieth corps, was thereupon ordered to
dislodge Hardee and capture the position. The result was the
 BATTLE OF AVERASBORO’.
March 15–16, 1865.

This fight commenced about noon, and lasted till night.

Skirmishing continued all night, and on the morning of the 16th, the
battle was renewed, with great fury. Severe fighting took place during
the day, without satisfactory results. The enemy held his position,
although suffering heavy loss. Everything indicated the presence of
Hardee’s whole army corps. He evacuated the line, during the night
of the 16th, however, and fell back to Averasboro’, pursued by Ward’s
division of the Twentieth corps. His dead and wounded were left on
the field, and abandoned along the road to Averasboro’. General
Ward pressed up to Averasboro’, holding the plank road in front,
while the balance of the command moved off to the right, across
Black river, on the Goldsboro’ road, now uncovered. The National
loss in this fight was four hundred and forty-six in the Twentieth
corps, one hundred and eight in the Fourteenth, and one hundred
and seventy-one in Kilpatrick’s command—total, seven hundred and
thirty-seven. The number of rebels, buried on the field, and paroled
wounded, was three hundred and twenty-seven—exclusive of those
they carried off, and the unhurt prisoners captured by the Unionists.
The advance of General Sherman was immediately continued, in
an easterly direction from Averasboro’, along the Goldsboro’ road.
General Johnston had suddenly moved from Raleigh, and
concentrated his entire force at a village called Bentonsville, on this
road, eighteen miles from Averasboro’, intending to fall on
Sherman’s left flank and overwhelm it, before the arrival of its
cooperating column. But the Union commander, anticipating such a
movement, was wholly prepared for it.
A battle ensued at Bentonsville, the Union line being complete and
strong, and the rebels on the defensive, in intrenchments.
 BATTLE OF BENTONSVILLE.
March 20, 1864.

At noon the enemy left his works and advanced on Jeff. C. Davis’
two divisions. Buell and Hobart were overwhelmed, and pressed
back through the woods more than a mile and a half. Vandeveer’s,
Mitchell’s, Fering’s and Cogswell’s brigades, on the right, fought
stubbornly and desperately, and lost but little ground. There was
temporary confusion, and a rout was imminent. Five batteries of
artillery were massed at a point where a hospital had been
established in the morning, the balance of Jackson’s division,
Twentieth corps, were placed on the left, and a new line formed.
During the day five grand charges were made by the enemy, massed,
but each was repulsed. They succeeded in capturing three guns of the
Nineteenth Indiana battery, but only two were taken off. There was
desperate fighting all day, the musketry firing being very heavy.
Although they gained considerable ground on the left during the day,
the rebels retired to their main line, when night fell, leaving the
greater part of their dead and wounded on the field.
The rebel loss was twenty-five hundred in killed and wounded.
Seven hundred were captured. The Twenty-sixth Tennessee regiment
was captured entire, colors and all, with a large part of the Twelfth
Louisiana.
The National loss was quite severe, being estimated at sixteen
hundred and forty-three. During the temporary confusion caused by
the furious charge on Carlin’s division, the Unionists lost about two
hundred and fifty prisoners.
This was the last important battle in which General Sherman was
engaged. General Schofield had entered Goldsboro’ on the 21st, and
General Sherman’s forces, immediately after the fight at
Bentonsville, advanced to that place.
 On the 25th the Newbern railroad was completed, and the army
was receiving its supplies from that base. Between the 27th and 30th
General Sherman had visited City Point, and conversed with the
President and General Grant, for the arrangement of the final
campaign of the war, and had returned to Goldsboro’.
 THE OCCUPATION OF CHARLESTON, S. C.
February 18, 1865.

General Sherman’s advance, as has already been noted, isolated

Charleston, and caused its evacuation by General Hardee. The rebels
abandoned the city on the night of the 17th of February, and the
National forces occupied it next day. General Foster, suffering from
wounds and ill health, had, meantime, been relieved by General
Gilmore, and it was by the forces of this officer and of Admiral
Dahlgren, that the far-famed cradle of the rebellion was finally
occupied.
The following was General Gilmore’s dispatch, announcing the
capture of the city:

“Charleston, S. C., February 18, 1865.

“Major-General Halleck, Chief of Staff:—

“General—The city of Charleston and all its defences came into our possession
this morning, with about two hundred pieces of good artillery and a supply of fine
ammunition.
“The enemy commenced evacuating all the works last night, and Mayor Macbeth
surrendered the city to General Schemmelfinnig at nine o’clock this morning, at
which time it was occupied by our forces.
“The cotton warehouses, arsenals, quartermaster’s stores, railroad bridges and
two iron clads were burned by the enemy. Some vessels in the ship yard were also
burned.
“Nearly all the inhabitants remaining behind belong to the poorer class.
“Very respectfully,
“Q. A. GILMORE, General Commanding.”
 The rebel movement of evacuation commenced on the night of
Friday, the 17th, the garrison of Sullivan’s Island and Point Pleasant
quietly withdrawing and retreating over the road by Christ’s Church,
just in time to escape Potter’s advance cutting them off. The troops in
the city moved out on the northeastern railroad, as did the garrison
on James Island, which was finally evacuated on Saturday morning.
Shortly after daylight on Saturday, it was discovered that there
were no troops in and about Sumter, or Moultrie, or in the works on
James Island. Lieutenant-Colonel Bennett, of the Twenty-first
United States colored troops, commanding Morris Island,
immediately dispatched Major Hennessy, of the Fifty-second
Pennsylvania volunteers, to Fort Sumter, in a small boat, to ascertain
whether the fort was evacuated. Major Hennessy proceeded to
Sumter, and soon waved the Stars and Stripes over the battered
battlements of the work, from which they had been torn down in
April, 1861. The sight of the old flag on Sumter was an assurance that
the enemy had evacuated all their works, and it was hailed by every
demonstration of joy on ship and shore. Another boat, in charge of
Lieutenant Hackett, of the Third Rhode Island artillery, was
immediately sent to Fort Moultrie to take possession of that work,
and raise again the National colors upon its parapet. The navy,
anxious to share in the honors of the day, also launched a boat, and
strove to gain the beach of Sullivan’s Island before the army, and an
exciting race ensued between the boats of the different branches of
the service.
The army boat, under Lieutenant Hackett, reached the shore in
advance. As she touched, the officer and crew sprang off on the
beach, through the surf, and rushed for the goal. The parapet was
soon gained, and the flag given to the breeze, amid the cheers of the
soldiers and sailors, who had come up a moment or two behind him.
The guns were all spiked, and the carriages somewhat damaged. A
large quantity of munitions was found in the magazines, which the
enemy had not time to destroy.
When the flag floated over Moultrie, Lieutenant-Colonel Bennett,
Major Hennessy, and Lieutenant Burr, of the Fifty-second
Pennsylvania, started for the city, giving orders to have troops follow.
They pulled up the bay, while the rebel iron-clads and vessels were in
flames and the city itself was burning at various points. Reaching
Fort Ripley, or what is known as the Middle Ground battery, the
Federal flag was displayed over the work. The party then pushed on
to Castle Pinckney, when the same ceremony of taking possession
was observed, and then the boat was pulled cautiously, but directly,
toward the city. No hostile force was seen, although a large number
of negroes and some whites were congregated on the docks, watching
the approach of the “Yankee boat.” Colonel Bennett immediately
landed, and the United States flag was displayed again in the city of
Charleston, amid the cheers and cries of joy of the crowd assembled
about it. It was a perfect storm of applause and outbursts of
unfeigned joy and satisfaction.
Colonel Bennett, on landing, immediately demanded the surrender
of the city, which was formally yielded by the mayor, Charles
Macbeth, who asked protection for the firemen, who were being
impressed by the retreating rebels, who had fired the city in several
places. Colonel Bennett promptly promised the assistance of his
troops, to save the city from conflagration. His first step was to
rescue the arsenal, which the rebels had prepared for blowing up.
The firemen got out their apparatus, and devoted themselves to
the extinguishment of the fires now raging with violence at various
points in the city. They were aided by the Union troops, who now
began to arrive in numbers, and, after a long struggle, the flames
were checked, but not until many buildings had been destroyed. A
large quantity of cotton, probably two thousand bales, was destroyed,
together with a considerable amount of supplies.
The worst feature of the conflagration had, however, occurred in
the morning—being the blowing up of the Northeastern railroad
depot. In this building a quantity of cartridges and kegs of powder
had been stored by the rebels, and, as they had not time to remove it,
they left it unprotected. A number of men, women, and children had
collected to watch the burning of a quantity of cotton in the railroad
yard, which the rebels had fired, and, during the conflagration, a
number of boys, while running about the depot, had discovered the
powder. Without realizing the danger they incurred, they began to
take up handfuls of loose powder and cartridges, and bear them from
the depot to the mass of burning cotton, on which they flung them,
enjoying the dangerous amusement of watching the flashes of the
powder and the strange effects on the cotton, as it was blown hither
and thither. A spark ignited the powder in the train, there was a
leaping, running line of fire along the ground, and then an explosion
that shook the city to its very foundations. The building was, in a
second, a whirling mass of ruins, in a tremendous volume of flame
and smoke. The cause of the terrific explosion soon became known,
and a rush was made for the scene of the catastrophe. Such a sight is
rarely witnessed. The building was in ruins, and from the burning
mass arose the agonizing cries of the wounded, to whom little or no
assistance could be rendered by the paralyzed spectators. Over one
hundred and fifty are said to have been charred in that fiery furnace,
and a hundred men were wounded more or less by the explosion or
were burned by the fire.
From the depot the fire spread rapidly, and, communicating with
the adjoining buildings, threatened destruction to that part of the
town. Four squares, embraced in the area bounded by Chapel,
Alexander, Charlotte, and Washington streets, were consumed
before the conflagration was subdued. Everything in the houses was
destroyed with them. Another fire on Meeting street, near the Court
House, destroyed five buildings. This was set on fire by the rebels,
with a view of burning Hibernian Hall and the Mills House. It did not
succeed, although it destroyed the five buildings alluded to. One or
two other fires also occurred, destroying several buildings each. A
large number of smaller conflagrations occurred, burning
government storehouses, &c.
A large quantity of rebel property and material of war was
captured at Charleston. The city was immediately put under martial
law, and, in a very short time, under the energetic administration of
General Gilmore, was restored to order, and, to some extent, favored
with the blessings of peace. The poor people here were found to be in
a very destitute and mournful condition; but they were speedily
relieved by the United States authorities.
 GENERAL SCHOFIELD’S MARCH TO
GOLDSBORO’.

BATTLES OF KINSTON, N. C.
March 7–10, 1865.

While General Sherman was marching from Fayetteville toward

Goldsboro’, General Schofield was approaching the same point, from
the direction of Newbern and Wilmington. The rebels, under Hoke,
attempted to dispute his passage, however, and made a stand near
Kinston. Skirmishing began between the armies on the 7th of March,
which resulted in the rebels being driven, by Colonel Classen’s
command, to their intrenchments at Jackson’s Mills, four miles east
of Kinston. General Cox was in command of the National forces,
under supervision of General Schofield, whose headquarters were at
Newbern; but General Schofield was in the field in person, during
most of the time of these Kinston battles.
On the morning of the 8th, the enemy made a sudden charge upon
the left wing of the Union line, and captured the Fifteenth
Connecticut and the Twenty-seventh Massachusetts. The men,
however, fought with great bravery, and only yielded to
overpowering numbers, when their ammunition was exhausted.
Lieutenant-Colonel Bartholomew and Major Osborne, commanding
the regiments above mentioned, were captured by the rebels.
To partially compensate for these losses, Colonel Savage, of the
Twelfth New York cavalry, afterwards made a detour toward the rear
of the enemy with a portion of his command, capturing between fifty
and one hundred rebels. The same afternoon, also, an attack was
made upon the Union right, occupied by the First division,
commanded by General Innes N. Palmer; but it was repulsed without
difficulty and without serious loss of life.
The National line on the 8th was in front of Jackson’s creek, at one
point on which (Jackson’s Mills,) the rebels had their strongest
position. Colonel Malloy with the First brigade, Second division,
successfully opposed the enemy in the afternoon. No communication
existed at this time between the First and Second divisions.
Between three and four o’clock, General Ruger came up and filled
the interstice between the First and Second divisions. This gave a
new life to the entire line, and Colonel Malloy made a charge upon
the rebel rifle pits, partially regaining the ground he had formerly
occupied. At this, night came on and the action ceased.
Thursday morning, the 9th, Malloy fully regained his original
position and continued to hold it. The enemy charged upon him
three times in the forenoon, and were each time easily repulsed, with
some loss of life and a small loss of prisoners to them. The afternoon
was mostly occupied with light skirmishing along the whole line.
About two hundred rebel prisoners were taken during the day.
All through the evening of the 9th, and the night and morning of
the 9th and 10th, the enemy were persistent in their attacks. They
had evidently learned that Couch was coming up overland to join
Cox. This, of course, necessitated a furious and speedy onset upon
Cox, in order to annihilate him before Couch should arrive. But the
wave was sent bounding back, time after time, and finally, on the
morning of the 10th, as they attempted another flank movement, the
Unionists took a large number of prisoners, which discouraged the
enemy from further assaults.
On the morning of the 11th, General Couch’s troops came up and
formed a junction with those of General Cox. The rebel troops then
retired across the Neuse river.
On the 15th the Mayor of Kinston, with a delegation, came out and
formally surrendered the city. The National troops immediately took
possession of the place, and fortified themselves within and around
it. The rebels had destroyed their ram Neuse, and as much material
of war as they could, prior to their hasty retreat: but valuable
captures of guns and ammunition were made by the National forces.
The losses, on the Union side, in these engagements has been stated
at about two thousand. The rebel loss was heavier. Two thousand
rebel prisoners were captured. From Kinston, the rebels having
fallen back, and concentrated to oppose Sherman at Bentonsville,
General Schofield pushed on to Goldsboro’, which he entered on the
21st. Here the junction was effected between his troops and those of
Sherman—as already stated—and from this point the advance was
made, which ended the campaign in the Carolinas.
 THE SIEGE OF PETERSBURG, VA.

The siege of Petersburg began with a desperate assault, on the

evening of the 15th of June, made by Major-General Smith’s troops,
against the first line of the rebel works, two miles from the city. This
assault was followed up on the 16th, 17th and 18th, and resulted in
the capture of the enemy’s outer line of works. The Ninth,
Eighteenth, and Second corps were engaged, and the Union loss was
very heavy—not far, indeed, from ten thousand men.
The charge on the afternoon of the 15th was made with great
gallantry, by the troops under General Smith, many of whom were
negroes. The Thirteenth New Hampshire, the Eighth Connecticut,
and the Ninety-second and One hundred and eighteenth New York,
also participated in this formidable action, which, prosecuted in the
face of artillery fire, was excessively difficult and perilous.
On the 16th, the assault commenced at daybreak, General Birney
taking the initiative, by driving the rebels out of two lines of rifle pits,
and taking many prisoners. Colonel Eagan, of General Birney’s
division, was wounded in this charge, as also were Lieutenant-
Colonel Lewis, of the One hundred and tenth Pennsylvania regiment,
and Lieutenant-Colonel Warner, of the Fortieth New York. About
half-past five o’clock in the afternoon, the assault was followed up by
a tremendous charge of Hancock’s men. The battle lasted three hours
and was desperate and destructive. The Union line was formed thus:
General Smith’s corps, the Eighteenth, was on the right; General
Hancock’s, the Second, was in the centre, and General Burnside’s,
the Ninth, on the left. All the troops fought well. Miller’s brigade, of
the central division, especially distinguished itself. The Union loss
was about two thousand, killed and wounded. At about eight o’clock
the assault was suspended, the National forces holding the advanced
position which they had conquered.
 General Hancock, suffering much from a wound received at
Gettysburg, was now relieved of duty, and General Birney assumed
command of the Second corps. The Eighteenth corps, General Smith,
was removed to Bermuda Hundred, and its place supplied by the 5th,
General Warren. General Burnside directed the assault, on the
morning of the 17th, and it was commenced by General Griffin’s
brigade, who made an impetuous dash forward, capturing six guns
and four hundred prisoners, including sixteen officers. General
Ledlie’s division made another charge in the afternoon, capturing a
portion of the rebel fortifications. General Burnside then began to
shell Petersburg, being distant about a mile and a half from the city,
but did not long continue the bombardment.
About nine o’clock in the evening of the 17th, the rebels made a
sally, to recover the position they had lost, and a severe hand-to-
hand fight ensued. The First Michigan regiment, sharpshooters,
sustained the brunt of the attack, and, at the outset, captured two
hundred and forty prisoners. But the flank column of the enemy,
pushing out to the left, suddenly charged into the Union works,
which the enemy at the same time shelled from the front, and so
drove out the brave Michiganders. The color-sergeant of this
regiment, dreading capture, buried his flag in the intrenchments.
The rebels held the line they had taken, until about two o’clock at
night, when they abandoned it. On the morning of the 18th, the
Michigan regiment marched in and took possession, the color-
sergeant disinterring his flag. The National loss was about one
thousand.
The operations of the 18th were particularly directed against a
rebel line of works near the railroad from Petersburg to Suffolk.
Wilcox’s division was assigned the duty of taking these fortifications,
and was supported by Colonel Curtin’s brigade of Potter’s division,
General Ledlie’s troops acting as a reserve. There was a good deal of
skirmishing in the morning, but the general advance was not ordered
till noon. Portions of the Eighteenth corps, together with the Sixth,
Second, Ninth, and Fifth, were engaged in this day’s assault. The
fighting was of the most desperate character in all parts of the field.
Up and down ravines, over ditches, and breastworks, under a
destructive fire of artillery and musketry, the brave soldiers of the
Union forced and fought their way. Desperate and continued charges
were made throughout the afternoon and evening; but with no
material success. The slaughter, on both sides, was tremendous.
“The scenes in our hospitals,” says a contemporary correspondent,
in closing an account of these four bloody days before Petersburg,
“during the past few nights, have been of the most ghastly character.
Day and night our surgeons have been engaged in the sad duties of
their profession. There are not tents enough for the wounded; and
numbers of the poor fellows are stretched beneath the trees, awaiting
their turn upon the operating tables.”
Sunday, the 19th of June, witnessed a lull in this bloody strife. The
enemy’s artillery did, indeed, belch forth now and then—meeting
with prompt response—and there was some skirmishing. A rebel
charge made at nightfall, on the Union centre, was repulsed. General
Butler’s forces also repulsed an attack, made by Longstreet, at
Bermuda Hundred. The rebels had, by this time, reached a clear
understanding of General Grant’s position and design, and were
actively opposing him at every practicable point.
The Siege of Petersburg and of Richmond now began in good
earnest—the quiet, steady circumvallation, that is, of the rebel
citadels and armies—and it was never relaxed, until the rebellion had
fallen. Many important incidents marked its continuance and
progress—battles, skirmishes, success and failure, brave deeds and
sad losses. It will be the province of this narrative, within a brief
compass, to touch upon the most important of these incidents.
An effort to destroy the railroad between Petersburg and Weldon
was made on the 21st of June, and resulted in a battle at Davis Farm,
in which the Unionists, under General Barlow, were defeated, with a
loss of about a hundred men. On the 22d the same effort was
repeated, in a more formidable manner, and a yet fiercer battle
ensued, in which the rebels made many prisoners, while the National
troops gained no material advantage. More fighting took place on the
23d, the 24th and the 25th.
 EXPLOSION OF PLEASANTS’ MINE, AND
BATTLE BEFORE PETERSBURG.
July 29, 1864.

On the 25th of June, at the suggestion of Lieutenant-Colonel

Pleasants, work was commenced with a view to the destruction of
one of the most important of the rebel works before Petersburg, by
mining. The work to be blown up was situated about two thousand
yards from Petersburg. The mine was started in the side of a ravine,
and was constructed of the customary shape—about four feet wide at
the base, between four and five feet high, and sloping towards the
top. Near the entrance was a ventilating shaft. Many of Lieutenant-
Colonel Pleasants’ men, the Forty-eighth Pennsylvania, were
accustomed to mining, and so the labor was prosecuted with skill
and ease, as well as energy. As it advanced, the tunnel was sloped
upwards. At length, when the desired point was reached, the miners
were twenty feet beneath the rebels. Wings were then constructed, so
that the fort might be subterraneously encircled. Eight chambers,
separated from each other by sand-bags, and charged with four
hundred tons of powder, completed this device for blowing up the
enemy. Wooden pipes and hose connected the mine with the
besiegers without.
Soon after midnight, on the 29th of July, the assaulting force—the
Ninth and Eighteenth corps, the Second and Fifth being held in
reserve—were massed and ready. Generals Ledlie, Wilcox, Potter,
and Ferrero were to lead the charge. At half-past three o’clock, A. M.,
on the morning of the 30th, the fuse was lighted. But the dampness
of the gallery extinguished it. Much delay ensued. Daylight came;
then sunrise. At last, at a few minutes before five o’clock, the fuse
was successfully lit, and the mine exploded. The scene was awfully
exciting and impressive. At first the earth heaved and trembled; then
the whole mass, fort, guns, caissons, soldiers, and all surged upward
like a tornado into the air. The next moment there was a yawning pit,
a hundred feet long and half as wide, in which ruins were
commingled, ghastly and terrible; and, all along the line, the guns
from the National works simultaneously brayed out the fury of war.
A charge was immediately made by a brigade of General Ledlie’s
division, which rushed through the gap, and then paused to form for
an assault on the enemy’s interior line. But the rebels, recovering
from their dismay and consternation, immediately rallied, and now
poured in an enfilading fire upon the captured fort. Presently,
however, the divisions of Potter, Ledlie, and Wilcox charged
together, in the face of a most terrific fire, which was no less severe
on their flanks than in their front. Their effort was grandly made, but
the fire was too severe, and they finally wavered and fell. The colored
division, under General Ferrero, was next hurled forward, but only to
meet the fate of its predecessors. Ultimately, the National troops
were penned up in the fort which they had taken, and were obliged to
endure the concentrated fire of the enemy. Squads of them, however,
succeeded in making their escape. The rebels made several charges
upon the fort, but were bravely repulsed. In this plight the soldiers of
the Union remained until noon, a steady cross fire being kept up over
every yard of the space between the fort and the Federal lines. At
noon a general retreat was ordered, in which many contrived to get
away; but, at two o’clock, being destitute of ammunition, those who
remained surrendered to the enemy. The National loss was five
thousand; that of the rebels, who fought in intrenchments, was, of
course, much smaller.
 THE DUTCH GAP CANAL.

There is, in the James river, a large bend, forming a peninsula, the
connecting neck of which is less than half a mile wide. This land is
known as Farrar’s Island. General Butler, on the 10th of August,
1864, commenced the work of severing this projection from the main
land by constructing what is memorable as the Dutch Gap Canal. The
object of the canal was to enable the Unionists to save a circuit of six
miles of the river, filled with obstructions, and to flank the enemy’s
batteries at Howlett House. General Butler’s troops worked at this
canal, with continued pertinacity and skill, for many months, being
frequently subjected to the danger of rebel shells, and obliged to take
frequent refuge in holes in the ground. But, in the end, the work
proved a failure. It afforded much material for criticism, however, at
the time, and for not a little merriment, among the Unionists as well
as the rebels. Had it succeeded, it would have materially
strengthened General Grant’s lines, and lessened the tediousness and
toil of the siege.
 THE WAR SUMMER OF 1864.

During the continuance of the siege of Petersburg and Richmond,

a call was made by the President of the United States, for five
hundred thousand additional troops. The call was dated July 18th. A
draft was subsequently ordered, and was made. Later in the summer,
General Grant wrote the following letter, which concisely sums up
what was then the true condition of affairs in the country:

“Headquarters Armies of the United States, }

City Point, Va., August 16th, 1864. }

“To Hon. E. B. Washburne:

“Dear Sir—I state to all citizens who visit me that all we want now to insure an
early restoration of the Union is a determined unity of sentiment North. The rebels
have now in their ranks their last man. The little boys and old men are guarding
prisoners, guarding railroad bridges, and forming a good part of their garrisons for
intrenched positions. A man lost by them cannot be replaced. They have robbed
the cradle and the grave equally to get their present force. Besides what they lose in
frequent skirmishes and battles, they are now losing from desertions and other
causes at least one regiment per day.
“With this drain upon them the end is not far distant, if we will only be true to
ourselves. Their only hope now is in a divided North. This might give them
reinforcements from Tennessee, Kentucky, Maryland, and Missouri, while it would
weaken us. With the draft quickly enforced the enemy would become despondent,
and would make but little resistance. I have no doubt but the enemy are
exceedingly anxious to hold out until after the Presidential election. They have
many hopes from its effects.
“They hope a counter revolution; they hope the election of the Peace candidate.
In fact, like ‘Micawber,’ they hope for something to ‘turn up.’ Our Peace friends, if
they expect peace from separation, are much mistaken. It would but be the
beginning of war, with thousands of Northern men joining the South because of
our disgrace in allowing a separation. To have ‘peace on any terms,’ the South
would demand the restoration of their slaves already freed; they would demand
indemnity for losses sustained, and they would demand a treaty which would make
the North slave-hunters for the South. They would demand pay for the restoration
of every slave escaping to the North.
“Yours, truly, U. S. GRANT.”
BATTLES ALONG THE WELDON RAILROAD.

The summer of 1864 was exceedingly hot; and, for that reason, the
enterprise of military life somewhat flagged with the besiegers of the
rebel citadel. Yet many skirmishes, and several heavy engagements,
took place; and the rebels were watched with unceasing vigilance,
and were pressed wherever a point of attack seemed to offer the
chance of gaining desirable advantage. On the 14th, 15th, and 16th of
August there was some fighting in the vicinity of Deep Bottom, the
Union loss being between four and five hundred men. This
engagement was brought on for the purpose of distracting the
enemy’s attention from the other extreme of operations and to draw
his forces partially away from Petersburg. The feint succeeded; and,
the Weldon railroad being left exposed, the Fifth corps advanced, on
the 18th of August, and took possession of Reams’s Station,
surprising a body of the enemy that was guarding it, but losing, in
the incidental fight, about three hundred men. The track was torn up
for about one mile. Next day, the 19th, the rebels made a furious
attack upon the National forces holding Reams’s Station, and a
bloody battle ensued. The Union line, being extended to a great
length, was quite thin in the centre. It had been hoped that the rebels
would not discover this weakness; but they did, and their first charge
broke through and divided the Union forces. The conflict that
followed was characterized by the most desperate bravery.
Reinforcements arriving—the First and Second divisions of the Ninth
corps—the rebels were finally repulsed. The most notable feature of
this fight was, that, in the course of events, it became necessary to
train the Union artillery upon a struggling mass of patriots and
rebels, and sacrifice friends as well as foes, in order to hold the
position originally taken by the Fifth corps. This position was held;
but the rebels recovered the railroad as far as Yellow Springs. The
loss, on the Union side, including prisoners, was three thousand
seven hundred and sixty-nine.

CHARGING A BATTERY ON THE WELDON RAIL ROAD.

CAPTURE OF A RAILROAD TRAIN.
 THE BATTLE OF REAMS’S STATION.
August 28, 1864.

A desperate battle was next fought, on the 28th of August, a little

southward of Reams’s Station. It was brought on by an effort, on the
part of the enemy, to break and disperse the Second corps, under
General Hancock, posted at that point. The attack was made at about
half past five in the afternoon, against Hancock’s centre, by the
rebels under Wilcox: and against his left, by the rebels under Heth. It
was met with great bravery, and vigorously resisted; but at length the
enemy succeeded in breaking the line opposed to them. Happily, no
permanent advantage was gained by this turn of fortune to the
rebels. A portion of General Gibbon’s division was brought forward
to repair the damage done to the National line. The enemy then fell
upon General Hancock’s extreme left, but were severely repulsed by
a dismounted cavalry force, under General Gregg, who handled his
men with great skill—the cavalry, on their part, behaving with the
utmost gallantry. At different points along the line the fighting
continued briskly until dark, when the battle ended in the enemy’s
signal defeat. The rebels then withdrew, leaving their dead and
wounded on the field. Many prisoners were captured from the
divisions of both Heth and Wilcox, and the enemy’s loss was very
heavy. The National loss in killed and wounded did not exceed twelve
hundred.
Few battles of this war have been more determined or sanguinary
than this one. In his official report, General Hancock says: “This has
been one of the most desperate fights of the war, resembling
Spottsylvania in its character, though the numbers engaged gave less
importance to it.” The field of battle, when the conflict was over, has
been described as hideously and repulsively awful to look upon. Such
scenes as these, throughout the whole civil war, bore eloquent
testimony to the bravery and noble self-sacrifice of the gallant men
who laid down their lives in defence of their country.
 BATTLE OF CHAPIN’S BLUFF.
September 28, 1864.

If not very successful, the movement which led to this battle was
very bold, and was executed with remarkable courage and endurance
by the soldiers of the Union. It began from two points, and was
designed to capture Richmond by a bold push. General Ord, with the
Eighteenth corps, crossed the James river at Aiken’s Landing, which
is eight miles above Deep Bottom, and advanced against the works
on Chapin’s Farm. At the same time, General Birney, with the Tenth
corps, moved against the enemy’s works in front of Deep Bottom,
which he captured, thence moving along the Newmarket road toward
Richmond, and, at an early hour, establishing communication with
General Ord. The latter had already captured the first line of the
rebel intrenchments at Chapin’s Bluff, and with it fifteen pieces of
artillery. When General Birney came up, an assaulting column was
organized, of both corps, to carry the heavy interior line of rebel
works. By this time, however, the rebels had received
reinforcements, and hence were enabled—the works being of great
strength—to repel the charge of the Unionists. The attack began early
in the afternoon, the men rushing forward impetuously, and
cheering loudly. A storm of grape and canister was hurled into their
faces, which wrought terrible destruction in their ranks. But they
neither flinched nor halted, but steadily held on their way. Soon a
fearful enfilading fire of artillery swept in upon them, mowing down
their ranks like grass; but still they pressed forward till they found
themselves in front of the enemy’s redoubts, which proved to be of a
much more formidable character than had been supposed. A perfect
abattis held them completely at bay, while the enemy’s infantry
leveled their ranks with the ground to the right and to the left. The
few who succeeded in gaining the rebel lines found them to be utterly
unassailable. They were completely surrounded by a ditch eight feet
in depth, and twelve feet in width; and could only be reached by
means of a drawbridge, which, of course, was now drawn up. The
Union men still determined to make an assault if an attack was
within the bounds of possibility, and leaped into the ditch, in hope of
finding a passage to the forts beyond, but found themselves penned
in, and unable to either advance or retreat.
The conduct of the colored troops, under General Birney, deserves
the highest praise. Many of them, by climbing on each other’s
shoulders, succeeded in reaching the parapet, but in numbers far too
small to make an attack on the fort. They therefore, as many as
could, effected a retreat; those who could not, as well as those in the
ditch, being compelled to surrender.
This assault, though a failure, is worthy of commendation for its
exceeding boldness; but it cost the Union troops a heavy price. Over
five hundred men in killed and wounded were lost. The negro troops
suffered very severely; and in General Foster’s division the loss in
field-officers was so great that scarcely a regiment escaped losing its
leader.
 ARMY OF THE JAMES.

BATTLE BEFORE RICHMOND.

October 7, 1864.

The enemy under General Anderson, on this day, attacked the

extreme right of the army of the James, their object being to distract
the attention of General Grant from his intended operations against
the rebel left. The attack was made at about daylight, and lasted till
noon. Kautz’s cavalry, posted on the Central road, was first assailed,
and a simultaneous charge was made against the line of the Tenth
corps, commanded by General Birney, who took the field on this
occasion, although ill, and suffering severely from malarious fever.
The rebel divisions engaged were those of Field and Hoke.
Their first movement was, in a measure, successful. They
succeeded in almost surrounding Kautz’s cavalry, and driving it back,
in a sort of panic, to the rear, where however, it was immediately
rallied.
The artillery in this fight,—Battery B of the First United States, and
the Fifth Wisconsin Battery,—did efficient service, and was handled
with great skill and courage. Colonel Sumner’s New York Mounted
Rifles also distinguished themselves by a bold stand, to cover the
confusion of Kautz’s retreat, and enable General Birney to
seasonably perfect his line of battle. At ten o’clock the rebels made a
determined assault on Birney’s line, and the battle became general.
Artillery was employed with great effect, and the loss in this branch
of the service was uncommonly severe, attesting the fury of the rebel
attack. Battery E of the Third United States Artillery, lost three men
killed, and nine wounded, and fourteen horses killed. Battery D of
the First United States lost one man killed, and four wounded, and
ten horses killed. Battery C of the Third Rhode Island, and the Fifth
New Jersey Battery also suffered severe losses. But the brunt of the
battle was borne by the Second Brigade—in the centre—upon which
the rebels made their most desperate and pertinacious attack. They
were met by a destructive fire from a line of carbineers, which, falling
back, gave place to another line, from which the fire was even more
deadly. Still the enemy pressed over piles of his own dead and
wounded, and still the fire of the carbineers continued, the woods
being resonant with the continuous rattle and roar of musketry. At
last, baffled and utterly routed, the rebels gave up their enterprise,
and retreated—only stopping when safe within their works along the
James river, and in Richmond. General Grant computed the Union
loss in this engagement at about three hundred; and the rebel loss at
upwards of one thousand. In effect, the Union forces repulsed a
formidable attack, which, had it succeeded, would have cost them the
loss of very strong and important works, and an advanced position
beyond Deep Bottom. But the rebel movement utterly failed, nor was
General Grant for a moment deterred in his proposed operations
against the rebel left. The Confederate General Gregg was killed in
this battle, and several other rebel officers of distinction were
wounded. About one hundred and fifty prisoners were captured by
the Union forces.
 THE BATTLES OF HATCHER’S RUN.
October 27, 1864-February 5–7, 1865.

Operations against the rebel position at Hatcher’s Run were

among the most important incidents of the siege of Petersburg. Their
object was to extend the National lines on the left, and, of course, to
sever railway communication with the beleaguered city. An attack on
the enemy’s works at this point was made on the 27th of October,
1864, the Second and Fifth corps participating. But the battle was
comparatively trivial in extent and in attendant losses. The rebel
pickets and cavalry were driven inside of the main work, and the
National forces captured seven loaded teams, and between seventy-
five and one hundred prisoners. Each party lost about two hundred
men. The result of this engagement was to extend the Union line
from Armstrong’s Mill, along the south bank of Hatcher’s Creek, to a
point where Hatcher’s Creek intersects the Boydton plank road.
To beat the rebels back from this position, and to destroy the
Southside railroad, was an object with General Grant throughout this
campaign. That railroad was, as it were, the main artery of Lee’s
army. Many attempts were made to destroy it, some of which, as has
been heretofore shown, resulted in doing it temporary injury.
A further attempt to carry the rebel works at Hatcher’s Run was
made on Sunday, the 5th of February, 1865. The Fifth and Second
corps, as before, were engaged, the entire movement being led by
General Warren. Early on the morning of the 5th, being Sunday, the
march began. General Gregg’s cavalry led the way, followed by the
troops of the Fifth corps, along the Halifax road, in the direction of
Reams’s Station. At the same time a covering movement was
commenced, to blind the enemy as to the advance of the Fifth corps.
This consisted in an advance of the Second corps, preceded by the
Third Pennsylvania cavalry, Major Hess, along the Vaughn road
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