John D. Billings, The history of the Tenth Massachusetts battery of light artillery in the war of the rebellion

Here we came upon the wagon train of the Sixth Corps, which had just crossed. At 1 o'clock we went over the pontoon. There was some fighting in progress ahead, and now and then a stray Rebel shell exploded in the neighborhood. On coming to higher ground, not far from the river, we took position, covering the road with the pieces, threw up earthworks, and passed the night there.

At this time the exact position of Lee's army was not definitely known, and Sunday we advanced our line to the right and front somewhat—again erecting breastworks—and lay there all night.

Monday morning, May 30, we moved forward about four miles through the woods, advancing in part by means of a road cut by the pioneers. This forward movement was one in which all the corps participated, and was made with a view of developing the Rebel position. Our march was directed from Hawes' Shop, or Store, towards Hanover Court House.¹ Hawes' Shop was an important junction of several roads, and was contended for most manfully on the 28th instant by three brigades of Union cavalry, under Sheridan, pitted against that of the enemy commanded by Fitz-Hugh Lee and Wade Hampton, with the result in our favor.

The scarred trees and Rebel dead that lay yet unburied along our path attested in some degree the severity of the fighting.²

There had been some skirmishing as our column advanced, and about four miles from its starting