This redoubt covered Taylor's Bridge, but its flanks were swept by
artillery and an enfilading fire from rifle-pits across the river. Late in
the evening of the 23d, Hancock's corps, arriving before the redoubt, had
assaulted it with two brigades and easily carried it. During the night the
Confederates from the other side made two attacks upon the bridge and
finally succeeded in setting it afire. The flames were extinguished by the
Federals, and on the 24th Hancock's troops crossed over without
opposition. The easy crossing of the Federals here was but another example
of Lee's favorite rule to let his antagonist attack him on the further
side of a stream. Taylor's Bridge could easily have been held by Lee for a
much longer time, but its ready abandonment was part of the tactics by
which Grant was being led into a military dilemma. In the picture the
Federal soldiers confidently hold the captured redoubt, convinced that the
possession of it meant that they had driven Lee to his last corner.
[Illustration: "WALK YOUR HORSES"