of Colonel Harrison S. Fairchild's regiments forward and Brigadier General John W. Turner's Independent Division's (Second Division's) First Brigade under Lieutenant Colonel Andrew Potter and Second Brigade under Colonel William B. Curtis pushed up, merely for them also to get stuck in the mud and water in the ditch. The great majority of soldiers of 14 regiments reached the ditch in front of the fort where the attack temporarily halted. A total force of 4,000 men had attacked Fort Gregg, struggling for up to a half-hour to gain entry as the defenders threw "dirt, stones and various kinds of missiles," including rolled artillery shells, across the parapet onto their heads and killed or wounded many of the first attackers as they came to the top of the parapet. Eventually, Union soldiers found the uncompleted short trench in back of the fort which allowed them an easier opportunity to climb onto the fort's parapet. The mass of men in the ditch had to move or be killed so they started to scale the walls or rushed around the moat to find the unfinished trench or sally port in the rear. Attackers were able to gain entry to the fort from the rear at the same time that a large number of Union troops finally managed to gain the top of the parapet. Soldiers of the 12th West Virginia Infantry Regiment were reported to be the first to cross into the fort after their flag had been planted at the top of the wall. After several bayonet charges, the Union attackers finally carried the works by sheer force of numbers and, after desperate hand-to-hand combat, forced the surviving defenders to surrender. As the assault on Fort Gregg concluded, Turner's Third Brigade under Brigadier General Thomas M. Harris attacked Fort Whitworth, where Confederate Brigadier General Nathaniel Harris was in command. Fort Whitworth fell soon after Fort Gregg was taken as it was then being evacuated, with only about 70 defenders remaining to be captured. Major General Gibbon reported that 55 Confederates were killed at Fort Gregg and about 300 captured, many of them wounded, along with two guns and several flags. Gibbon's XXIV Corps's loss for the day, mostly at the two forts, was 122 killed, 592 wounded, for a total of 714. The entire attack on Fort Gregg took about two hours but bought some valuable time which allowed Major General Charles