captured cannons. Rhodes re-formed his regiment and waited for further orders after crossing the Boydton Plank Road. He turned toward the earthworks, along with the 82nd Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment, to support the advance of other brigades. His flanking maneuver contributed to the capture of the sector of line that was attacked by Wheaton's other brigades. Nonetheless, Colonel William Penrose's New Jersey brigade was held back by more determined Confederate pickets, causing all four regiments to become mixed. After enough of Penrose's men to carry an assault gathered in the moat in front of the Confederate earthworks, they stormed over the barrier and subdued the stubborn North Carolina defenders. To the right of Penrose's brigade, Colonel (Brevet Brigadier General) Joseph Hamblin's brigade had the longest distance to cross before reaching the Confederate line, which was held at that point by Brigadier General Edward L. Thomas's Georgia brigade. The attack was covered by sharpshooters led by Captain James T. Stuart from the 49th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment, who were armed with Spencer repeating rifles. The brigade had to overcome a line of chevaux-de-frise followed by a line of abatis. Unlike the other brigades of Wheaton's division, Hamblin's brigade did not need to engage in hand-to-hand combat to overcome the defenders, many of whom were retreating from flank fire from Union soldiers in adjacent Confederate trenches that already had been occupied. Some of Hamblin's men headed for the South Side Railroad to the north but most turned right and advanced toward Petersburg. Wheaton's advance had been supported by important counter-battery work by a section of Battery H, 1st Rhode Island Light Artillery. Seymour's attack On the left of the Sixth Corps' formation, Truman Seymour's division, led by Colonel J. Warren Keifer's brigade, dispersed MacRae's North Carolina brigade. Keifer directed his leading regiment to pass through an opening in the obstructions which Union soldiers had spotted earlier. Keifer's front ranks drove through the Confederate pickets with unloaded rifles and moved toward the abatis in front of the main line. After breaking the abatis, pieces of which Keifer's men used to bridge the moat in front of the works, Keifer's regiments quickly drove off the 28th North Carolina Infantry Regiment, captured 10 pieces of artillery, a large number of prisoners, three battle flags and Major General Henry Heth's headquarters flag. Colonel William S. Truex led the rest of Seymour's division against the 11th North Carolina Infantry