On 12 May 1864, the 16th Mississippi was sent by Genl. Robert E. Lee to retake the defensive works at the salient in the lines near Spotslyvania Court House. The bitter fighting around the salient was subsequently remembered as the fight at the Bloody Angle. The fighting raged at this site for more that 12 hours. A graphic account of the this action is contained in "A Mississippi Rebel in the Army of Northern Virginia, The Civil War Memoirs of Private David Holt". Private Holt was a member of Company K, 16th Mississippi.

On the field in the vicinity of the Bloody Angle, Capt. E. H. Gatlin was serevely wounded in the left side. He managed to get away from the action and was evacuated to a hospital in Richmond. At the hospital a "Certificate of Disability for Leave of Absence" was signed by R. S. Peebles, Surgeon. E. H. Gatlin signed the request for a leave of absence of 30 days to go to Summit, Mississippi.

He was subsequently able to acquire transportation and arrived in Summit sometime around the first day of June 1864.

-- One Soldier's Story --