On the 18th of June the regiment reached the outer defenses of Petersburg and took part in the action at Wells' Farm, three miles southeast of Petersburg, on the afternoon of the 22d, when the enemy was completely foiled in his attempt to reach the Petersburg & Weldon Railroad. The next morning, while relieving Mahoney's Brigade from the trenches in front of Petersburg, it exhibited coolness and nerve under a withering fire of musketry and artillery at close range. Early in July the regiment returned to the north side of the James, and remained in the vicinity of Dutch Gap until the 28th of July, when it was actively engaged at Gravel Hill. Lieutenant R. M. Quince, of Company C, Acting Adjutant, was killed, and the regiment sustained a loss of twenty-five killed, wounded and missing.
  At Fuzzell's Mill, August 16th, the Seventh was on the left of the line in that gallant charge in which Lane's Brigade, led by Colonel Barber, recaptured the Confederate entrenchments (lost by other troops) on the Darby town road in the presence of General R. E. Lee. The enemy's force consisted in part of negro troops. Returning to Petersburg, the Seventh was engaged at Reams' Station on the 25th of August, and sustained its reputation for good fighting qualities in that irresistible charge made by Cook's, McRae's and Lane's Brigades, which dislodged Hancock's Corps and regained to the Confederates the possession of the Petersburg and Weldon Railroad. Its loss was four killed and twenty eight wounded. Captain J. R. McAulay, of Company I, fell in the advance. His death was a real loss to the service. The Seventh was engaged from "start to finish " in that spirited fight at Jones' Farm, on the right of the Petersburg lines, on the afternoon of September 30, 1864, and gallantly drove the enemy in its front from the field. While the loss of enlisted men was comparatively small, one killed and twelve wounded, it was a sore battle to its thirteen company officers, as the following will show : Killed : Lieutenant John R. Pearson, Company F. Wounded : Lieutenants P. C. Carlton, Company A ; A. F. Bizzelle, Company B; John W. Ballantine, Company E; John Y. Templeton, Company G ; Captain J. G. Harris and Lieutenant Dixon B. Penick, Company H.
   This regiment was in the advance the next morning and helped drive the enemy from his unfinished line near Pegram's house, and held it for the remainder of the day. After dark the regiment retired to the entrenchments near the Jones house, where, about the middle of November, it erected winter-quarters.
   On the 8th of December the Seventh, with the other commands of Hill's Corps, marched through rain and snow to oppose the enemy's forces then operating against the Petersburg & Weldon Railroad. On reaching Jarrett's Station, and finding the enemy gone, the command was ordered back to winter quarters.
   During this march the weather was extremely cold and the sufferings of the poorly clad men were pitiable indeed. While in winter-quarters at Petersburg, Colonel Haywood resigned, and Lieutenant-Colonel William Lee Davidson became Colonel; Major J. McLeod Turner, Lieutenant-Colonel, and Captain James G. Harris, of Company H, became Major of the Seventh Regiment.
   On the night of the 26th of February, 1865, the Seventh Major Harris commanding, left the defenses of Petersburg, and went by rail to High Point, N. C, for the purpose of arresting and returning absentees from the army, its field of operations being Randolph, Moore and Chatham counties. With the advance of Stoneman's raiders into Western North Carolina the regiment returned to High Point, and on the 1st of April it was sent by rail to the Yadkin bridge, six miles northeast of Salisbury, as an attempt to destroy the bridge was apprehended. On the 5th it was taken to Danville, Virginia, and on the 11th it was ordered to return to Greensboro.
   On the 16th of April it was assigned to General D. H. Hill's Division, Lee's Corps, Army of Tennessee. It was detailed on the 19th to rebuild the railroad bridge across Deep River at Jamestown, recently burned by Stoneman, and by the evening of the 24th the bridge was complete for the passage of trains.

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