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.