A few days later, the 146th fought at Spottsylvania. This two-day battle ended with an early morning attack that nearly broke the Confederate center and would have won the war, but was beaten back when Gen. Lee personally led a counter-attack at a place now known as the "Bloody Angle." The 146th lost 16 men there, but the Union Army had lost another 11,000 soldiers.

Between May 8th and May 31st, the regiment lost ten more men while fighting in five more engagements. Gen. Grant’s plan was working only too well, but the army must have had very mixed feelings about him. They were finally winning the war, but they had lost over 50,000 of their friends and fellow soldiers in just one month, while the South had lost just 30,000. They hoped that these battles would soon end the war. Everyday the army would fight and then march off, leaving the dead and wounded behind, then fight again as Grant tried to position his army between Richmond and Lee’s troops.

Benjamin and the 146th fought in more battles. On June 10, 1864, Grant ordered his army to attack Lee at Cold Harbor, Virginia. 50,000 men of the Union Army advanced in a suicide charge three miles long and lost 12,000 men killed or wounded in less than an hour. The 146th and a large part of the division had to dig in with cups, plates and bayonets, lying under what cover they could find until night fall when they could crawl their way back to their lines. The 146th lost 55 more men that day.

Between June 12th and June 19th, the 146th lost 17 more men in five more engagements when Lee’s army finally dug in around the city of Petersburg and the 146th participated in the siege. Benjamin was part of the "Battle of the Crater" on July 30, 1864. This was one of the strangest attacks of the Civil War, where a mine shaft was dug under the walls of Petersburg and 80 tons of black powder was exploded to make a 500-yard crater in the center of Lee’s lines. Unfortunately, the following attack was badly planned: no ladders were given to the soldiers for climbing out of the crater once inside, and the officers who were to lead the charge left their positions and got drunk during the attack. A chance to win the war failed once more. The 146th, being on the right flank of the crater, did not go into the hellish pit but still lost another 17 men while in support of the attack.

On August 19, 1864, the 146th with the 5th Corps under General Gouverneur K. Warren, moved three miles south of Petersburg with the intent to destroy and hold a portion of the Weldon Railroad, near Globe Tavern. This was the last supply route into the city and into Richmond. While in the process of destruction, a desperate Confederate force of three brigades attacked. The attack struck into the center of their division shattering their ranks and forcing them to be pulled back a half mile. The Division and the 146th reformed and held off the attack until night fall. The next day the Confederates tried once more but with the entire 5th Corps now deployed, the Rebel attack met with disaster. Losses these two days totaled between 1,600 and 2,300 Confederate soldiers either killed or wounded, while the Union incurred 4,279 men lost with half of them taken as prisoners. The 146th lost 46 more men.

So far, in three months of fighting, the 146th had lost 456 of its 1,000 original men, and everyone, including Benjamin, must have wondered if he would be next.

On September 4, 1864, while on a skirmish line facing a South Carolina regiment, Benjamin was struck by a Confederate minie ball in the left arm, just above the wrist, shattering both bones. Although not necessarily a mortal wound, it was a very serious one and must have been incredibly painful. For at least a week after he was wounded, he remained with his regiment. Perhaps his fear of the Surgeon outweighed his pain. Medical treatment during the War was considered horrible even then, and many chose to care for their own wounds rather than face a surgeon. Shattered bones could not be repaired in field hospitals, so arms and legs were amputated instead. Or was it that he did not wish to abandon his comrades after so many months of shared hardship? History does not tell us.