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NIGHT AFTER THE BATTLE.

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The tumult and uproar of the day had died away, and silence and night wrapt the slumbering hosts. The stars came out upon the sky and looked mildly down on the torn, trampled, and bloody field, and the gentle wind stole softly by, giving no tokens of the terrible strife that had just closed. All was tranquil and serene, when suddenly the shores and river were lit up with a bright flash, followed by the report of cannon. The gun boats having ascertained nearly the position of the enemy, began to heave shells into the woods and fields, that burst far inland like replying cannon. All night long, at short intervals, the sullen roar broke the silence, rousing up the tired enemy, forcing him back still farther from the spot where he had sunk down exhausted. It was a terrible night for the wounded, for thousands still lay on the field where they fell.

Around the landing it was a scene of bustling activity. The rest of Nelson's division was brought across, and soon Crittenden's came up on the loaded steamers from Savannah, and were marched forward and placed in front of Sherman's shattered line, with orders to advance on the enemy at daylight. Word was also received that McCook's division had reached Savannah, and were waiting to be brought down to the battle field. This gallant commander had heard all day long, the heavy cannonading that unceasingly shook the shores of the Tennessee, and kept his men at the top of their speed, who eager as himself, strained desperately forward to be up in time to save the battle. The rest of his army, Buell thought could not arrive in season to take any part, and the victory must be won without them if won at all. But during the night a portion of the regular batteries of Captain Mendenhall, Terrell and the Ohio battery, Captain Bartlett, arrived bringing word that the rest would be on hand early in the morning. The news of the arrival of these heavy reinforcements, sent a thrill of joy

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through our dejected camps. The brave men who had borne up against such fearful odds, though defeated, now felt that they were not to be conquered, and that the morning's sun would light them to victory.

Though the day had closed serenely, at midnight the heavens became suddenly overcast, and soon a heavy thunder storm broke over the two armies, drenching the living, the dead, and dying, alike. The vivid flashes of lightning set forest and field in a blaze, while the artillery of the skies, responding to the loud explosions on the river, made strange music on that fearful field.

CHAPTER XXVII.

APRIL, 1862.

SECOND DAY'S BATTLE OF PITTSBURG

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T length the eventful morning dawned, and at five o'clock the two divisions of Nelson and Crittenden moved forward upon the enemy. They soon came upon his pickets, which they drove steadily and cautiously before them, and at seven o'clock approached his line of battle. Crittenden's division formed on the right of Nelson, with Bartlett's battery in the center. Mendenhall's splendid bat-· tery, in Nelson's division, at once unlimbered and opened a rapid fire. The heavy cannonading shook the field, and told those nearer the landing that the battle had commenced. At this moment, strains of martial music were heard, and the soldiers looking back, saw the colors of McCook's division which had arrived, moving up to their support. It took position on Crittenden's right, making the whole line of battle of Buell's forces a mile and a half in extent. Wallace with three brigades formed the extreme right, and at seven o'clock he also opened with his artillery on a battery of the enemy, planted within easy range.

For a time it was an artillery duel on a grand scale. In front of Nelson, the ground was an open field nearly level --while a thick undergrowth covered a portion of that in front of Crittenden, which was a wide hollow. The same proportion of woods and field characterized McCook's front.

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A DESPERATE RALLY.

Nelson's division came first into action; and the contest at once became close and bloody. The compact line, the steady movements and confident bearing of the regiments, soon showed that a better drilled, if not a braver, army was in the field than that of the day before. Colonel Hazen of the Nineteenth brigade made a gallant charge on a battery of the enemy, and took it; but finding his command exposed to a heavy cross fire of artillery, was compelled to abandon his prize. Still, nothing could resist the steady advance of Nelson. His long lines swept on like an unbroken wave over the ground lost the day before, on which lay thickly strewed the dead of both armies.

Crittenden, next to him, though every inch of ground was hotly contested, also pressed the enemy back in his front. The brigade under Smith made a desperate dash on one of the enemy's batteries and captured it, though it cost them dear. The stung and maddened foe charged again and again to recover their guns, and for half an hour that spot seemed to form the vortex of the battle.

Still farther on, McCook's magnificent division moved like veterans of a hundred battle fields into action, completing the general advance of the army. Thus, till ten o'clock, the line of battle slowly advanced, when the enemy, under cover of some heavy woods, made a sudden and desperate rally, and fell with such fury on Nelson's division that it halted, then wavered and finally fell back. At this critical moment, Terrell's regular battery arrived from the landing on a headlong gallop, and unlimbering with the speed of lightning, hurled the shells from his twenty-four-pound howitzers, into the astonished, compact ranks of the enemy. They staggered under the rapid, destructive fire; but bearing up bravely against it, again advanced straight on the murderous guns. Horse after horse went down, the gunners dropped in their places, till not a man was left at one of the pieces: when Ter

A GENERAL ADVANCE.

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rell and a corporal stepped up and worked it alone till a regiment dashed forward and saved it. For two hours after, it was one incessant crash and thunder peal all along the front of that gallant division.

Nelson, in the mean time held his men to their grim work, and refused to retire further, determined to see which could stand such terrible pounding the longest. But the same fierce rally that forced him back at first, extended along the whole rebel line, and Crittenden caught the full force of the refluent wave and was forced to fall back to a new position.

The shouting enemy followed up their success, when Men

denhall's and Bartlett's batteries, especially that of the former, sent their shells ploughing through his ranks, making huge gaps at every discharge. The rebels could not make headway against the awful fire; still they refused to yield the ground which they had made red with their own blood.

In the mean time, Buell had arrived on the field, and seeing the stubbornness with which the enemy held his ground, although it was evident his whole line was badly shaken by our artillery, gave the order to advance by brigades at the double quick. That was all the brave fellows wanted, and with a cheer that rolled like the shout of victory along the mighty line, they sprang forward. The sudden, simultaneous onward movement of that vast host, was a sublime spectacle. The rebels, though they had fought bravely, recoiled before its terrible front, so dark below, yet bright with glit tering steel above, and step by step fell back, pushed as they receded by the determined divisions, till they lost all the ground they had won. At length the punishment became so severe that they fell into confusion, when our artillery and musketry mowed them down by platoons. Sweeping the ground of our defeat the day before, we captured all the guns lost on this part of the fi, besides two of the enemy. Unwilling to lose all the fruit of their previous victory, the

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