to try and strike McArthur's rear, while he was pounding away at his exposed right flank.

Oglesby and McArthur, with too scant a supply of ammunition for this unexpected battle, stood firm for a while; but fresh rebel troops constantly arrived, and had it not been for the coolness of the brigade commanders and the inspiring valor of Colonel John A. Logan, who commanded the Thirtyfirst Illinois, of Oglesby's brigade, the attack might have resulted in a panic to our troops. As it was, McArthur and Oglesby were obliged to fall back rapidly to avoid being taken in rear, and to form a new line facing south. But the rebels did not advance with impunity. Our light batteries, admirably handled by McAllister, Taylor, and Dresser, shifting their position from time to time, pour in a withering fire of grape and canister, and cause the enemy's front line to recoil again and again, until pushed forward, or replaced by the overwhelming masses in rear. Two regiments of W. H. L. Wallace's brigade fly to the rescue, while he arranges the others en potence on his left, to check Pillow, and yet defend the road.

Again the rebels move towards the right flank of our new

line, and again the battle rages. Cruft's brigade, of Lewis Wallace's division, is ordered down upon this flanking column at a run. Thus checked, the enemy might have been driven back and pursued, had it not been for a new and unexpected foe, or rather the fear of one, swarming from their intrenchments, and passing the rifle-pits like a surge of the sea. Buckner's force came out to attack the left flank and crotchet of our new line. As soon as they were discovered, Wallace strengthened the flank thus threatened, and two of Taylor's guns, coming rapidly into action, dealt grape and canister on his advance. Buckner was easily repulsed, for his attack was very feebly delivered, and his troops behaved in the most cowardly manner. When at eleven o'clock Pillow rode over to Buckner's position, he found them huddled under cover,* from which it was only after a good deal of artillery firing that their general could persuade them to emerge. In speaking of the repulse, Buckner says his attacking regiments" withdrew without panic, but in some confusion, to the trenches."

But the moral effect of Buckner's attack was not without its value. Beset on all sides, Pillow thundering upon our new front, the cavalry threatening our rear, Johnson well extended upon our right, checked but not driven off by Cruft, our men were somewhat demoralized by Buckner's demonstration many became disheartened; the fugitives from the front became a crowd. A mounted officer galloped down the road, shouting, "We are cut to pieces." The ammunition had given out. Our line, including Cruft, who had borne the brunt of the battle for some time, was again forced back. Logan, Lawler, and Ransom were wounded; many field-officers and large numbers of subalterns killed. The crisis of the battle had, indeed, arrived, when General Wallace posted Colonel Thayer's (Third) brigade across the road, formed a reserve of three regiments, placed Wood' Battery in position, and awaited the attack. The retiring regiments formed again in rear, and were supplied with ammunition. The rebel

*Colonel Gilmer's Report.

General L. Wallace's Report.

attack upon this new line was extremely vigorous; they had delayed for awhile to plunder the dead, and pick up what they could find in McClernand's camp; and Pillow had sent back an aid to telegraph to Nashville that, "on the honor of a soldier," the day was theirs. The new attack which he was about to make was only the finishing stroke. Again he moved upon Thayer's brigade; but, by their unflinching stand and deliberate fire, and especially by the firmness of the First Nebraska and the excellent handling of the artillery, he was now repulsed.

Whatever the apparent success of the rebels thus far, in driving our right wing, Grant, thoughtful and imperturbable, had not been for a moment dismayed. He saw from the very desperate nature of the rebel attack that when it culminated, they would give way, if he showed a bold front, and advanced at all points. Riding to the front at three o'clock, he ordered Lewis Wallace, who had first checked the enemy, to advance upon Pillow, and recover the ground lost in the morning, while General C. F. Smith should storm the works on the enemy's right. His new plans were rapidly formed, and will bear the test of military criticism.

The column of attack, for the desperate work now undertaken by General Wallace, was formed of Colonel M. L. Smith's and Colonel Cruft's brigades, supported by two Ohio regiments. Over the rough, rolling, and in parts thickly wooded ground, these troops moved, driving the unwilling enemy before them, and only halting when within one hundred and fifty yards of the rebel intrenchments. This was at five o'clock! We remained in the position thus gained during the intensely cold night, ministering to the wounded of the morning's battle, with whom the field was thickly strewn, and anxious for the morning. At daylight the next morning, Thayer's brigade was brought up, and preparations were made to storm the intrenchments, when the display of a white flag from the fort, followed by others from different parts of the works, made them pause. Before going to another part of the field, where great deeds were done, we

pause for a moment to say, this movement of Wallace must be regarded as having a decided bearing upon the result.

And now let us return to the left wing. Smith had received orders to attack the intrenchments directly in front of the fort. His plan was to carry their outer works at the point of the bayonet, then to bring up his batteries, and sweep the interior crest, and then to assault and carry the fort. This was the grand stroke of the battle; it would relieve our right, and, if successful, would insure the capture.

We cannot forbear pausing for a moment to express our unqualified admiration of General Grant's orders, just at this juncture. It was the sublimity of that boldness which Napoleon, and, perhaps, some one before him, had declared to be the aes triplex of a commanding general;* to snatch victory out of apparent disaster, by assuming the boldest offensive. It amazed and paralyzed the rebels, and it inspired our troops, most of them new and ignorant, with courage and enthusiasm.

* L'audace, l'audace, et encore l'audace.

CHAPTER VII.

GENERAL SMITH'S ATTACK AND THE SURRENDER.

SMITH'S COLUMNS ORGANIZED.-LAUMAN THE FORLORN HOPE.-SMITH LEADS.-ADDRESSES HIS MEN.-THE LINES MOVE.-SMITH'S SPLENDID VALOR DECISIVE.-FLOYD'S NEW COUNCIL. HE TURNS OVER THE COMMAND.-PILLOW LOOKS AT THE CARDS, AND "PASSES."-THE PUSILLANIMOUS FLIGHT.-BUCKNER SURRENDERS.-THE CORRESPONDENCE.-GRAND RESULTS.-COMMENTS.-EULOGY OF GENERAL C. F. SMITH.

WALLACE was already on his war-path, as we have just described, when General Smith organized his column of attack. Cook's brigade is posted on his left, and is designed to make a feint upon the work. Cavender's heavy guns are posted in rear to the right and left, having a cross-fire upon the intrenchments, and also playing upon the fort; but the attacking force the forlorn hope-is Lauman's brigade, formed in close column of regiments, and composed of the Second Iowa, the Fifty-second Indiana (temporarily attached), the Twentyfifth Indiana, Seventh Iowa, and Fourteenth Iowa.

Cook's feigned attack is already begun; Cavender's guns are thundering away. It is nearly sunset, when Smith, hearing Wallace's guns far to the right, puts himself at the head of Lauman's brigade, and climbing the steep hill-side, bursts upon the ridge on which the enemy has constructed his outer works. Before advancing, and when the force was just in readiness to move, Smith had ridden along the line, and in few but emphatic words had told them the duty they were to perform. He said that he would lead them, and that the pits must be taken by the bayonet alone. Perhaps during the whole war, full as it is of brilliant actions, there is none more striking than this charge.

At the given signal, the lines are put in motion, Smith rid