Gen. Smith made instant and vigorous arrangements to carry the enemy's works before him by storm. For that purpose he selected three regiments, the 2d and 7th Iowa, and the 52d Indiana. The arrangements were promptly completed, and at three o'clock his strong column was in motion. Gen. Smith led the charge on horseback. It was a sublime sight as this mass of troops in unbroken line emerged from the woods, and commenced its firm, resolute, silent tramp up the steep hill, in the face of the battery of the foe. A portion of Gen. Smith's division had been deflected to the right, to distract the attention of the foe by a fierce assault. Though the thunder of battle now filled the air, the charging column uttered not a cheer, and fired not a gun, but noiselessly, as though it were a phantom army, pressed forward in the enterprise which every man was determined should be accomplished. A shower of grape and canister ploughed their ranks, but closing up, onward was their march, until they arrived within a few feet of the battery, when pouring in upon the foe a murderous volley of bullets, they rushed, with fixed bayonets and huzzas which rent the skies, upon the ramparts. Flesh and blood could not withstand the charge. The rebels fled like deer over the hills; the breast-works were carried and cleared, and with a shout, which rang all along the lines of the battle, the Stars and Stripes were raised over the intrenchments, proclaiming that again the National banner was decisively triumphant. Capt. Stone's battery, which had been hurling destruction into the rebel ranks, instantly advanced to the position acquired; and the point was effectually secured against any force the rebels could bring for its recapture. Thus gloriously, on the left, the day was gained.

In the meantime, Gen. Wallace was advancing to wrest back, on the right, the position which the rebels had seized in the morning. The field of this conflict was about two and a half miles to the right, or south of that which we have just described as the theatre of Gen. Smith's heroism. At the moment his column was commencing its movement, the animating intelligence was brought that Gen. Smith was inside of the enemy's intrenchments. The ringing cheer, which burst from the lips of the men, evinced the ardor with which this joyful news inspired them. The 8th Missouri and the 11th Indiana, both of which had been practised in the Zouave drill, were placed in front. The headlong charge they were ordered to make, was supported by several regiments of Cols. Thayer and Craft's brigades.

The hill up which they were to charge was precipitous and rough, and in places covered with dense underbrush. Now the bloody scenes of the morning were renewed, the National troops being, in their turn, the attacking party. The rebel troops contested the ground obstinately, gallantly. The contending parties were so commingled that, in many instances, the assailants and the assailed sought the shelter of the same tree. The Zouave regiments, throwing themselves flat upon the ground as they loaded, and when the enemy's fire slackened, rising and pushing forward, with deadly volleys, pressed resistlessly up the hill. At length the top was gained. The rebels, driven from their position, commenced a sullen retreat, yet sternly resisting. They were pressed, however, so

fiercely, that soon their retreat became a precipitate flight. As the evening dusk, of the dark and stormy day, spread over the hills, the National troops had regained all the ground they had lost in the morning, and the rebels were driven back within their intrenchments. Thus terminated the fourth day's battle.

Night came chill and dismal. The icy ravines were filled with the wounded and the dying. Scenes of anguish and of death, painful enough to have harrowed the heart of a fiend, transpired, in darkness and solitude, on the snow-clad ground beneath the gloom, which no eye but God witnessed, and which the pen of the avenging angel only can record. There are some crimes too great for humanity to forgive. This infamous slaveholding rebellion stands most prominent among them. There is no atonement which its guilty leaders can make for the woes they have inflicted upon millions. There was little sleep in either camp that night.

The National troops were elated with their success. On their left wing the Stars and Stripes were floating over the fortifications of the foe. On the right the rebels had been routed with great slaughter, and had been driven back, weakened and humiliated, behind the shelter of their ramparts. The Union troops, though weary, were yet so animated by their victory, that they clamored to be led forward immediately to the final charge. Gen. Grant, however, after a day of such terrible fatigue, wisely postponed the assault till the morning. The wounded, scattered over the wide field of conflict, demanded immediate attention. Many died during the night. Some lingered in untold agonies for a day and a night before they were found.

The rebel troops had too much to think of to indulge in sleep. Their situation was desperate. The light of the morning was sure to inaugurate an assault, from superior numbers, flushed with victory, and already in possession of important points within their lines. A council of war was convened by the rebel officers. It was manifestly impossible for them to defend their position. Gen. Buckner, in command upon their right, said that he could not maintain his ground for half an hour against Gen. Smith, assailing him from the position he had gained. Gen. Floyd, whose complication with the traitors when he was a member of the United States cabinet, had given him unenviable notoriety, was exceedingly reluctant to be taken. Conscious that he was in the moral position of Benedict Arnold, he said, "You know my past relations with the Federal Government. It would not do for me to be captured." Gen. Pillow expressed similar unwillingness. "I had a right," said Floyd, in his official report, "to decide that I would not survive a surrender there." Pillow was equally heroic. "I would not," he said, in his report, "surrender the command nor myself a prisoner."

The main question to be decided was, whether it would still be possible, with the bayonet and the sword, to force their way through the National lines. "It would cost," said Buckner, "my command, threequarters of its present number, to cut its way through, and it is wrong to sacrifice three-quarters of a command to save one quarter. No one has a right to cause such a sacrifice." Floyd was first in command, Pillow

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