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Portraits of Confederate privates of the West.-I.
From tintypes found at the close of the war in the dead-letter office, Richmond.
Letters accompanying the tintypes suggest that the warlike attitude was a favorite pose for pictures intended for sisters and sweethearts. |
inferior to that which was about to attack him. Anxious, however, to give
Pillow all the men that he deemed necessary,
Polk moved over another regiment (five hundred men), which landed on the
Missouri shore just as the battle began (10:30 A. M.) Thus in all fairness it must be stated, that when the
battle of Belmont commenced the opposing forces were virtually equal.
The engagement became general a few minutes before 11 o'clock. With his line well extended
Grant bore down upon the
Confederate position, and, though stubbornly resisted, he gradually fought his way forward, driving the
Confederates to the river bank and capturing the camp.
Polk had been deterred from sending in the first instance a larger force to meet
Grant's attack by the reports which his scouts made of the movements of the transports upon the river, and of the position and numbers of the columns from
Fort Holt and
Paducah,--all tending to show that the landing upon the opposite side of the river was a mere feint, while the real design was an attack upon
Columbus.
In spite of this, however, as we have seen, he placed at
Belmont a force fully equal to that with which
Grant was acting.
Finding now that this force was being defeated, and learning at the same time that there was no enemy upon the
Kentucky shore near enough to threaten seriously his position, he promptly moved over to
Belmont additional reinforcements.
Striking
Grant upon the flank and rear, he drove him from
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Portraits of Confederate privates of the West.-ii. |
