Rebellion Record: a Diary of American Events: Documents and Narratives, Volume 10.
Frank Moore, Ed.

[700] battalion, commanded by Colonel Smith, of the Twentieth Tennessee, together with the Hudson battery, and one piece of Cobb's battery, advanced to the right of the Greenwell Springs road. On the right, as on the left, the enemy was constantly pressed back, until after several hours of fighting he was driven to his last encampment in a large grove just in rear of the penitentiary. Here the contest was hot and obstinate, and it was here the First division suffered the greatest loss. Colonel Hunt was shot down, and upon the fall of that excellent officer, at the suggestion of General Clark, and with the consent of the officers concerned, I placed Captain John A. Buckner, Assistant Adjutant-General on my staff, in command of the Second brigade. In the management of his command he displayed so high a degree of skill and courage that I commend him especially to the notice of the government. General Clark pressed the attack at this point with great vigor, until he received a wound, which was supposed to be mortal, when, through some misapprehension, the Second brigade began to fall back down the slope, but without confusion. Captain Buckner learning, upon inquiry from me, that I did not desire a retrograde movement, immediately, aided by Major Wickliffe, of the Fifth Kentucky regiment (Lieutenant-Colonel Caldwell, who was injured by the accident of preceding night, having been obliged to retire), and other regimental officers faced the brigade about and renewed the attack. At the same time Colonel Smith, commanding Fourth bribade, composed of the consolidated Tennessee regiments, and the Twenty-second Mississippi, Captain Hughes, was ordered forward, and moved against the enemy in fine style. In a few moments Captain Hughes received a mortal wound at the head of his regiment. Observing some troops on the left, partially sheltered by a shallow cut in the road, who proved to be the remnant of Thompson's brigade, and out of ammunition, I ordered them to advance to the support of the First division with the bayonet. The order was promptly obeyed, and in executing it, I happened to observe, as distinguished for alacrity, Colonel Crossland, of the Seventh Kentucky, Lieutenant-Colonel Goodwin, of the Thirty-fifth Alabama, and Lieutenant Terry, of the Eighth Kentucky, on duty with sharpshooters. At this critical point, Major Brown, chief commissary, and Captain Richards, one of my aids, were conspicuous in urging on the troops. In this assault we suffered considerably from the fire of the fleet until the opposing lines approached each other so closely that a regard for their own friends obliged them to suspend. The contest at and around this last encampment was bloody, but at the end of it the enemy were completely routed, some of our men pursuing them and firing at them for some distance down the street, running in front of the arsenal and barracks. They did not reappear during the day. It was now ten o'clock. We had listened in vain for the guns of the Arkansas. I saw around me not more than one thousand exhausted men, who had been unable to procure water since we left the Comite river. The enemy had several batteries commanding the approaches to the arsenal and barracks, and the gunboats had already reopened upon us with a direct fire. Under these circumstances, although the troops showed the utmost indifference to danger and death, and were even reluctant to retire, I did not deem it prudent to pursue the victory further. Having scarcely any transportation, I ordered all the camps and stores of the enemy to be destroyed, and directing Captain Buckner to place one section of Semmes' battery, supported by the Seventh Kentucky, in a certain position on the field, withdrew the rest of the troops about one mile to “Ward's Creek,” with the hope of obtaining water, but finding none there fit for man or beast, I moved the command back to the field of battle, and procured a very imperfect supply from some cisterns in the suburbs of the town. This position we occupied for the rest of the day.

The citizens of the surrounding and thinly settled country exhibited the warmest patriotism, and with their assistance, conveyances enough were procured to carry off all our wounded who could bear removal. A few, armed with shot guns and other weapons, had been able to reach the field in time to join in the attack. Having neither picks nor shovels, we were unable to dig graves for the burial of the dead. I still hoped for the co-operation of the Arkansas, and, in that event, intended to renew the attack. But late in the afternoon, I learned by express that before daylight, and within five miles of Baton Rouge, her machinery had become disabled, and she lay helpless on the right bank of the river. Upon receiving this intelligence, I returned with my command to the Comite river, leaving a force of observation near the suburbs of the town. The Hudson battery, Lieutenant Sweeny, and Cobb's one piece, in charge of Sergeant Hawk Peak, played their part well. I am unable to give the exact force of the enemy, but by comparing all my information with the number and size of their camps, and the extent and weight of their fire, I do not think they brought into action less than forty-five hundred men. We had eleven pieces of field artillery. They brought to bear on us not less than eighteen pieces, exclusive of the guns of the fleet. In one respect the contest between the opposing forces was very striking. The enemy were well clothed, and their encampments showed the presence of every comfort and even luxury. Our men had little transportation, indifferent food, and no shelter. Half of them had no coats, and hundreds of them were without either shoes or socks; yet no troops ever behaved with greater gallantry, and even reckless audacity. What can make this difference, unless it be the sublime courage inspired by a just cause? The wound of Brigadier-General Charles Clark being thought