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of temptations to yield.
1 On the 14th
Johnston sent him word that all he could attempt to do was to save the garrison, and suggested, as a mode of extrication and conjunction, a simultaneous attack upon
Grant's line at a given point by his own troops without, and
Pemberton's within.
He asked the latter to designate the point of attack, north of the railroad (nearer
Johnston's communications); and he then informed him that
General Taylor (whom
Banks, as we have seen,
2 had, driven from the heart of
Louisiana, and who was gathering forces there again) would endeavor, with eight thousand men from
Richmond, in that State, to open communication with him from the west side of the river.
Already that commander had sent between two and three thousand troops, under
General Henry McCulloch (brother of Ben., who was killed at
Pea Ridge), to strike — a blow.
It was leveled at a little force, chiefly of colored troops, called the “African brigade,” stationed at
Milliken's Bend, under
General Elias S. Dennis, composed of about fourteen hundred
3 effective men, of whom all but one hundred and sixty (the Twenty-third Iowa) were negroes.
McCulloch's blow fell first, though lightly, on the Ninth Louisiana (colored), commanded by
Colonel H. Lieb, who went out on a reconnoissance from
Milliken's Bend toward
Richmond, on the 6th of June,
preceded by two companies of the Tenth Illinois cavalry,
Captain Anderson.
Lieb went within three miles of
Richmond, where he encountered
Taylor's pickets, and fell slowly back at first.
It was evident that a heavy force was in his front.
Very soon some of the cavalry came dashing back, hotly pursued, when
Lieb formed his troops in battle order, and with one volley dispersed the pursuers.
He continued to fall back, and the
Confederates, in strong number, horse and foot, pursued nearly up to the earthworks at the
Bend.
It was now night, and the
Confederates lay on their arms, expecting to make an easy conquest of
Dennis's force in the morning.
The latter was on the alert, and when, at three o'clock,
the
Confederates 
