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was along a thickly-wooded acclivity half a mile west of Pleasant Hill, upon and around which the main body of the Unionists were posted.
A second line was formed of two brigades; and the Thirteenth Corps, with a large portion of General Smith's command, were held as a reserve.
The army trains, heavily guarded by most of Lee's cavalry division, the brigade of colored troops, and Ransom's shattered columns, were sent some distance on the road toward Grand Ecore, so as to be out of the way of danger in the impending battle, and not be liable to obstruct retreat should it become necessary.
Toward noon the Confederate advance appeared, skirmishing very cautiously, for Emory had taught them circumspection the previous evening; and so slight were these demonstrations until the middle of the afternoon, that the general belief was that there would be no attack in force before morning.
That the Confederates were near in force was well known, for Colonel Gooding, who went out with his cavalry a mile or two on the Shreve-port road to reconnoiter, was roughly handled by a large body of Texas horsemen, under Colonel Sweitzer.
Between three and four o'clock the Confederates opened a battery, the skirmishing increased in intensity, and there was an evident intention of attempting to turn Emory's right, whereupon the Second Brigade, which occupied the center, and lay across the Shreveport road, along which the foe was advancing, was posted on the right and rear, and its place was supplied by one of Smith's brigades.1 Then the sounds of the skirmish-firing died away, but the lull was brief, and at a few minutes past five o'clock the Confederates burst out of the woods in heavy lines in all directions,2 driving in the National skirmishers by two charging columns, and outflanking, by a quick oblique movement, Emory's left,.held by Benedict's brigade,3 fell upon it with crushing force.
Outnumbered as well as outflanked, and being without any near support, the brigade fell steadily back, fighting gallantly as they were pushed up the acclivity of Pleasant Hill, suffering heavily until they filed behind Shaw's brigade.
Sweitzer undertook to break the line of this covering force by a charge with his Texas cavalry, when he was met by one of the most destructive fires known in the annals of war. Of his regiment, not more than ten escaped death or wounds.4 In the conflict down the slope at the first shock of the onset, and while trying to rally his men to a charge, the gallant Benedict was first wounded by a bullet in the arm, and a few moments afterward was killed by another, which passed through his head.
No braver or more beloved soldier and citizen than he gave his life for his country during the war.5
1 This was the Second Brigade, Third Division, of the Sixteenth Army Corps, commanded by Colonel W. T. Shaw, of the Fourteenth Iowa. The brigade consisted of the Fourteenth, Twenty-seventh, and Thirty-second Iowa, and Twenty-fourth Missouri.
2 The Confederate line of battle was as follows: General Green's division, on the extreme left; that of the slain Mouton, under General Polignac, a French officer, on Green's right; next to him General Walker, and a division of Arkansas and Missouri troops, under General Churchill, on the extreme right.
3 This was composed of the One Hundred and Sixty-second (Benedict's own), One Hundred and Sixty-fifth, and One Hundred and Seventy-third New York, and Thirtieth Maine.
4 “ Reserve your fire, boys, until he gets within thirty yards, and then give it to him!” said Colonel Shaw. As the cavalry came dashing up, “each infantry man,” said an eye-witness, “had selected his victim, and, waiting till the three or four hundred were within about forty yards, the Fourteenth Iowa emptied nearly every saddle as quickly as though the order had been given to dismount.”
5 Colonel Benedict, then in the prime of life, was a ripe scholar, an able lawyer, and a greatly esteemed citizen of Albany, New York. He entered the service of the Republic at the beginning of the rebellion, and served it faithfully until his death; and in whatever position he was placed, he was found ever equal to all demands upon him. While in McClellan's army, under Hooker, and fighting gallantly in front of Williamsburg, he was made a captive, and was confined in Libby Prison many weeks. On his return he was appointed commander of the One Hundred and Sixty-second New York, just organized, and which was assigned to duty in the expedition under General Banks. In the Department of the Gulf, under that commander, the regiment, in the hands. of Colonel Benedict, became distinguished. He was soon placed in the position of acting-brigadier, and in that. capacity performed gallant service before Port Hudson during Banks's siege of that post. He was then in General Dwight's division, which occupied the left of the attacking line. He was ever ready for perilous duty, and often performed it. When, on the 15th of June, Banks called for one thousand volunteers to storm the works at Port Hudson, Colonel Benedict offered to lead a battalion in the perilous duty, which circumstances made unnecessary. His death produced most profound sorrow in the army, and in his native State, where he was widely known and appreciated. The newspapers teemed with eulogies of him, and he was honored with a public funeral in the city of Albany.
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