Thus by noon ended the battle of the 4th of October.
After waiting for the enemy's return a short time, our skirmishers began to advance, and found that their skirmishers were gone from the field, leaving their dead and wounded.
Having ridden over it and satisfied myself of the fact, I rode all over our lines, announcing the result of the fight in person; and notified our victorious troops that after two days of fighting, two almost sleepless nights of preparation, movement, and march, I wished them to replenish their cartridge boxes, haversacks, and stomachs, take an early sleep and start in pursuit by daylight.
Returning from this I found the gallant
McPherson with a fresh brigade on the public square, and gave him the same notice with orders to take the advance.
The results of the battle briefly stated are: We fought the combined rebel forces of
Mississippi, commanded by
Van Dorn,
Price,
Lovell,
Villipigue, and
Rust in person, numbering, according to their own authorities, thirty-eight thousand men.
We signally defeated them with little more than half their numbers, and they fled leaving their dead and wounded on the field.
The enemy's loss in killed was fourteen hundred and twenty-three officers and men; their loss in wounded, taking the general average, amounts to fifty-six hundred and ninety-two.
We took twenty-two hundred and forty-eight prisoners, among whom are one hundred and thirty-seven field officers,
captains, and subalterns, representing fifty-three regiments of infantry, sixteen regiments of cavalry, thirteen batteries of artillery, and seven battalions, making sixty-nine regiments, seven battalions, and thirteen batteries besides separate companies.
We took, also, fourteen stands of colors, two pieces of artillery, thirty-three hundred stands of small arms, forty-five hundred rounds of ammunition, and a large lot of accouterments.
