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attack but to invest the works as closely as he could with safety.
(See his report on page 159 of the volume quoted above, in which the reports of officers of both armies will be found.) ‘About ten o'clock on the morning of the 13th,’ General Buckner says, ‘the enemy made a vigorous attack on Hanson's position, but was repelled with heavy loss.
The attack was subsequently renewed by three heavy regiments, but was again repulsed by the Second Kentucky regiment, aided by a part of the Eighteenth Tennessee, Col. J. B. Palmer.’
The Confederate troops remained in their trenches and their loss was small, although throughout the day the fire along the line was incessant and kept up through the night.
On the 14th, the gunboats having arrived the night before, there was no land attack; but at two o'clock a heavy bombardment was begun by six gunboats under Admiral Foote and continued two hours when, having been disabled by the Confederate water batteries, they withdrew without having inflicted any damage to the batteries or killed a man. It was then General Grant's purpose to repair the gunboats before assaulting the Confederate lines, which were now completely invested, his force having been augmented by the arrival of Gen. Lew Wallace's division, about 7,000 strong, from Fort Henry.
The disposition of his army was as follows: Mc-Clernand's division on the right, Wallace's in the center and Smith's on the left.
Meantime the weather had, on the 13th, turned very cold, with snow and rain which bore heavily upon the Confederate troops exposed in the trenches and already worn down by incessant duty for three days and nights.
It became evident to the Confederate commanders that to remain inactive rendered capture a question of but a short time, as retreat was cut off by the extension of both the enemy's wings to the river.
A council being held on the night of the 14th, it was decided that the
Atlanta, Ga. 1899.
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