Comte de Paris, History of the Civil War in America. Vol. 3.
Henry Coppee , LL.D., Ed.

---

[248] mile south of Milton, which he has just passed through in following the Murfreesborough road. This road, in emerging from the village at the south side, runs through a cultivated plain, then leaves the thick juniper-bushes to the right and left, beyond which the road winds around the bare slopes of a hill called Vaught's Hill, which extends for a considerable distance westward, and terminates eastward near the road. It is upon this hill that Hall has determined to wait for the enemy. He tries, first of all, to delay his march by stubbornly disputing his way across the woods with which the approaches of this position are covered. In the mean time, Morgan has ordered his men to dismount; the resistance offered by the Federals obliges him to deploy his forces and to bring his artillery to the front. Hall, who has four small battalions with him, masses them about the hill. He places two of them west of the road, one on his right, en potence, facing east, and the fourth in reserve along the southern declivity; his two guns command the gentle slopes which the enemy will soon have to climb in getting out of the bushes. This movement is performed with some difficulty under the fire of the Confederates. The latter closely press the Federals, charging them in the centre with the ardor and confidence of soldiers who are sure of success. They stagger the Unionists' line, but do not succeed in breaking it. Morgan re-forms his troops, and finding that he cannot effect a breach in his line in front, he tries to turn it from the rear. His forces, divided into two columns, attack Hall's position vigorously from the east and west at the same time. The Federal right, having fallen back upon the summit of the hill, repulses all assaults. The left has, most opportunely, made a backward movement which places it in an analogous position, facing west. But it is less favorably posted, and resists with difficulty; fortunately, a reinforcement taken from the centre restores its advantage. The Federals thus form a square, occupying the four sides of the hill, into which the Southern cavalry tries in vain to break. The projectiles plough the ground in every direction around Hall's position. The latter, however, holds out, and Morgan, irritated in consequence of his resistance, determines to bring matters to a close by a violent assault. He gets all his forces together, and charges once more the enemy's line in front.