Comte de Paris, History of the Civil War in America. Vol. 4.
Henry Coppee , LL.D., Ed.

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[110] ground which separated him from McManus' house. Having reached this point, he forms on the right in line of battle, and, following the directions of Rosecrans, who amid the smoke of the conflict never forgets the theory of evolutions, he causes each brigade, formed in two lines, to make a quarter-wheel to the left, resting against the road. The three brigades are thus placed en échelon—Hazen on the left in front, Cruft in the centre, Grose in the rear—a hundred steps from one another, and are moved in an oblique direction, which will bring them on Liddell's flank in the woods south and south-east of McDaniel's house. Palmer, not wishing to risk his artillery upon such unfavorable ground, leaves it in the glades adjacent to the road. Hazen is naturally the first to meet the enemy. A little before one o'clock he falls abruptly upon Govan's flank and extricates Starkweather's brigade from the grasp of the enemy. At the same time, Brannan, on the extreme left, feeling no longer pressed by the enemy, has brought to the rear his divided forces, collected them, and, in obedience to orders from Thomas, he hurls Van Derveer upon the flank of Walthall's brigade. The Confederate lines, thus taken on both sides at one time, are soon shaken; the assailants capture most of the enemy's trophies, five pieces of the regular battery and all those belonging to Loomis' battery—a battery renowned in the Union army on account of its brilliant record and for having shared in Scribner's disaster. Liddell's division, unable to hold its own between two fires, gives way and quickly abandons the field. Brannan, fatigued, comes to a halt. Hazen, on the contrary, follows up Govan closely, while Palmer brings forward to his right his two other brigades. It is a little after one o'clock: Fortune seems to smile anew upon the Federals, who briskly push back their adversaries and take many prisoners.

At the moment when, reinforced by Cruft and Grose, they are preparing to issue from the wood which surrounds McDaniel's house, they come in conflict on the edge of the neighboring fields with Cheatham's first line. Cheatham has made forced marches, but the deployment of his five brigades on two lines in the middle of the woods has caused him to lose time, and he arrives too late to take advantage of Liddell's temporary success.