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

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[532] at the very outset of the action; his line is quickly broken. Colonel Fessenden with the left falls back in good order toward the position occupied by Lynch; the remainder is driven back in confusion on the fragments of Shaw's brigade, which the latter has been able to re-form on the left of Dwight. The success of the Confederates seems to be complete. But it is just then that the fortune of war decides against them. Churchill, who thinks he has outflanked the whole of the enemy's line, pushes quickly his right, whose ranks were broken in the fight, when suddenly it is attacked obliquely by Lynch and Fessenden, who advance against it. Their galling fire is not long in throwing it into utter confusion at the moment when it was about to reach the village.

A. J. Smith, with the clear-sightedness of an experienced soldier, avails himself of this instant to move forward Moore's brigade. The Missourians are driven back beyond the ravine even before Tappan has crossed it; they leave in the hands of the Federals a great number of prisoners and three of the guns following them. Bee, who lacks the judgment necessary to command on the battlefield, believes himself able with his cavalry to break through Dwight's and McMillan's line, which falls back in good order in front of Walker's superior forces. He attacks it at the head of his two brigades, but a galling fire breaks his ranks and strews the ground with dead and wounded. The valiant Buchel is killed, and the cavalry is unable to renew the fight in consequence of this inopportune attack. Major, it is true, has advanced as far as the Blair's Landing road, but he is too far from the battlefield to be able to repair the disaster. It is in vain that Polignac moves forward his two small brigades weakened by the struggles of the day before; he cannot break through the Federals, who, encouraged by their success, have taken the offensive. Walker, to attack them, has formed his troops in line by columns of regiments. This consummate order has given his first assault a great force, but has caused him to sustain severe losses; he has been himself severely wounded, and his division, being in the greatest disorder, retains with difficulty the ground it has just gained. Tappan, in his turn, has debouched from the woods which separate the two ravines, and at last crosses that which traverses the Sabine River road at the moment when the Missourians,