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boats attempted arguedwell for the efficiency oftlieir service. In closinghis report of this battle,
“ On landing I was met byGeneral Pillow and GeneralCheatham, whom I directed,with the regiments of Gener-al Cheatham’s command andportions of others, to pressthe enemy to his boats. Thisorder was executed with alac-rity and in double-quick time.
The route over which wepassed was strewn with thedead and wounded of the con-flicts of Colonel Marks andGeneral Cheatham, alreadyalluded to, and with arms,knapsacks, overcoats, etc. OnaiTiving at the point whereMs transports lay, I orderedthe column, headed by the154th Regiment of TennesseeVolunteers, under cover of afield thickly set with corn, tobe deployed along the river bank within easy range of the boats. This being accomplished,a heavy tire was opened upon them simultaneously, riddling them with balls, and, as we havereason to believe, with heavy loss to the enemy. Under this galling fire he cut his lines andretreated from the shore, many of his soldiers being driven overboard by the rush of thosebehind them. Our fire was returned by heavy cannonading from his gun-boats, which dis-charged upon our lines showers of grape, canister and shell, as they retired with their convoyin the direction of Cairo .”
General Polk was mistaken in concluding that all the Federal force hadreembarked. The 27th Illinois regiment, whose colonel, N. B. Buford, v T asone of Polk’s old West Point friends, had been separated from the rest of thecommand in the hurry of the retreat, and, taking a road that lay some littledistance from the river, made its way northward. Coming back to the riverat a point above that at which General Grant had so precipitately taken tohis boats, it succeeded, at about dark, in getting on board a transport withoutmolestation. The absence of the Confederate cavalry and the confusion ofthe pursuit alone prevented the discovery and capture of this force. |
nothing to do but surrender. But when I announcedthat we had cut our way in and could cut our wayout just as well, it seemed a new revelation to of-ficers and soldiers. They formed line rapidly andwe started back to our boats, with the men deployedas skirmishers as they had been on entering camp.The enemy was soon encountered, but his resist-ance this time was feeble.”
4- General Grant thus describes the return to the
boats: “The corn-field in front of our transportsterminated at the edge of a dense forest. Before Igot back the enemy had entered this forest and hadopened a brisk fire upon the boats. Our men, withthe exception of details that had gone to the frontafter the wounded, were now either aboard thetransports or very near them. Those who werenot aboard soon got there, and the boats pushedoff. I was the only man of the National army be-