354
GENERAL POLK AND THE BATTLE OF BELMONT.
He has estimated his force at 3114 men, while the commander of his FirstBrigade states it as 3500. The discrepancy is, no doubt, accounted forby the fact that five companies were left to guard the transports, thusleaving, for the actual engagement, the number of troops stated by himself.When the battle began General Pillow had in line 2500 men, exclusive of asquadron of cavalry and a battery, and by 11 o’clock he was joined by Walker’sregiment, numbering about 500, thus giving the Confederates a force fullyequal to that of their antagonists; and yet they were driven in much con-fusion from their position. To account for this three reasons have beenassigned: It has been said, first, that the Federal force was largely superiorin numbers; secondly, that the Confederates were insufficiently supplied withammunition; and thirdly, that they were at a disadvantage owing to the
exposed position inwhich their line wasformed. The first ofthese reasons is, ashas just been shown,clearly incorrect; thesecond is equally so,as regards the in-fantry, although thefield-battery certain-ly was short of pow-der and ball. Proofof this may be foundin the reports ofthe several regiment-al commanders whotook part in the en-gagement. On thethird point the evi-dence shows thatmost of the line of battle, especially the center, was placed in an exposedposition, in an open field, with a heavy wood only about eighty yards distantin its front. Under the cover of this wood the Federal force moved for-ward its line of battle and, halting at the timber’s edge, raked the fieldwith its fire. The Confederates had been on the ground for several weeks,and the advantageous positions should have been familiar to them. Theforce sent over to aid in opposing Grant was on the ground quite longenough before the battle began to have found out a better position on whichto form, and it stood in line of battle one hour before the Federal attack wasmade. There were several positions at hand, any one of which would havebeen better. This was especially the case with the ground in the rear of theabatis of felled trees. It is difficult to account for this error, without takinginto consideration the characteristics of General Pillow, the officer command-ing upon the field. Pillow was a man of unlimited personal courage, and
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