into the woods in front. This was done at once, Major King detailing Captain Haughey for that purpose.

Within a half hour after this you looked over the ground and decided to take a position some 200 or 300 yards to the front, on the crest of a piece of rising ground. I moved up the brigade accordingly, taking the new position indicated. In this line a battalion of the Fifteenth U. S. Infantry, Captain Swaine, and a battalion of the Sixteenth U. S. Infantry, Captain Townsend, both under command of Major John H. King, were on the right; a battalion of the Nineteenth U. S. Infantry, Major Carpenter, on left of King; the First Ohio, Colonel B. F. Smith, on Carpenter's left, and the Sixth Indiana, Colonel Crittenden, on the left flank, while the Louisville Legion, Colonel Buckley, was held in reserve 150 paces in rear of the line. Thirty or forty minutes after this line was formed Captain Haughey's skirmishers were driven in, several of his men shot, and my command fiercely assailed by the enemy. The attack lasted perhaps twenty minutes, when the enemy were driven off. In this contest Captain Acker, of the Sixteenth U. S. Infantry, was instantly killed, and many others of my brigade killed and wounded. The enemy soon rallied and returned to the attack more fiercely than before, but was met by a very rapid and well-directed fire from the commands of Majors King and Carpenter and Colonel Smith, the Sixth Indiana being out of range on the left. This attack was also, after a severe contest, repulsed and the enemy driven off, our loss being much more than before. We were ignorant of the ground in front occupied by the enemy, as it was covered with timber and thick undergrowth, but were informed that it was more open than where we were. I decided to advance my lines after this last attack, and at once cautiously felt my way forward, but had not gone far when I again encountered the enemy in heavy force, and again drove him off, after a yet severer contest than any before.

About this time I received several messages, announcing that the United States forces to our right and front, after very hard fighting, which we had heard all the morning, were giving way, leaving the center of the army exposed. I at once decided to move forward the whole brigade to the open ground, except the Sixth Indiana, which held a most important position on our left flank, which position the enemy had menaced in strong force for several hours. I ordered Colonel Buckley, with the Louisville Legion, to move up to the right and front and engage the enemy, who had rallied all his available forces and was moving down upon us. At the same time Majors King and Carpenter and Colonel Smith were ordered to advance in line with Colonel Buckley.

The advance was admirably made, and with alacrity the brigade, steadily, briskly, and in excellent order, moved forward. We advanced about 200 yards to the front, when we came in collision with the enemy. He was stronger at this point than either of the previous encounters. I afterwards learned from wounded prisoners that the force at this time opposed to us consisted of the Third, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Kentucky Regiments, and several others from various States. The fire of musketry was the heaviest I ever heard. My line when fired on halted of itself and went to work.

The issue was important, as my brigade was directly in the road of the enemy to the Landing, and they were evidently pressing for that point. I was the more fully impressed with the importance of driving the enemy from this position by your words to me when your ordered a change to the front of your original line of battle, which were, in