ground. The whole work protected the railroad bridge over Green River, and was connected with the opposite bank by a pontoon bridge. While on the march I had learned from citizens who had been in the works that they were much stronger than I had at first been led to believe; but I was unable to obtain any definite or clear description of them, and the foggy nature of the morning prevented me from making any satisfactory reconnaissance. I learned, however, that the right of their works could be shelled from an eminence known as Mrs. Lewis' Hill, and my original intention was to open a fire upon them from that point for some time before making an assault. With this view the battalion of sharpshooters was ordered forward to drive in the enemy's pieckets, who were stationed in the woods on the left of the turnpike.

The firing commenced at 5 a.m. by the sharpshooters driving the enemy's pickets from the hill across an open field to their supporting line, which was supposed to be two regiments of infantry. Major W. C. Richards, commanding battalion of sharpshooters, was severely wounded at the first fire, and Captain West, who succeeded to the command having sent back information of the force by which he was opposed, the Ninth and Twenty-ninth Mississippi Regiments were ordered up to his support, but the enemy were driven into their entrenchments by the sharpshooters before they could be brought into action. At the same time the battery (Ketchum's, under the command of Lieutenant James Garrity) was ordered to take position on Mrs. Lewis' Hill and to open fire on the entrenchments, and the Tenth Mississippi Regiment was ordered to support it.

A heavy volume of flame and smoke which arose at this time near the enemy's work was supposed to proceed from the railroad bridge, and this, coupled with the fact that they had retired so rapidly before our advance and had refused almost altogether to reply to the fire of our artillery, led me to the belief that they were preparing to evacuate their position. I therefore determined to press forward at once against the works, and moved one section of the artillery, under the immediate command of Lieutenant Garrity, with the Seventh Mississippi (Colonel W. H. Bishop), the Ninth Mississippi (Colonel T. W. White), and the Twenty-ninth Mississippi Regiments (Colonel E. C. Walthall), to the knob, an eminence in front of the bastion fort, from which I opened a fire on it. Blythe's regiment was left to guard the ordnance train, and the sharpshooters were pressed forward to keep the enemy within their works. The section of the battery left on Lewis' Hill, under the command of Lieutenant Bond, was ordered to move farther down the hill and nearer to the rifle pits on our left, and Colonel Smith was instructed to move with the Tenth Mississippi Regiment to the banks of the river and to advance up it toward the fort as near as possible, and, if he saw a favorable opportunity, to storm them. The artillery on the knob opened a rapid fire on the bastion fort, but owing to the light caliber of the guns and the very defective character of the ammunition with but little effect. From this point I discovered a house surrounded with woods on the right of the fort and within range of it, and I at once ordered the Ninth and Twenty-ninth Regiments to move forward and occupy the woods opposite the fort, with instructions to keep the men under cover, to approach the works as closely as possible, and to storm them if they could do so successfully. The Seventh Regiment was ordered to follow them within supporting distance. This was accomplished with small loss, the enemy stationed in the woods falling back at once before our advance. Our regiment attained a position under cover within range of the fort, and the sharpshooters, who were deployed in front as skirmishers,