after a contest maintained with the greatest spirit on both sides for more than an hour and a half, the enemy retired from the field with very heavy loss. The forces of the enemy engaged in this affair were the Louisiana troops and a part of the Texan and Arkansas forces, the whole being under the command of General Taylor and numbering about 15,000. General Mouton was killed. On our side all our forces were engaged at different periods of the day, excepting General A. J. Smith's command - the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Corps.

We were compelled, anticipating an attack the next morning from the enemy, either to await the advance of General Smith's corps or to fall back to meet him. The want of water, the weakness of the position we held, and the uncertainty of General Smith being able to reach the position we occupied at day-break, led to the adoption of the second course. Our forces silently retired during the night, and in the morning took up a position on Pleasant Hill, joining the forces of General Smith, who had halted at Pleasant Hill upon receiving information of our movement. Pleasant Hill represents a plain about 1 mile square, the residences of the town being located upon its borders. It has a gentle slope to the west. Surrounding it were extensive tracts of woodland. General Dwight's brigade held the right of the line, with McMillan's brigade in reserve. Shaw's brigade, of the Sixteenth, upon the left and center, and Benedict's brigade, of the Nineteenth, and Lynch's brigade, of the Sixteenth Corps, on the left; Mower's division, of the Sixteenth Corps, in reserve. The enemy began to reconnoiter the new position we had assumed at 11 o'clock on the morning of the 9th, and as early as 1 or 2 o'clock opened a sharp fire of skirmishers, which was kept up at intervals during the afternoon. The approaches of the enemy were covered by thick woods, but it was evident by his maneuvers that he was preparing for an attack upon our left. To protect this, a regiment was placed in the woods, and the troops of the Thirteenth Army Corps, under General Cameron, were directed to occupy the road leading from Pleasant Hill to Natchitoches, covering the train which had been ordered to the rear, in order that the operations of the army might not be encumbered, and at the same time protecting our left flank. Skirmishing continued during the afternoon, with occasional discharges of artillery. About 5 o'clock the enemy abandoned all pretension of maneuvering and made a most desperate attack upon the brigades on the left center, commanded by Colonels Benedict and Shaw. The line wavered at this point momentarily, but, supported by the First Vermont Battery, soon regained its position, and the enemy was repulsed. Finding the position so much stronger than anticipated, or in pursuance of other plans, he gradually worked his way to the center and right, where the same desperate attacks were repeated upon our right flank, the whole force of the enemy gradually concentrating upon our right. The brigades of McMillan and Dwight repelled every attack, and drove him back with terrible loss. The brigade commanded by General Dwight had been suddenly changed at the commencement of the action, so as to cover the right of our center and a part of the right flank, and became in the end the pivot upon which the entire lines changed front to meet the altered plans of the enemy. The battle lasted until 9 o'clock in the evening. The rebels had concentrated their whole strength in futile efforts to break the line at different points. The most severe pressure occurred toward the close