BALL'S BLUFF. 



53 





where we remounted the piece, and, hitching 

 up the horses, dragged it through a perfect 

 thicket up to the open ground above, where the 

 fighting was going on. 



" During all this time the firing had continued 

 with great briskness, and that the enemy's fire 

 was very effectual was evident from the large 

 number of wounded and dead who were being 

 borne to the boats. But a few moments pre- 

 vious to coming into position the firing had 

 ceased, and when I arrived I found that our 

 men were resting, many with arms stacked in 

 front of them. The ground upon which was 

 such of the fight as I engaged in was an open 

 space, forming a parallelogram, enclosed entire- 

 ly in woods. Our men were disposed in a 

 semicircle, the right and left termini of which 

 rested upon the woods, with, as near as I could 

 discern, skirmishers thrown out upon each 

 flank, while the convexity of our lines skirted 

 the cliff overhanging the river. The ground 

 sloped from a point about forty yards from the 

 cliff sufficiently to afford a very tolerable cover 

 for our men." 



The field was about seventy-five yards in 

 breadth by two hundred in length. At the dis- 

 tant front and down the right and left, a thick 

 dark forest skirted its sides. Behind, the bluff 

 fell steeply off to the river. A winding spur of 

 the field extended a few rods into the woods 

 on the left, half way between the opposing 

 lines. Directly on the left, and near where a 

 crooked path led the Federal force to the fight, 

 a ravine fell slightly off, its opposite bank 

 ascending to the thicket of woods which thus 

 totally surrounded the field. About four o'clock 

 p. H., Col. Baker formed his line for action. 

 At this time no enemy was anywhere visible 

 in rank, but from the woods in the extreme 

 front a galling irregular fire poured out upon 

 his men. They were then ranged, in no very 

 exact order, from right to left, the wings par- 

 tially covered by the thicket portions of the 

 centre lying close to the edge of the hill while 

 others boldly stepped forward, delivered their 

 fire at the woods, returned to load, and advance 

 again and again. The men of the Fifteenth and 

 Twentieth Massachusetts were placed on the 

 right, the Californians on the left, while the 

 artillery, with the Tammany companies, were 

 posted in the centre. A <pick consultation was 

 held. Intimations of a large hostile force near 

 were received. No retreat could be effected in 

 safety. The fire was growing hot. A retro- 

 grade movement would only bring seven- 

 teen hundred men to the river's brink, with 

 two boats, capable of carrying sixty persons 

 each, to transport them over a swift channel, 

 while it would cause a rush of the enemy upon 

 them. Their only hope was in maintaining 

 their ground until troops by the Edwards' 

 Ferry could force a way to their aid. The 

 enemy had evidently concentrated here under 

 the % apprehension that the principal attack 

 would come from this quarter. The battle 

 now commenced in earnest on the left, and was 



brought on by pushing two companies forward 

 to feel the enemy in the wood. They advanced 

 half the distance, and were met by a murder- 

 ous fire from the enemy, which was followed 

 by a terrific volley along their whole front. 

 They still kept their cover, but the bullets rat- 

 tled against the whole Federal line, which gave 

 a quick reply. Instantly both ends of the field 

 were clouded in smoke, and the contest raged 

 hotly for an hour. Feeling their strength, the 

 enemy pressed down the sides of the field, and 

 the fight grew close until Col. Baker fell while 

 cheering his men, and by his own example sus- 

 taining them in the obstinate resistance they 

 were making. The command soon devolved 

 on Col. Coggswell, who saw that the day was 

 lost, and that the time for retreat had come. 



The enemy pursued to the edge of the bluff, 

 over the landing-place, and poured in a heavy 

 fire as the Federal force were endeavoring to 

 cross to the island. The retreat was rapid, but 

 according to orders. The men formed near the 

 river, maintaining for nearly half an hour the 

 hopeless contest rather than surrender. 



The smaller boat had disappeared, no one 

 knew where. The larger boat, rapidly and too 

 heavily loaded, swamped at fifteen feet from 

 the shore, and nothing was left to the soldiers 

 but to swim, surrender, or die. With a devo- 

 tion worthy of the cause they were serving, 

 officers and men, while quarter was being 

 offered to such as would lay down their arms, 

 stripped themselves of their swords and mus- 

 kets and hurled them out into the river to 

 prevent them falling into the hands of the foe, 

 and saved themselves as they could, by swim- 

 ming, floating on logs, and concealing them- 

 selves in the bushes of the forest, and to make 

 their way up and down the river bank to a place 

 of crossing. 



The fate of the piece of artillery which had 

 been so effective, is thus described by Lieut. 

 Bramhall, who commanded it: 



" Finding that the battle was lost to us, and 

 with but one man left to aid me, (Booth, of the 

 California regiment,) and growing weak and 

 stiff from my wounds, of whieh I received 

 three, none dangerous, I caused the piece to be 

 drawn down to the edge of the cliff, whence it 

 was afterward thrown down, lodging in the 

 rocks and logs, with which the descent was 

 cumbered, and, assisted by two privates of the 

 Fifteenth Massachusetts Regiment, made my 

 way to the boat and over to the island. Here 

 I found my own section and the other piece be- 

 longing to the Rhode Island section, one of 

 which I had had; and leaving directions to 

 command the ford at the upper end of the 

 island with two pieces, and to hold the other 

 in reserve to act where circumstances might 

 require aid to cover the retreat of our own in- 

 fantry, I crossed to the mainland. I had first 

 despatched a messenger for Lieut. Clark, of our 

 battery, who soon after arrived and took com- 

 mand. The only projectile with which the am- 

 munition chest was provided was the James 



