118 WHIP AND SPUR. 



again in the vicinity of Okolona, and the next 

 daybreak showed the enemy's long column filing 

 out of the woods and stretching well on toward 

 our right flank. 



Even the plains of Texas could offer no field 

 better suited for a cavalry engagement, and it 

 was with satisfaction that we received, at five 

 o'clock in the morning, an order to prepare at 

 once for a fight; but our men were barely 

 mounted and in line when an order came to 

 turn our backs upon this open field, and to re- 

 treat with all expedition toward Memphis. 



When we left Okolona we left hope behind, for 

 our road struck at once into a wooded, hilly coun- 

 try, full of by-ways and cross-roads known to the 

 enemy and unknown to us, and we well knew that 

 this movement would double Forrest's power and 

 divide our own. Then, for a long day, tired and 

 hungry from the hard work and constant move- 

 ment we had just gone through, and with our 

 horses half-fed and overworked, we pushed on, 

 our rear often attacked and sometimes broken, 

 our mule-train and negroes thrown into frequent 



