the next morning fire was opened on both sides and continued with, what
seemed to me at that day, great fury. My curiosity got the better of my
judgment, and I mounted a horse and rode to the front to see what was
going on. I had been there but a short time when an order to charge was
given, and lacking the moral courage to return to camp--where I had been
ordered to stay--I charged with the regiment As soon as the troops were
out of the depression they came under the fire of Black Fort. As they
advanced they got under fire from batteries guarding the east, or lower,
end of the city, and of musketry. About one-third of the men engaged in
the charge were killed or wounded in the space of a few minutes. We
retreated to get out of fire, not backward, but eastward and
perpendicular to the direct road running into the city from Walnut
Springs. I was, I believe, the only person in the 4th infantry in the
charge who was on horseback. When we got to a lace of safety the
regiment halted and drew itself together--what was left of it. The
adjutant of the regiment, Lieutenant Hoskins, who was not in robust
health, found himself very much fatigued from running on foot in the
charge and retreat, and, seeing me on horseback, expressed a wish that
he could be mounted also. I offered him my horse and he accepted the
offer. A few minutes later I saw a soldier, a quartermaster's man,
mounted, not far away. I ran to him, took his horse and was back with
the regiment in a few minutes. In a short time we were off again; and
the next place of safety from the shots of the enemy that I recollect of
being in, was a field of cane or corn to the north-east of the lower
batteries. The adjutant to whom I had loaned my horse was killed, and I
was designated to act in his place.

This charge was ill-conceived, or badly executed. We belonged to the
brigade commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Garland, and he had received
orders to charge the lower batteries of the city, and carry them if he