themselves up for the charge. At the word, every man leaped forward
on the full run, yelling as if all the spirits of Tartarus were
loosed. In a moment comes the shock, the yells sink into muttered
curses, and soon groans are heard, and the bayonet thrusts are quick
and bloody. Brute strength and skill often meet, and skill and
agility usually win.

The Iowa men were overpowered, and threw down their arms, some four
hundred of them, and were sent to the rear, and afterward to
Memphis. It was reported that this Iowa regiment had murdered the
sick men early in the day, and it was said that some of them were
bayoneted after they surrendered. I saw nothing of this, but it may
have been so. If so, the author of that accusation was responsible
for the barbarity.

I do not doubt such cruelties do sometimes occur in the heat of
battle, as there are in all armies some brutal men; but I must do
the Rebel officers the justice to state, that they always condemned
them, and warned us against acts not sanctioned by the laws of
civilized warfare.

The Federals, though fighting well, so far as I know, commenced
falling back between two and three P.M. The retreat soon became a
rout, and was a running fight to their boats, some three miles. The
Confederates pressed them hard, and recaptured several pieces of
artillery lost in the early part of the engagement, and did sad
execution on the running men; even after they reached the
gang-planks of their boats many were shot. I know of no reason why
the Union soldiers were routed, unless it was the better fighting of
the Rebels. The forces were about equal, and neither had much