with dust, however, as to be almost unserviceable, and their ammunition
was expended. Bringing up a part of the 2d Kentucky, I succeeded in
checking and driving back the regiments that first bore down on us, but
they were quickly reinforced and immediately returned to the attack. In
the mean time Colonel Johnson's videttes on the Chester road had been
driven in, and the cavalry under Hobson, which had followed us
throughout our long march, deployed on the ridge, and attacked on that
side. I sent a courier to General Morgan, advising that he retreat up
the river and out of the valley with all the men he could extricate,
while Colonel Johnson and I, with the troops already engaged, would
endeavor to hold the enemy in check. The action was soon hot from both
directions, and the gunboats, steaming up the river abreast of us,
commenced shelling vigorously. We were now between three assailants. A
sharp artillery fire was opened by each, and the peculiar formation we
were compelled to adopt exposed us to a severe cross-fire of small arms.

We were in no condition to make a successful or energetic resistance.
The men were worn out and demoralized by the tremendous march, and the
fatigue and lack of sleep for the ten days that had elapsed since they
had crossed the Ohio. Having had no opportunity to replenish their
cartridge-boxes, they were almost destitute of ammunition, and after
firing two or three rounds were virtually unarmed. To this fact is
attributable the very small loss our assailants sustained. Broken down
as we were, if we had been supplied with cartridges we could have piled
the ground with Judah's men as they advanced over the open plain into
the valley. As the line, seeking to cover the withdrawal of the troops
taken off by General Morgan, was rolled back by the repeated charges of
the enemy, the stragglers were rushing wildly about the valley, with
bolts of calico streaming from their saddles, and changing direction
with every shrieking shell. When the rear-guard neared the northern end