Identifier: campfirecottonfi00knox (find matches)
Title: Camp-fire and cotton-field: southern adventure in time of war. Life with the Union armies, and residence on a Louisiana plantation
Year: 1865 (1860s)
Authors: Knox, Thomas Wallace, 1835-1896
Subjects: Cotton growing -- Louisiana United States -- History Civil War, 1861-1865 Personal narratives Missouri -- History Civil War, 1861-1865 Mississippi River Valley -- History Civil War, 1861-1865
Publisher: New York, Blelock and Company
Contributing Library: New York Public Library
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

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western end. It was on this road that the two armies took theirpositions. The lines were in the edge of the woodson opposite sides of the field—the wings of the armiesextending to either end. On the northern side werethe Rebels, on the southern was the National army.Thus each army, sheltered by the forest, had a clearedspace in its front, affording a full view of the enemy. By half-past seven oclock our line was formed andready for action. A little before eight o clock the can-nonade was opened. Our forces were regularly drawnup in order of battle. Our batteries were placed be-tween the regiments as they stood in line. In the tim-ber, behind these regiments and batteries, were thebrigades in reserve, ready to be brought forward incase of need. At the ends of the line were battalionsof cavalry, stretching off to cover the wings, and givenotice of any attempt by the Rebels to move on ourflanks. Every five minutes the bugle of the extremebattalion would sound the signal Alls well. The
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f$y^ -iL4*tf**j c- **; •o> A CANNONADE. 143 signal would be taken by the bugler of the next bat-talion, and in this way carried down the line to the cen-ter. If the Rebels had made any attempt to outflankus, we could hardly have failed to discover it at once. Our batteries opened; the Rebel batteries responded.Our gunners proved the best, and our shot had thegreatest effect. We had better ammunition than that ofour enemies, and thus reduced the disparity caused bytheir excess of guns. Our cannonade was slow andcareful; theirs was rapid, and was made at random. Atthe end of two hours of steady, earnest work, we couldsee that the Rebel line was growing weaker, while ourown was still unshaken. The work of the artillery waswinning us the victory. In the center of the Rebel line was a rocky hill,eighty or a hundred feet in height. The side whichfaced us was almost perpendicular, but the slope to therear was easy of ascent. On this hill the Rebels hadstationed two regiments of infantry

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