of the engagement upon the front occupied by General Dwight's brigade. The troops held in reserve moved forward at the critical moment and maintained our position, from which the enemy was driven precipitately and with terrible destruction of life. He fled to the woods upon the right, and was pursued with great energy by the whole of our forces until it was impossible in the darkness to distinguish friend from foe.

The losses were great on both sides, but that of the rebels, as we could judge from the appearance of the battle-field, more than double our own. It is impossible at this time to state the exact extent of our losses. Colonel Lewis Benedict was killed upon the left, at the close of the struggles, having received in the early part of the engagement a severe wound, against which he bore up until the fatal shot deprived him of life. Many most valuable officers fell in leading their troops. We recaptured 3 pieces of cannon, taken on the day previous, 4 or 5 caissons, a large number of small-arms, and 500 prisoners. The loss of the enemy in officers commanding important positions during the day is said by the prisoners captured to have been very great. The rebel officers and men who have fallen into our hands, as well as officers and men of our own command, represent this struggle as more sanguinary and desperate for the brief period it continued than any engagement in which they have ever participated. The rout of the enemy was complete. At the close of the engagement the victorious party found itself without rations and without water. To clear the field for the fight, the train had been sent to the rear upon the single line of communication through the woods, and could not be brought to the front during the night. There was neither water for man or beast, except such as the now exhausted wells had afforded during the day, for miles around.

Previous to the movement of the army from Natchitoches orders had been given to the transport fleet, with a portion of the Sixteenth Corps, under the command of Brigadier General Kilby Smith, to move up the river, if it was found practicable, to some point near Springfield Landing with the view of effecting a junction with the army at that point on the river. The surplus ammunition and supplies were on board these transports. It was impossible to ascertain whether the fleet had been able to reach the point designated. The rapidly falling river and the increased difficulties of navigation made it appear almost certain that it would not be able to attain the point proposed. A squadron of cavalry sent down to the river, accompanied by Mr. Young, of the engineer corps, who was thoroughly acquainted with the country, reported on the day of the battle that no tidings of the fleet could be obtained on the river, and we were compelled to assume that the increasing difficulties of navigation had prevented it, even if disaster had not occurred from the obstructions which the enemy had placed in the river. These considerations, the absolute deprivation of water for man or beast, the exhaustion of rations, and the failure to effect a connection with the fleet on the river, made it necessary for the army, although victorious in the terrible struggle through which it had just passed, to retreat to a point where it would be certain in communicating with the fleet and where it would have an opportunity of reorganization. The shattered condition of the Thirteenth Army Corps and the cavalry made this indispensable. The wounded were gathered from the battle-field, placed in comfortable hospitals, and left under the care