ll's, and two hundred and forty-seven from Scurry's brigade at
the time it was so nearly overwhelmed. The Federal loss in killed and
wounded exceeded mine, and we captured twenty guns and twenty-eight
hundred prisoners, not including stragglers picked up after the battle.
The enemy's campaign for conquest was defeated by an inferior force, and
it was doubtful if his army and fleet could escape destruction.

These were creditable results, yet of much less importance than those
that would have been accomplished but for my blunder at Pleasant Hill.
Instead of intrusting the important attack by my right to a subordinate,
I should have conducted it myself and taken Polignac's division to
sustain it. True, this would have removed my reserve from the center and
line of retreat, and placed it on a flank; but I was confident that the
enemy had no intention of resuming the offensive, and should have acted
on that conviction. All this flashed upon me the instant I learned of
the disorder of my right. Herein lies the vast difference between genius
and commonplace: one anticipates errors, the other discovers them too
late.

The foregoing account of Churchill's attack at Pleasant Hill, hidden
from me by intervening wood, is taken from his official report and the
reports of his subordinates; and I will now supplement it by some
extracts from the testimony given by General Francis Fessenden of the
Federal army. On pages 94 and 95 of the second volume of the "Report on
the Conduct of the War," the following appears:

"In the afternoon we were changed, from a position in the woods in front
of Pleasant Hill, to a position in rear of a deep ditch near the town.
We were placed behind this ditch, in open ground, and practically held
the left of the front line; and my regiment was on the left. I think it
was not expected that an attack would be made by the enemy in that
direction. The attack was expected by the road which led in by the right
center of the army. Instead of that, however, the enemy came around
through the woods, and about half-past 5 o'clock drove in our
skirmishers, and made a very fierce attack on the brigade I was
in--Colonel Benedict's brigade. The brigade fell back under the attack a
great deal broken up, and my regiment was separated from the other three
regiments which went off in another direction. I had fallen back still
further to the left, as I knew there was a brigade of troops in there to
protect our left flank a