llery could not be used, for the guns could bear upon the abatis
only from the crest of which I have spoken, and if posted there the
cannoneers, at the very short range, would not have been able to serve
their pieces. The position could be won only by direct assault. The men
rushed up to the fallen timber, but became entangled in the network of
trunks and branches, and were shot down while trying to climb over or
push through them. I reinforced Johnson with a part of Smith's regiment,
the 5th Kentucky, but the jam and confusion incident to moving in so
circumscribed an area and through the dense undergrowth broke the force
of the charge. The enemy was quite numerous enough to defend a line so
short and strong and perfectly protected on both flanks. We had not more
than six hundred men actually engaged, and the fighting lasted not
longer than fifteen or twenty minutes. Our loss was about ninety, nearly
as many killed as wounded. Afterward we learned that Colonel Moore's
loss was six killed and twenty-three wounded. When General Morgan
ordered the attack he was not aware of the strength of the position; nor
had he anticipated a resistance so spirited and so skilfully planned. He
reluctantly drew off without another assault, convinced that to capture
the abatis and its defenders would cost him half his command. Among the
killed were Colonel D.W. Chenault and Captain Alexander Treble of the
11th Kentucky, Lieutenant Robert Cowan of the 3d, and Major Thomas Y.
Brent, Jr., and Lieutenants Holloway and Ferguson of the 5th. These
officers were all killed literally at the muzzles of the rifles.

Colonel Moore's position might easily have been avoided; indeed, we
passed around it immediately afterward, crossing the river at a ford
about two miles below the bridge. Morgan assailed it merely in
accordance with his habitual policy when advancing of attacking all in
his path except very superior forces.

On the same afternoon Captain William M. Magenis, assistant
adjutant-general of the division, a valuable officer, was murdered by a
Captain Murphy, whom he had placed under arrest for robbing a citizen.
Murphy made his escape from the guard two or three days subsequently,
just as the court-martial which was to have tried him was convening.

On the morning of July 5th the column reached Lebanon, which was
garrisoned by the 20th Kentucky Infantry, commanded by Colonel Charles
S. Hanson. The 8th and 9th Michigan Cavalry and the 11th Mi