the bluff, and joined their comrades
in a rattling fusillade on "A." Fortunately, only a few
of them, had Winchesters. "A" moved forward a little,
and soon got the measure of the ravine. The shrapnel
screeched in the air, and burst right in among the brush
and boulders, smashing the scraggy trees, and tearing up
the moss that covered the ground in patches. The rebels
at once saw that the game was up in this quarter, though
they kept up a bold front and seldom stopped firing except
when they were dodging back into new cover. In doing this
they rarely exposed themselves, either creeping on all
fours or else running a few yards in the shelter of the
thicket and then throwing themselves flat on the ground
again, bobbing up only when they raised their heads and
elbows to fire.

The shrapnel was too much for them, and they began to
bolt towards the other side of the ravine, where our left
wing was peppering them. This move was the first symptom
of weakness they had exhibited, and Gen. Middleton at
once took advantage of it and ordered the whole force to
close in upon them, his object apparently being to surround
them. The rebel commander, however, was not to be caught
in that way. Instead of bunching all his forces on the
left away from the fire of the artillery, he sent only
a portion of it there to keep our men busy while the rest
filled off to the north, retiring slowly as our two wings
closed on them. Dumont was evidently on the look-out for
the appearance of Col. Montizambert's force from the
other side of the river.

The general advance began at 11.45 a.m., Major Buchan of
the 90th leading the right wing, and Major Boswell of
the same corps the left. When the rebels saw this a number
of them rushed forward on the left of the ravine, and
the fighting for a time was carried on at close quarters,
the enemy not being over sixty yards away. An old log
hut and a number of barricades, formed by placing old
trees and brushwood between the boulders, enabled them
to make it exceedingly warm for our men for a time. At
this point several of the 90th were wounded, and General
Middleton himself had a narrow escape, a bullet going
through his fur hat. Captains Wise and Doucet, of Montreal,
the General's Aide-de-camps, were wounded about this
time. "C" infantry behaved remarkably well all through,
and bore the brunt of the general advance for some time,
the buckshot from the rebels doing much damage. The rebel
front was soon