I recognize my old friend, Colonel Mitchell, of the One Hundred and
Thirteenth. They go into action on our right, and as they press forward
the roar of the musketry redoubles; the battle seems to be working off
in that direction. There is now a comparative lull in our front, and I
ride over to the right, and become involved in a regiment which has been
thrown out of line and into confusion by another regiment that retreated
through it in disorder. I assist Colonel Mitchell in rallying it, and it
goes into the fight again. Returning to my old place, I find that
disorganized bodies of men are coming rapidly from the left, in
regiments, companies, squads, and singly. I meet General Wood, and ask
if I shall not halt and reorganize them. He tells me to do so; but I
find the task impossible. They do not recognize me as their commander,
and most of them will not obey my orders. Some few, indeed, I manage to
hold together; but the great mass drift by me to the woods in the rear.
The dead are lying every-where; the wounded are continually passing to
the rear; the thunder of the guns and roll of musketry are unceasing and
unabated until nightfall. Then the fury of the battle gradually dies
away, and finally we have a silence, broken only by a cheer here and
there along the enemy's line.

Wilson and I are together near the ridge, where we have been all the
afternoon. We have heard nothing of Negley nor of my regiments. We take
it for granted, however, that they are somewhere on the field. As the
night darkens we discover a line of fires off to our left and rear,
toward McDaniels' house. That is the place where Negley should have been
in the morning, and we conclude he must be there now.

We have been badly used during the day; but it does not occur to us that
our army has been whipped. We start together to find Negley. We have had
nothing to eat since early morning, and so, passing a corn-field, we
stop for a moment to fill our pockets with corn; then, proceeding on our
way, we pass through an unused field, grown up with brush, and here meet
a man coming toward us on horseback. I said to him, "Are those our
troops?" pointing in the direction of the line of fires. He answered,
"Yes; our troops are on the road and just beyond it." Pretty soon we
emerged from the brushy woods and entered an open field; just before us
was a long line of fires, and soldiers busily engaged preparing supper.
We had approached to within two hundred feet