renchment itself. But Beale's Rifles from the city, defending this
extreme, poured fatal volleys upon the head of the column, while
Batteries 1 and 2 mowed down the ranks. The Seventh Regiment, the only
infantry besides Beale's in musket range, did deadly execution also. By
these, the farther advance of the enemy was made impossible, while the
nearest ground they occupied was strewn with their dead and wounded,
among whom were General Keene, Colonel Rence, and other prominent
officers. Many passed the ditch and scaled the parapet only to be shot
down in the redoubt by the unerring riflemen behind the entrenched line.
Like the main column on the left, this second column on the right,
broken and shattered, was compelled to fall back in great disorder upon
the reserve, with no effort after to renew the assault. The dead and
wounded lay thick along the road, the levee, and the river bank, as far
out as the range of our guns. A flanking fire from the battery across
the river harassed the troops in this column both in the advance and
retreat, as they passed in plain view, from which fire they sustained
severe losses.

The battle was now ended as far as the firing of musketry and small arms
was concerned. The last volleys from these ceased one hour after the
British column first in motion attacked our line upon the left center,
at half-past seven o'clock. In that brief time, one of the best equipped
and best disciplined armies that England ever sent forth was defeated
and shattered beyond hope by one half its number of American soldiers,
mostly militia. For one hour after the opening attack the firing along
the American line had been incessant, and the roar of the cannon,
mingling with the rattling noise of the musketry and rifles,
reverberated over the open plains and echoed back from the wood and
swamp, until the issue of combat sent the enemy to cover beyond range.
The artillery from our batteries, however, kept up a continuous fire
against the guns of the enemy, or against squads of their troops who
might expose themselves, until two o'clock in the afternoon, when the
lull of strife came to all.

The scene upon the field of contest was one that can not be pictured in
words to convey an adequate impression. British officers who campaigned
in Europe, in the wars of the Peninsula, testified that in all their
military experiences they had witnessed nothing to equal the stubborn
fierceness of the contending forces, and the fea