rman's brigades advanced to the sloping of
the ravine of Oak Creek; Sherman had already sent word to General
McClernand asking for support to his left; to General Prentiss, giving
him notice that the enemy was in force in front; and to General Hurlbut,
asking him to support Prentiss.

The first line of Johnston's army, commanded by General Hardee, opened,
widening the intervals between brigades as it advanced. The two brigades
commanded by General Hindman, having less rough ground to traverse,
outstripped General Cleburne. Hindman's own brigade, commanded by
Colonel Shaver, inclining to the right, struck Prentiss' right. General
Hindman in person, with Wood's brigade, came to the front of the
Fifty-third Ohio. General Johnston, having put it in position, rode back
to Cleburne and moved his brigade to Buckland's front. The battle
opened. The Fifty-third Ohio, detached by the position of its camp from
the rest of Hildebrand's brigade, being off to the left and farther to
the front, was first engaged. According to the report of
Lieutenant-Colonel Fulton, the advancing line of Wood's brigade having
twice recoiled before the fire of the regiment, Colonel Appler cried out
to his men to fall back and save themselves. The regiment retired in
confusion behind McClernand's Third Brigade, which had come up in
support; but, soon rallied by the Lieutenant-Colonel and Adjutant Dawes,
it returned to the front to the bank of the stream. The colonel
reappeared and again ordered a retreat. The regiment was now fatally
broken. Adjutant Dawes, however, rallied two companies and attached them
to the Seventeenth Illinois, of McClernand's Third Brigade, while a
considerable detachment joined the Seventy-seventh Ohio, then commanded
by Major Fearing. In the afternoon, Lieutenant-Colonel Fulton, with the
greater part of the regiment reunited, acted as support to Bouton's
battery.

General Patton Anderson, with his brigade, and Captain Hodgson's battery
of the Washington Artillery, pressed forward from Johnston's second
line, commanded by General Bragg, into the gap between Hindman and
Cleburne. Posting his battery on high ground, he advanced his brigade
down into the wet and bushy valley of Oak Creek, and charged up the
slope. Taylor's battery and the Fifty-seventh and Seventy-seventh Ohio
instantly drove him back. His regiments, not discouraged, charged
singly, and when broken, charged by battalion, but could not withstand
the fire, and as o