, while on his retreat, he "charged" us and
"drove them (us) back three miles in confusion." Now, those statements
are pure moonshine. I was there, and while, as previously stated, not
on the firing line, was nevertheless in a position either to see or
hear every thing of any material consequence that transpired. The force
on each side was comparatively small, the field of active operations
was limited, and it was not difficult for even a common soldier to have
an intelligent idea of what was going on. And, for my part, with the
natural curiosity of a boy, I was constantly on the alert to see or
hear everything that was being done in the shape of fighting. In the
operations near the town, we were not driven "back to the river," nor
towards it, on any occasion. On his retreat, Shelby did make one or two
feeble stands, the object being merely to delay us until his main body
could get well out of the way, and when that was accomplished, his rear
guard galloped after them as fast as they could. That it was mainly a
race with him to get away is evident from a statement in his report, in
which he says he was then (June 30th) "resting" his "tired and terribly
jaded horses." But, in telling of his exploits, he says nothing about
losing two pieces of his artillery. The saying of Bonaparte's, "False
as a war bulletin," has passed into a proverb, and this bulletin of
Gen. Shelby's is no exception.

CHAPTER XVII.

DEVALL'S BLUFF. GRAND REVIEWS AND INSPECTIONS. SURGEON J. P. ANTHONY.
PRIVATE PRESS ALLENDER. JUNE AND JULY, 1864.

I have said nothing so far about "grand reviews," or other functions of
that sort, and here is as good a place as any to notice them. From some
cause or other we had what seemed to us an undue proportion of grand
reviews in Arkansas in the summer of 1864. They were not a bit popular
with the common soldiers. It became a saying among us, when a grand
review was ordered, that the reviewing officer had got a new uniform
and wanted to show it--but, of course, that was only soldier talk.

On June 10th, while in camp at Huntersville, all the troops at Little
Rock were reviewed by Maj. Gen. Daniel E. Sickles, late of the Army of
the Potomac. He lost a leg at the battle of Gettysburg, which
incapacitated him for active service, so President Lincoln gave him a
sort of roving commission to visit and inspect all the western troops.
In conducting the review at Little Rock, on account of his maimed
condition