r artillery and cavalry, and very difficult for infantry, at this
point, no troops were stationed here, except the necessary
artillerists and a small infantry force for their support. Just at
this moment the advance of Major-General Buell's column (a part of the
division under General Nelson) arrived, the two generals named both
being present. An advance was immediately made upon the point of
attack, and the enemy soon driven back. In this repulse much is due to
the presence of the gunboats." In the report in which these words
occur it is unfortunately not made clear how much was due to the
gunboats before Buell and Nelson arrived.

The Confederate commander, on the other hand, states that, as the
result of the attack on the left, the "enemy broke and sought refuge
behind a commanding eminence covering the Pittsburg Landing, not more
than half a mile distant, under the guns of the gunboats, which opened
a fierce and annoying fire with shot and shell of the heaviest
description." Among the reasons for not being able to cope with the
Union forces next day, he alleges that "during the night the enemy
broke the men's rest by a discharge, at measured intervals, of heavy
shells thrown from the gunboats;" and further on he speaks of the army
as "sheltered by such an auxiliary as their gunboats." The impression
among Confederates there present was that the gunboats saved the army
by saving the landing and transports, while during the night the
shrieking of the VIII-inch shells through the woods, tearing down
branches and trees in their flight, and then sharply exploding, was
demoralizing to a degree. The nervous strain caused by watching for
the repetition, at measured intervals, of a painful sensation is known
to most.

General Hurlburt, commanding on the left during the fiercest of the
onslaught, and until the arrival of Buell and Nelson, reports: "From
my own observation and the statement of prisoners his (Gwin's) fire
was most effectual in stopping the advance of the enemy on Sunday
afternoon and night."

Island No. 10 fell on the 7th. On the 11th Foote started down the
river with the flotilla, anchoring the evening of the 12th fifty miles
from New Madrid, just below the Arkansas line. Early the next morning
General Pope arrived with 20,000 men. At 8 A.M. five Confederate
gunboats came in sight, whereupon the flotilla weighed and advanced to
meet them. After exchanging some twenty shots the Confederates
retreated, pursu