parating the infantry
advance-guard from the cavalry, wounding a number of men, also an officer
and several horses of the brigade staff. Meanwhile the artillery battalion,
under the authority of the brigade commander, had taken up a position
to the left of the road. As the powder used by the enemy was absolutely
smokeless, and his position being, moreover, for the most part screened by
the trees along the Rio Grande, the question of the exact direction to be
given Major Gilbraith's detachment, and to the lines of battle about to be
formed from the main column, became a most perplexing one. Luckily, this
uncertainty did not last long, those of the enemy's bullets that struck the
ground near us solving the problem. Some slight confusion was caused by
a premature and hurried deployment of the remaining companies, which
interfered somewhat with the brigade commander's intention of forming two
additional lines, one to support the fighting line and the other to act
as a reserve, or as the changing conditions of the combat might render
expedient. But under his supervision this defective formation was soon
rectified, three companies being placed on the right and four companies on
the left of the road, the former, under Lieutenant-Colonel Burke, moving
forward in support of Major Gilbraith, and the latter being held back for a
time. Major Gilbraith and Colonel Burke's troops, being unable to cross the
creek, passed over the bridge that spans it by the left flank, the former's
companies having previously occupied a sheltered place in a ditch parallel
to and to the right of the main road. About this time the advance-guard,
one of the companies of which (Penrose's) had previously held for a short
time a knoll on the left of the road, moved forward and crossed the iron
bridge, the advance sections of the companies being led by Lieutenants
Alexander and Wells, respectively. After ... a time the entire
advance-guard, including the two Gatling guns, was concentrated on the
right of the railroad. It dislodged the enemy, and with the cavalry troop
to the right,--the troop had arrived about this time, after doing effective
service in threatening the enemy's flank,--and with the companies of Major
Gilbraith pushed forward in the centre, took up a position on the northern
line of hills. Here they were rejoined by the infantry and by two pieces
of artillery under First Lieutenant Archibald Campbell, which the brigade
commander had ordered forwa