, the Twenty-fifth Kentucky
having the right, then the Thirty-first Indiana, the Seventeenth
Kentucky, the Forty-fourth Indiana, with Wood's battery.

These are all the regiments which took part in the terrible fight of
Saturday forenoon. They were unprepared for the assault. The soldiers
had not risen from their snowy beds. The reveille was just sounding when
the sharp crack of the rifles was heard in the thickets on the extreme
right. Then the artillery opened. Schwartz's, Dresser's, McAllister's,
and Taylor's men sprang from their blankets to their guns. It was hardly
light enough to see the enemy. They could only distinguish the flashes
of the guns and the wreaths of smoke through the branches of the trees;
but they aimed at the flashes, and sent their shells upon the advancing
columns.

The Rebel batteries replied, and the wild uproar of the terrible day
began.

Instead of moving west, directly upon the front of Oglesby, McArthur,
and Wallace, the Rebel column under Pillow marched down the Union Ferry
road south a half-mile, then turned abruptly towards the northwest. You
see by the accompanying diagram how the troops stood at the beginning of
the battle. There is McArthur's brigade with Schwartz's battery,
Oglesby's brigade with Dresser's battery, Wallace's brigade with
McAllister's and Taylor's batteries,--all facing the town. Across the
brook, upon the north side of the ravine, is Cruft's brigade. You see
Pillow's brigades wheeling upon McArthur and Oglesby, and across the
Fort Henry road, coming down from the breastworks, are General Buckner's
brigades.

[Illustration: THE ATTACK ON McCLERNAND.

1 McArthur's brigade.
2 Oglesby's brigade.
3 W. H. L. Wallace's brigade.
4 Cruft's brigade.
5 Pillow's divisions.
6 Buckner's divisions.]

Schwartz, Dresser, and McAllister wheel their guns towards Pillow's
column. The Rebels open with a volley of musketry. The fire is aimed at
the Eighth and Twenty-ninth Illinois regiments, which, you remember, are
on the right of Oglesby's brigade. The men are cold. They have sprung
from their icy beds to take their places in the ranks. They have a scant
supply of ammunition, and are unprepared for the assault, but they are
not the men to run at the first fire. The Rebel musketry begins to thin
their ranks, but they do not flinch. They send their volleys into the
face of the enemy.

Another Rebel brigade arrives, and fires upon the Thirtieth a