THE FLOWING TIDE OF THE ENEMY'S RETREAT
Both of the officers on the hill brought their field-glasses to their
eyes, and directed them to the regiment in the meadow, which was having
more difficulty in advancing than before; for near the higher ground
the cattle had cut up the sod much more than farther off. The men
scattered about more in their efforts to avoid the soft places.
"Those men fire with remarkable precision," said Captain Woodbine. "A
soldier drops at every shot they fire, and they discharge their rifles
at the rate of at least ten shots a minute."
"They can't stand that long," added the major.
As he spoke, the regiment broke into a run for the woods. They gave no
further attention to the picking of their way, and struggled in the
mire towards the high ground; but the merciless riflemen did not
suspend their fire, and the soldiers continued to fall as the regiment
advanced. In a few minutes it looked as though half the first company
had fallen, either killed or wounded.
The second company, and those in the rear of it, faced about, and
retreated; and, having a better sod than those nearer the hill, they
ran with all the speed they could command, though some of them sank
down in the mire, and were pulled out by their companions. When they
had fallen back out of rifle-range, they directed their flight towards
the pike.
The regiment in the rear halted when they saw the flight of the one in
front of it. It was too far off for accurate firing. The men seemed to
be appalled at the flight of the other regiment; and through their
glasses the two officers could see that the commanding officer was
making a speech to his men, but neither of them could see the extent of
the casualties of the retreating command.
Doubtless the colonel of the regiment, ashamed of the conduct of the
fleeing infantry, was rallying his men for the advance; for presently
it resumed its march. But at that moment a new factor in the contest
was presented to the aide-de-camp. The roar of a heavy gun was heard in
the direction of the intrenchment, and both of the spectators on the
hill looked in that direction. A cloud of smoke rose in the air, and at
the same moment, almost, the explosion of a shell was seen on the
riflemen's hill. The branches of the trees were cut off and twisted,
and the sharpshooters rushed down the declivity as though their own
weapons had been turned against them.
"Those riflemen have probably never been in a battle before," said the
captain, apparently unmoved by the sight that greeted his eyes.
"I should hardly expect to see them stand up against that sort of
thing," added the major. "I never saw a shell explode before, and it
must be very trying to the nerves of an inexperienced soldier."
"He gets used to it after a time. But that shell must have killed or
wounded some of Captain Ripley's command, though neither shells nor
bullets are so destructive to human life as they appear to be at
first."
"I don't understand how that shell happened to be fired into the hill,
for they could not see into the meadow where so many have fallen," said
the major.
"The information was probably sent into the fort by some officer on
duty on the pike, near the earthworks, with an order to shell the
second hill. But I think you had better return to your command, for
your cavalry may be wanted at any time," suggested the captain.
"That colonel has rallied his men, and they are now marching very
steadily towards the higher land," said the major, as he rose from the
seat on a rock he had occupied.
"Ripley has done better than I expected, and he appears to have placed
his men again. No doubt the bursting of the shell so near them startled
his force, and the riflemen fled from impulse," continued the
staff-officer. "But he is a brave old man, at any rate; for he has
mounted to the highest point of the hill, and he is watching the fort
with all his eyes. It is a dangerous position, and I am afraid there
will be a military funeral soon at Millersville."
But he was shielded by a large tree on the summit of the hill in the
direction of the enemy, and was giving his whole attention to the
intrenchments. The captain was observing the regiment which was now
rapidly approaching high ground, though it had moved much farther from
the pike than the first.
The major had mounted his horse, and was about to rejoin his squadron.
Before he started, and when the approaching force was beginning to
mount the bank, the rifles were heard again, and the leading men of the
first company dropped from the bank. Not more than three or four shots
had been fired before a tremendous yell was heard coming from the
riflemen's hill, and the sharpshooters fled down the slope. It appeared
as though Captain Ripley had watched the fort for a purpose, and, when
he saw the flash of the great gun, had ordered his men to run, and they
had done so. They had no time to spare, but they had a second to spare
before the shell exploded.
[Illustration: "THE SHARPSHOOTERS RUSHED DOWN THE DECLIVITY."
_Page 262._]
It did not appear that any one was hurt; at least, no one fell. The
captain observed the riflemen with the utmost intensity; and as soon as
the missile had spent its power, the men sprang part way up the hill,
and placed themselves behind the trees. The first company had obtained
a footing on the hard ground, and the first thing they did was to form
and march at the double-quick towards the hill from which the
death-dealing balls had come.
Major Lyon was a prudent as well as a brave man, and he galloped his
horse away from the spot with all decent celerity; for to remain there
another minute was almost certain death. The staff-officer was too old
a soldier to get excited at such a time, but he kept a tree between
himself and the approaching company of Confederates. The riflemen
opened before the company could fairly form; and, as the distance for
such riflemen was insignificant, a man fell with every rifle that was
fired.
The fall of these men in the first rank, every one of whom was dropped,
seemed to madden the men behind them, and they rushed forward on the
run; but Ripley's policy was most disastrous to them, for the second
rank of four soldiers fell, either killed or badly wounded. At this
time Major Lyon, in obedience to an order from Captain Woodbine, with
his entire squadron galloped upon the scene of action. Captain Gordon
charged into the first company of the regiment of infantry.
The first platoon, under Lieutenant Belthorpe, struck the head of the
column as it hastened forward to dislodge the sharpshooters, whose fire
was so destructive to them; and Lieutenant Lyon, with the second
platoon, took the company on the flank. This charge, so far as the
first company of the Confederates was concerned, threw the riflemen out
of the battle; for their bullets were in danger of bringing down some
of the blue as well as the gray.
Captain Ripley perceived this difficulty, and ordered his men, as
usual, by passing the word from mouth to mouth along his line, for his
men to give their attention to the second company of the enemy's
infantry, which had just begun to mount the bank from the low ground.
Colonel Wolford, in command of the First Kentucky Cavalry, was in
another part of the field, pursuing the retreating regiments in their
ten miles of flight from the hills, where the brunt of the action had
been fought; and Major Lyon was in charge of the detachment sent to
assist in flanking the enemy in this quarter.
The staff-officer had ordered up this cavalry. He had mounted his
horse, and given the order in person, going on the field in actual
command of the force, leading it to the point where the second company
were mounting the bank. Portions of the enemy's army had been well
drilled, though this could not be said of all; and General Crittenden
in his reports lamented the want of discipline in some of his
regiments. General Schoepf was more emphatic and decided in regard to
this same want of drill on the part of the Union mounted men. In the
report of a skirmish he says:--
"The cavalry under my command, as usual, behaved badly. They are a
nuisance, and the sooner they are disbanded the better.... Is there no
such thing as obtaining a regiment of _reliable_ cavalry? Such a
regiment is indispensable with this brigade at this time. The absence
of such troops has kept me in the saddle until I am nearly worn down
with fatigue."
Such remarks could not have been made of the Riverlawn Squadron; for
its men had been as thoroughly drilled as those in the regular army,
and the character of its troopers was much better than the average. It
is not strange that there should have been a foundation for the severe
comments of the general in the case of men enlisted, and almost
immediately hurried into actual service, as was necessary in some parts
of the State, though his caustic strictures were not applicable to all
the mounted men of Kentucky.
Such ruffians as those against whom the battle of Riverlawn was fought,
at an earlier stage of the war, had found their way to a greater or
less extent into the Union army. But, whatever might have been truly
said of portions of the cavalry, it was not true of the companies of
the First Kentucky Cavalry; for in spite of their need of more drill,
they were brave and good men, and fought like heroes when they had
their chance at the enemy.
Captain Woodbine led them into action himself, though he was ably
supported by the regular officers. They made an impetuous charge while
the riflemen were picking off the men in the rear of the actual
fighting. The havoc was so great that the infantry could not stand it,
and they began to fall back to the rear. Then they fled to the west, in
spite of the efforts of their officers to rally them, as had been the
case on the field in many instances that day.
The fierce charge of the Riverlawns was too much for the first company
of the enemy, outnumbered two to one. This was the first time that the
squadron had met infantry in the field, and their opponents were well
drilled in resisting the attack of mounted men. But they soon began to
fall back, and retreated to the hill where Captain Woodbine had
observed the first part of the struggle. The cavalry could not operate
to advantage here on account of the roughness of the ground, and the
trees. They resorted to the carbine, and kept up an effective fire.
The first company passed up the hill; but it did not pause there, but
began the descent on the other side, which would bring them to the
pike, near the breastworks of Beech Grove. A shell burst on the
sharpshooters' eminence; but Captain Ripley resorted to his former
expedient, and the way was now clear for his men to retreat to the
level ground below for the moment.
The second company of the infantry on the meadow had retreated to the
woods, half a mile away, perhaps hoping to find a passage through to
their works. At Mill Springs the Cumberland River makes a turn at right
angles with its course below, flowing from the north to the south for
about two miles. The Confederate breastworks extended across the neck
of land formed by the river and a stream on the west for two miles. The
camp occupied by the enemy before the battle was protected by water on
three sides.
The example of the second company on the meadow was followed by the
others, and for the present they were all out of the action. The first
company appeared to have lost at least one-fourth of its men; but it
had fought all there was of the action. The Riverlawn charge had
disordered its men; but they had gone in tolerably good order up the
hill, and had begun the descent of it, while the squadron were picking
off the men with their carbines.
"Lieutenant Lyon, go around the hill, and take them on the flank as
they come down!" shouted Captain Gordon.
Deck obeyed the order promptly; and his men were full of enthusiasm as
they followed him. The roughness of the hill had impeded the movement
of the enemy's company, and the second platoon of the cavalry was in
season to attack them. The foot-soldiers used their bayonets, and for a
few minutes there was a terrific struggle. But before any result could
be reached, a mob of the enemy's infantry and cavalry rushed into the
space between the road and the pike, carrying friends and enemies with
it, as before the sweep of a tidal wave on a stormy sea.
This disorderly body, coming from the pike and from the field beyond,
carried all before it, and the second platoon of the Riverlawns could
not understand the cause of the sudden commotion. The roar of
artillery, not distant from them, soon revealed the cause of the
stampede. The batteries of the Union army had moved forward just before
dark; and volleys of grape or shell would have made a fearful slaughter
among the disordered bodies of the retreating enemy, and they had fled
in the utmost confusion.