ore
stated, the threatened advance of the 21st convinced me that the enemy's
retreat was imminent, and so I advised Bee; but there was not time to
send General Wharton to him after I reached Polignac's camp. Bee had two
thousand horse and four batteries, and, after several days to examine
and prepare his ground, might well be expected to hold it with tenacity.

Immediately after the battle of Pleasant Hill I had sent Vincent, with
his own and Bush's regiments of Louisiana horse, to threaten Alexandria
and drive out small parties of the enemy from the Attakapas and Teche
regions. Subsequently, a brigade of Texas horse, seven hundred strong,
under Brigadier William Steele, joined me, and was now with Polignac.

As anticipated, the enemy left Grand Ecore during the night of the 21st
and marched without halting to Cloutierville, thirty-two miles. With
Steele's brigade, Wharton drove his rear guard from Natchitoches on the
morning of the 22d, capturing some prisoners, and continued the pursuit
to the twenty-four-mile ferry. On the 23d, after a sharp action, he
pushed the enemy's rear below Cloutierville, taking some score of
prisoners. Polignac's infantry joined that evening, and covered a road
leading through the hills from Cloutierville to Beaseley's. If Bee stood
firm at Monette's, we were in position to make Banks unhappy on the
morrow, separated as he was from the fleet, on which he relied to aid
his demoralized forces. But Bee gave way on the afternoon of the 23d,
permitting his strong position to be forced at the small cost to the
enemy of less than four hundred men, and suffering no loss himself.
Then, instead of attacking the great trains, during their fourteen
miles' march through the forest, and occupying with artillery McNutt's
Hill, a high bluff twenty miles from Alexandria and commanding the road
thither in the valley, he fell back at once to Beaseley's, thirty miles.
Before this mistake could be rectified, the enemy crossed at Monette's,
burning many wagons at the ford, and passed below McNutt's Hill. General
Bee had exhibited much personal gallantry in the charge at Pleasant
Hill, but he was without experience in war, and had neglected to study
the ground or strengthen his position at Monette's. Leaving Mansfield
for Shreveport on the 15th, under orders from General Kirby Smith, I
only got back to the front on the night of the 21st, too late to reach
Monette's or send Wharton there.

It was very dishearteni