ers
before the death grapple.

The rest afforded the weary troops of both armies, many of whom were
smarting with wounds which were not sufficiently serious to render their
removal to the hospital necessary, fell with the grace of a benediction
upon the scene of strife. As the ponderous bells of a great city, at
stated periods, rising above the hum of traffic fill the air with the
uproar of deep, sonorous strokes, and smaller ones fill with their clangor
the intervals of sound, so did the artillery ever and anon break upon the
silence with sullen roar, while the sharp rattle of picket firing, now on
the right, then on the left, recall the terrible strife of yesterday and
foretell the impending conflict.

Night came, and the contending hosts sank to rest in the mud, upon their
arms, in the rear of the stout picket lines, lulled to sleep by the
booming of an occasional gun or the report of an exploding shell. The sun
arose upon the second morning of the new year and glowed pleasantly upon
Union and Confederate alike. The exercises of the day commenced as usual
by picket firing along the lines, and was followed by an artillery duel
between Estepp's Battery of Wood's division and Scott's Battery of
Cheatham's division, in front of the Round Forrest, in which Estepp was
worsted. Bradley took up the gauntlet and was fast getting the best of it
when one of the batteries in his rear undertook to throw grape over his
head, when he was forced to retire.

Reinforcements now came to both sides and a spirited contest ensued.
Stokes, Loomis, and Guenther each in succession took part in the fight,
which was confined exclusively to artillery. Robertson's Battery of
Wither's division, from its position near the Burnt Brick House, and
Semple's Battery on the left, had accurate range of the Union batteries,
and their guns were handled with skill. But the artillery fire soon
ceased. Chalmer's Brigade had advanced early on New Year's morning, and
his skirmishers now occupied the ground which Hazen had so stubbornly
contended for on the first day of the battle. Price's Brigade, which
assumed its position in Van Cleve's division, now commanded by Col. Samuel
Beatty, was on the right of the division.

The line as thus formed was at right angles with the river, upon which its
right flank rested, and nearly parallel to Breckinridge's original line.
Below the right of the line the river suddenly changes direction, flowing
about a half a mile