ow of no reason why
the Union soldiers were routed, unless it was the better fighting of
the Rebels. The forces were about equal, and neither had much
advantage in ground. General Polk, the commanding general of the
Rebels, was not on the ground until near the close of the action,
and deserved no credit for the success of his men. General Pillow
and Brigadiers Cheatham and McGown, were the efficient commanders
that day.

Our wounded, about seven hundred, were carried to the rear during
the engagement, and forwarded to Memphis, and we returned and
recrossed the river to our camps about seven P.M., completely
exhausted. Our company lost, in killed and wounded, twenty-three;
the regiment, one hundred and fifteen.

The next day parties were detailed to bury the dead. Ours numbered
three hundred. We dug trenches six feet deep and four wide, and laid
the bodies in side by side, the members of each company together,
the priest saying over them his prayers; the whole closed by three
volleys of musketry. The Federal dead were also gathered, and buried
in like manner, except the religious services and military salute.
Our company buried their dead just before sunset; and when the
funeral dirge died away, and the volleys were fired over their
graves, many a rugged man, whose heart was steeled by years of
hardship and crime, shed tears like a child, for those bound to him
by such ties as make all soldiers brothers. One of the worst men in
the company excused this seeming weakness to a companion thus: "Tim,
I haven't cried this twenty year; but they were all good boys, and
my countrymen." The next day when the roll was called, and they
answered not, we thought of their ghastly faces as we laid them in
the trench, and hearts beat quick. When we sat down to eat and
missed a messmate, the query went round, "Will it be my turn next?"
A comrade's faults were now forgotten, his good qualities magnified,
and all said, "Peace to his ashes."

I may here say, that if one is compelled to fight against his
friends, as I was, there are several ways in which he can avoid
taking life. A cartridge without a ball, a pretended discharge
without a cap, or an extra elevation of the piece, will save his
friends and not expose him to suspicion. Not rarely, also, in the
heat of battle, a hated officer meets his fate by a ball from his
own men, instead of the enemy.

The second day after the battle a sad accident added to the gloom. A
crowd had asse