e fleeing
column and establishing a new line. By dint of entreaty and
force and the aid of several officers, whom I called to my
assistance, with pistols in their hands we at length
succeeded in checking some 1200 or 1500 and establishing
them in a line of which Colonel Wilkins, 9th Minnesota, was
placed in command. About this time it was reported to me
that Col. McMillen was driving the enemy. I placed but
little faith in this report, yet disseminated it freely for
the good effect it might produce upon the troops. In a few
minutes, however, the gallant Colonel McMillen, sad and
disheartened, arrived himself, and reported his lines broken
and in confusion. The new line under Colonel Wilkins also
gave way soon after and it was now impossible to exercise
any further control. The road became crowded and jammed with
troops; the wagons and artillery sinking into the deep mud
became inextricable and added to the general confusion which
now prevailed. No power could now check or control the
panic-stricken mass as it swept toward the rear, led off by
Colonel Winslow at the head of his brigade of cavalry, and
who never halted until he had reached Stubbs', ten miles in
rear. This was the greater pity as his brigade was nearly,
if not entirely, intact, and might have offered considerable
resistance to the advancing foe. About 10 o'clock P. M., I
reached Stubbs' in person, where I found Colonel Winslow and
his brigade. I then informed him that his was the only
organized body of men I had been able to find, and directed
him to add to his own every possible force he could rally,
as they passed, and take charge of the rear, remaining in
position until all should have passed. I also informed him
that on account of the extreme darkness of the night and the
wretched condition of the road, I had little hope of saving
anything more than the troops, and directed him therefore to
destroy all wagons and artillery which he might find
blocking up the road and preventing the passage of the men.
In this way about 200 wagons and 14 pieces of artillery were
lost, many of the wagons being burned and the artillery
spiked and otherwise mutilated; the mules and horses were
brought away. By 7 o'clock A. M., of the 11th, we had
reorganized at Ripley, and the ar