oot the fastest. The army was not up. Bragg was not ready
for a general battle. The big battle was fought the next day, Sunday.
We held our position for two hours and ten minutes in the midst of a
deadly and galling fire, being enfiladed and almost surrounded, when
General Forrest galloped up and said, "Colonel Field, look out, you are
almost surrounded; you had better fall back." The order was given to
retreat. I ran through a solid line of blue coats. As I fell back,
they were upon the right of us, they were upon the left of us, they were
in front of us, they were in the rear of us. It was a perfect hornets'
nest. The balls whistled around our ears like the escape valves of ten
thousand engines. The woods seemed to be blazing; everywhere, at every
jump, would rise a lurking foe. But to get up and dust was all we could
do. I was running along by the side of Bob Stout. General Preston Smith
stopped me and asked if our brigade was falling back. I told him it was.
He asked me the second time if it was Maney's brigade that was falling
back. I told him it was. I heard him call out, "Attention, forward!"
One solid sheet of leaden hail was falling around me. I heard General
Preston Smith's brigade open. It seemed to be platoons of artillery.
The earth jarred and trembled like an earthquake. Deadly missiles were
flying in every direction. It was the very incarnation of death itself.
I could almost hear the shriek of the death angel passing over the scene.
General Smith was killed in ten minutes after I saw him. Bob Stout and
myself stopped. Said I, "Bob, you wern't killed, as you expected."
He did not reply, for at that very moment a solid shot from the Federal
guns struck him between the waist and the hip, tearing off one leg and
scattering his bowels all over the ground. I heard him shriek out, "O, O,
God!" His spirit had flown before his body struck the ground. Farewell,
friend; we will meet over yonder.

When the cannon ball struck Billy Webster, tearing his arm out of the
socket, he did not die immediately, but as we were advancing to the
attack, we left him and the others lying where they fell upon the
battlefield; but when we fell back to the place where we had left our
knapsacks, Billy's arm had been dressed by Dr. Buist, and he seemed to be
quite easy. He asked Jim Fogey to please write a letter to his parents
at home. He wished to dictate the letter. He asked me to please look in
his knapsac