e colonel in command of the rear guard sent word that the
rebel skirmishers were pressing him hard, and that he could not hold
them back much longer. I roused the weary men and sent a sergeant to
select an easier way through the fields. Before he reported, the bugler
returned with orders from the captain to destroy and throw away my
ammunition. I had never disobeyed an order, but in this case I knew that
we had a short supply of ammunition for our 12-pound Napoleons in all
the Tennessee valley; that guns without ammunition were useless, and so
I hesitated. One round was thrown into the mud by a corporal, who heard
the report of the bugler to me. I immediately stopped further
destruction and proceeded to place my pieces in battery for opening upon
the advancing rebel lines, and I had asked our infantry to unmask our
front so that we could have a clear field. I gave the order to "load
with solid shot," and immediately my men were as active as ever under
the excitement of a fight. Before the order was executed I heard my name
called, and an officer reported to me with four fresh, 6-mule teams.

General Burnside had burned a large quartermaster's train in order to
save his artillery and its ammunition. The arrival of the mules
prevented the destruction of our ammunition and the skirmish which I had
arranged. I was informed that I should make all haste, as General McLaw
had been sent by the Kingston road to cut off our retreat. The two
roads, one from Kingston and one from Loudon, intersected a mile south
from Campbell's Station. The drivers unhitched their horses and were
sent on ahead in order to be out of our way. As soon as the mules were
attached to our guns and caissons, they were started, and away they
went, through the deep mud, up hill and down, until they passed safely
the Kingston road about 10 A. M., and we parked in the open field with
the rest of our battery.

A sharp fight took place at the junction of these roads, in which our
people more than held their own. We made some coffee, ate a little corn
bread, and all of us felt young again. My men and myself were still
covered with mud. While our battery and its division were halted,
columns of troops were rapidly moving forward and deploying north of the
village of Campbell's Station. The position was this: Here was an
opening in the woods about three miles long from north to south, and
from a mile to a mile and a half in width. The south end was higher than
the