ment of his division, reduced to
the 13th and 25th Connecticut, against the partly exposed west face
of the bastion that formed the left of the finished portion of the
Confederate earthworks. The point of attack is shown at X. and
XI., and the position whence Grover moved at 1 and 7.

After the first attack on the right had wellnigh spent itself, and
when its renewal, in conjunction with an advance on the centre and
left, was momentarily expected, Dwight thought to create a diversion
and at the same time to develop the strength and position of the
Confederates toward their extreme left, where their lines bent back
to rest on the river, and to this end he ordered Nelson to put in
his two colored regiments. This portion of the Confederate line
occupied the nearly level crest of a steep bluff that completely
dominates the low ground by the sugar-house, where the telegraph
road crosses Foster's Creek. Over this ground the colored troops
had to advance unsupported to receive their first fire. The bridge
had been burned when the Confederates retired to their works.
Directly in front of the crest, and somewhat below it, a rugged
bluff stands a little apart, projecting boldly from the main height
with a sharp return to the right, so as to form a natural outwork
of great strength, practically inaccessible save by the road that
winds along the bottom of the little rivulet at the foot of the
almost perpendicular flank. This detached ridge is about four
hundred yards in length. It was held by six companies of the 39th
Mississippi regiment, under Colonel W. B. Shelby, while behind, in
the positions of land batteries III. and IV., were planted six
field pieces, and still farther back on the water front the columbiads
of Whitfield and Seawell, mounted on traversing carriages, stood
ready to rake the road with their 8-inch and 10-inch shell and
shrapnel.

Shortly after seven o'clock, Nelson sent in the 1st Louisiana Native
Guards, under Lieutenant-Colonel Bassett, in column, to force the
crossing of the creek. The 3d Louisiana Native Guards followed in
close support. Just before the head of the column came near the
creek, the movement was perceived by the Confederates, who immediately
opened on the negroes a sharp fire of musketry from the rifle-pits
on the detached bluff; at the same moment the field guns opened
with shell and shrapnel from the ridge behind, and as the men
struggled on through the creek and up the farther b