the head of his brigade.

Meanwhile, shortly after three o'clock, at his quarters, near
Ransom's camp of the forenoon, Franklin received his first suggestion
of an impending battle, in Banks's order to bring all the infantry
to the front. First sending back word to Emory, Franklin set out
at once and rode forward rapidly, followed by Cameron's division.
When, some time after four o'clock, he entered the clearing and
galloped to the hill where the guns of Nims still stood grimly
defiant and Ransom's men were still desperately struggling to hold
their first ground, the situation was already hopeless. Hardly
had he arrived on the ground, than, by a single volley from Walker's
advancing lines, Franklin's horse was killed, and he himself and
Captains Chapman and Pigman of his staff were wounded.

Cameron came up just as Landram was striving hard to rally his men
and to hold a second position in the lower skirt of the wood, to
prevent the enemy from coming on across the clearing; but for this,
time and numbers and elbow-room were alike wanting. Moreover,
every movement of the Confederate troopers must be gaining on the
flanks. Nor was Cameron's handful, barely 1,300, enough to enable
the remnant of the Thirteenth Corps to hold for many minutes so
weak a position against such odds. Cameron deployed his four
battalions and tried hard, but the whole line soon crumbled and
fell apart to the rear.

Until this moment, Banks and Franklin, as well as every officer of
the staff of either, beginning with Stone, had exerted themselves
to the utmost to second the efforts of Ransom and of Landram to
save the day. The retreat once fairly began, all attempt to stay
its course was for a time given up as idle, for every man knew just
how far back he must go to find room to form a line of battle longer
than the road was narrow. Green's cavalry having been for the most
part dismounted and on the flanks, as well as in the forest, the
pursuit was not very vigorous and was now and then retarded by the
successive covering lines of Lucas and of Dudley, so that the
prospect seemed fair of bringing off the remnants of the fighting
force without much more loss, when about a mile behind the
battle-field, at the foot of a slight descent, the retreating column
came upon a knot of wagons inextricably tangled and stuck fast
in a slough. This was the great cavalry train trying to escape.
Instantly what had been a severe check became a serious di