on which the Union army found itself was, like the
whole island, low and flat and largely covered with a thick growth
of cane and willow. Near the river the soil was moreover swampy
and the brakes were for the most part impenetrable. On the high
bluff opposite, masked by the trees, stood Bee with the brigades
of Debray and Terrell, Major with his two brigades under Baylor
and Bagby, and the twenty-four guns of McMahon, Moseley, West, and
Nettles. The position was too strong and too difficult of approach
to be taken by a direct attack save at a great cost. Through the
labyrinthine morass that lay between the ferry and the river's
mouth Bailey and E. J. Davis searched in vain for a practicable
ford. Nothing remained but to try the other flank.

Birge with his temporary division augmented by Cameron's, without
artillery and with no horsemen save a few mounted men of the 13th
Connecticut, was to march back, to ford Cane River two miles above
the bluff, and by a wide detour to sweep down upon the Confederate
left.

To amuse the enemy and to draw his attention away from Birge, Emory,
who had yielded his division to McMillan, caused him to deploy the
First and Second brigades under Beal and Rust, and to threaten the
crossing directly in front, while Closson advanced his guns and
kept up a steady and well judged fire against the Confederate
position on the hill.

Birge took up the line of march at nine o'clock. His progress was
greatly delayed not only by the passage of Cane River, where the
water was waist-deep, but also by the swampy and broken ground,
and by the dense undergrowth through which he had to force his way.
Thus the afternoon was well advanced before he found the position
of the Confederates on a hill, with their right flank resting on
a deep ravine, and their left upon a marsh and a small lake, drained
by a muddy bayou that wound about the foot of the hill. Up to this
point Fiske had led the advance. Now, in deploying, after emerging
from the thicket, he found himself before the enemy's centre, while
Fessenden confronted their left. Fiske formed his men in two lines,
the 13th Connecticut and the 1st Louisiana in front, supported by
James Smith with the 38th Massachusetts and the 128th New York.
To Fessenden Birge gave the duty of carrying the hill.

Behind a hedge and a high fence Fessenden deployed his brigade from
right to left in the order of the 165th New York, the 173d New
York, the 30th Maine