for the
word to march a quarter-mile up hill through almost impassable tangles of
underwood, along and across precipitous ravines, and attack breastworks
constructed at leisure and manned with two divisions of troops as good as
themselves. True, we did not know all this, but if any man on that ground
besides Wood and Howard expected a "walkover" his must have been a
singularly hopeful disposition. As topographical engineer it had been my
duty to make a hasty examination of the ground in front. In doing so I had
pushed far enough forward through the forest to hear distinctly the murmur
of the enemy awaiting us, and this had been duly reported; but from our
lines nothing could be heard but the wind among the trees and the songs of
birds. Some one said it was a pity to frighten them, but there would
necessarily be more or less noise. We laughed at that: men awaiting death
on the battlefield laugh easily, though not infectiously.

The brigade was formed in four battalions, two in front and two in rear.
This gave us a front of about two hundred yards. The right front battalion
was commanded by Colonel R.L. Kimberly of the 41st Ohio, the left by
Colonel O.H. Payne of the 124th Ohio, the rear battalions by Colonel J.C.
Foy, 23d Kentucky, and Colonel W.W. Berry, 5th Kentucky--all brave and
skillful officers, tested by experience on many fields. The whole command
(known as the Second Brigade, Third Division, Fourth Corps) consisted of
no fewer than nine regiments, reduced by long service to an average of
less than two hundred men each. With full ranks and only the necessary
details for special duty we should have had some eight thousand rifles in
line.

We moved forward. In less than one minute the trim battalions had become
simply a swarm of men struggling through the undergrowth of the forest,
pushing and crowding. The front was irregularly serrated, the strongest
and bravest in advance, the others following in fan-like formations,
variable and inconstant, ever defining themselves anew. For the first two
hundred yards our course lay along the left bank of a small creek in a
deep ravine, our left battalions sweeping along its steep slope. Then we
came to the fork of the ravine. A part of us crossed below, the rest
above, passing over both branches, the regiments inextricably
intermingled, rendering all military formation impossible. The
color-bearers kept well to the front with their flags, closely furled,
aslant backward over