et such a command again,
if he lost this one." Immediately afterward, seeing the enemy come
galloping down the road, he added, with a half smile, "We will have to
whip these fellows, sure enough. Form your men, and, as soon as you
check them, attack. Gano, who was in the extreme rear, was ordered, as
soon as his squadron arrived at the junction of the roads, to charge
and drive back the enemy's advance. He did so in his usual dashing,
impetuous style. The enemy's advance guard was strong and determined,
and met Gano's charge gallantly. As he led on his men, the enemy
directed their fire principally at him, but with the good fortune which
attended him during four years of dangerous and incessant service, he
escaped unhurt, losing, by the shots aimed at him, only his hat and a
few locks of hair, which latter was a loss he could well stand, although
the other was a serious matter. After a brief struggle, Gano drove back
the advance, killing and wounding several. Our entire force, deducting
one hundred men used as a guard for the prisoners taken the day before,
and other details, was about seven hundred strong. That of the enemy was
about the same. On the right of the Hartsville road, as our line faced,
was a cornfield. This was immediately occupied by Companies I and K. On
the left of the Hartsville pike, and just east of the Scottsville road,
was a woodland of some twenty acres. Company D was deployed in this, and
immediately cleared it of the enemy, who had entered it, and kept it
until the line advanced. To the left of this woodland was a long meadow,
five or six hundred yards in extent, and some three hundred broad; to
the left of this, again, was another cornfield. The column had gotten
some distance upon the Scottsville pike before the command to halt and
face toward the enemy had been transmitted to its head, and when these
companies mentioned had been formed, there was a gap of nearly two
hundred yards opened between them and the others that were further to
the front. Toward this gap the enemy immediately darted. Believing that
we were seeking to escape upon the Scottsville road, he had thrown the
bulk of his force in that direction, at any rate, and it was formed and
advanced rapidly and gallantly. Throwing down the eastern fence of the
meadow, some three hundred poured into it, formed a long line, and
dashed across it, with sabers drawn, toward the line of horses which
they saw in the road beyond. Companies B, C, E