but did not know that it was so near. It was at once decided to
throw into line the men who had not yet crossed, and hold the fords, if
possible, until Cluke's regiment could be brought back. If we crossed
the river leaving that regiment on the southern side, and it did not
succeed in crossing, or if it crossed immediately and yet the enemy
pressed on vigorously after us, beating it to Bardstown--in either event
it would be cut off from us, and its capture even would be probable. No
one knew whether there was a ford lower down at which it could cross,
and all feared that if we retreated promptly the enemy would closely
follow us. I, therefore, sent a message to General Morgan, informing him
of what was decided upon, and also sent a courier to Major Bullock,
directing him to return with the regiment as soon as possible.

The ground on which we were posted was favorable to the kind of game we
were going to play. Upon each flank were thick woods extending for more
than a mile back from the river. Between these woods was a large meadow,
some three hundred yards wide, and stretching from the river bank for
six or eight hundred yards to a woods again in the back ground, and
which almost united the other two. In this meadow and some two hundred
yards from the river was a singular and sudden depression like a
terrace, running straight across it. Behind this the men who were posted
in the meadow were as well protected as if they had been behind an
earthwork. On the left the ground was so rugged as well as so wooded
that the position there was almost impregnable. There was, however, no
adequate protection for the horses afforded at any point of the line
except the extreme left.

The Federal force advancing upon us consisted of nearly five thousand
infantry, two thousand cavalry, and several pieces of artillery. This
force, which, if handled vigorously and skillfully, if its march had
even been steadily kept up, would have, in spite of every effort we
could have made, swept us into the turbid river at our backs, approached
cautiously and very slowly. Fortunate as this was for us--indeed, it was
all that saved us--the suspense yet became so sickening, as their long
line tediously crept upon us and all around us, that I would almost have
preferred, after an hour of it had elapsed, that Harlan had made a
fierce attack.

We were not idle during this advance, but the skirmishers were keeping
busy in the edges of the woods on our fla