d, upon the
tables. This touching attention to our tastes was appreciated. Some
individuals were indelicate enough to hint that the pies were intended
to propitiate us and prevent the plunder of the houses.

We reached Portland, a little village upon the bank of the river, and a
short distance above Buffington Island, about 8 P.M., and the night was
one of solid darkness. General Morgan consulted one or two of his
officers upon the propriety of at once attacking an earthwork, thrown up
to guard the ford. From all the information he could gather, this work
was manned with about three hundred infantry--regular troops--and two
heavy guns were mounted in it. Our arrival at this place after dark had
involved us in a dilemma. If we did not cross the river that night,
there was every chance of our being attacked on the next day by heavy
odds. The troops we had seen at Pomeroy were, we at once and correctly
conjectured, a portion of the infantry which had been sent after us from
Kentucky, and they had been brought by the river, which had risen
several feet in the previous week, to intercept us. If transports could
pass Pomeroy, the General knew that they could also run up to the bar at
Buffington Island. The transports would certainly be accompanied by
gunboats, and our crossing could have been prevented by the latter
alone, because our artillery ammunition was nearly exhausted--there was
not more than three cartridges to the piece, and we could not have
driven off gunboats with small arms. Moreover, if it was necessary, the
troops could march from Pomeroy to Buffington by an excellent road, and
reach the latter place in the morning. This they did. General Morgan
fully appreciated these reasons for getting across the river that night,
as did those with whom he advised, but there were, also, very strong
reasons against attacking the work at night; and without the capture of
the work, which commanded the ford, it would be impossible to cross. The
night, as I have stated, was thoroughly dark. Attacks in the dark are
always hazardous experiments--in this case it would have been doubly so.
We knew nothing of the ground, and could not procure guides. Our choice
of the direction in which to move to the attack would have been purely
guess work. The defenders of the work had only to lie still and fire
with artillery and musketry directly to their front, but the assailants
would have had a line to preserve, and would have had to exercise