great
care lest they should fall foul of each other in the obscurity. If this
is a difficult business at all times, how much is the danger and trouble
increased when it is attempted with broken-down and partially
demoralized men?

General Morgan feared, too, that if the attacking party was repulsed, it
would come back in such disorder and panic that the whole division would
be seriously and injuriously affected. He determined, therefore, to take
the work at early dawn and instantly commence the crossing, trusting
that it would be effected rapidly and before the enemy arrived. By
abandoning the long train of wagons which had been collected, the
wounded men, and the artillery, a crossing might have been made, with
little difficulty, higher up the river at deeper fords, which we could
have reached by a rapid march before the enemy came near them. But
General Morgan was determined (after having already hazarded so much) to
save all if possible, at the risk of losing all. He ordered me to place
two regiments of my brigade in position, as near the earthwork as I
thought proper, and attack it at daybreak. I accordingly selected the
Fifth and Sixth Kentucky, and formed them about four hundred yards from
the work, or from the point where I judged it to be located. Lieutenant
Lawrence was also directed to place his Parrots upon a tongue of land
projecting northward from a range of hills running parallel with the
river. It was intended that he should assist the attacking party, if,
for any reason, artillery should be needed. Many efforts were made,
during the night, to find other fords, but unsuccessfully.

As soon as the day dawned, the Fifth and Sixth Kentucky were moved
against the work, but found it unoccupied. It had been evacuated during
the night. Had our scouts, posted to observe it, been vigilant, and had
this evacuation, which occurred about two P.M., been discovered and
reported, we could have gotten almost the entire division across before
the troops coming from Pomeroy arrived. The guns in the work had been
dismounted and rolled over the bluff. I immediately sent Gen. Morgan
information of the evacuation of the work, and instructed Colonel Smith
to take command of the two regiments and move some four or five hundred
yards further on the Pomeroy road, by which I supposed that the garrison
had retreated. In a few minutes I heard the rattle of musketry in the
direction that the regiments had moved, and riding forward to