s force was apparent. Word was at once sent to Sherman of the
state of things, and reached him at 3 A.M. of the 21st; but before
that time the admiral, learning that some of the enemy had reached his
rear and had begun felling trees behind him to prevent his retreat,
had decided to withdraw. Advance through Rolling Fork was no longer
possible, it having been so obstructed that two or three days' labor
would have been needed to clear it, even if unopposed.

Having but ten or twelve feet to spare on either side it was
impossible to turn the boats, so the rudders were unshipped and they
began that night to back down, rebounding from tree to tree on either
bank as they struck them. The country from Rolling Fork to Black Bayou
was mostly a chain of plantations, in which the trees at few points
came down to the bank of the stream thickly enough to afford cover for
troops in numbers; but yet there was shelter for sharpshooters at such
a distance as enabled them to pick off any of the crews that exposed
themselves. The guns were three feet below the levee, depriving them
of much of their power to annoy the assailants. At 4 P.M. of the 21st,
however, Colonel Giles A. Smith, of Sherman's command, arrived with
800 men; Sherman, as soon as he heard of the admiral's dilemma, having
sent every man he had by the east bank of Deer Creek, remaining
himself alone at Hill's until nightfall. Three steamboat loads of
troops then arrived below, and were conducted by him, with lighted
candles, through two and a half miles of dense cane-brake to the
plantation.

When Smith reached the vessels, they had been stopped for an hour or
two by a coal barge sunk across the creek, and were kept from sending
out working parties by the enemy's sharpshooters. Smith now took
charge of the banks, being reinforced with 150 men and two howitzers
from the fleet, and before midnight the barge was blown up. The
retreat continued next day, the boats backing, and the Louisville,
which was the farthest down, clearing away the obstructions while the
troops kept the enemy from molesting the workers. Owing to the number
of trees to be removed, only six miles had been gained by 3 P.M., at
which hour a large body of the enemy were seen passing by, along the
edge of the woods, and taking position about a mile ahead of the
advance of the troops. The gunboats opened upon them, and at this time
General Sherman himself opportunely came up with his reinforcements
and drove