[72] 11,513 men, partly armed with Spencer repeating rifles. Walcutt also had two cannon. Just then, at the start, the Confederates were noisily driving before them a part of Kilpatrick's cavalry. Woods thereupon sent Walcutt that way past the station of Griswoldville.
Our cavalry and infantry kept skirmishing in a lively manner, till Osterhaus naturally thought that Walcutt had gone far enough. He instructed Woods to draw him back to Duncan's farm, nearer to his supporting division. Here they found abundant trees and some convenient swamps, impassable except at a few points. Walcutt noisily chose the edge of a wood with open ground in front of him, throwing up the usual cover of rails and logs, while some of Kilpatrick's men guarded the more distant swamps. One thousand five hundred and thirteen Yankee men behind that barrier with two cannon to cover the approaches by using iron hail were more than equal to 10,000 opponents, however determined they might be.
General Gustavus W. Smith was an assistant professor in engineering at West Point the last year of my cadet term (1853-4), and taught our class, instructing me how to recognize and take “a military position.” He, though at the time quite a young officer, had been twice brevetted for gallantry and merit in the Mexican War. He was a self-respecting, dignified man of marked ability. He had left the army, and was trying his skill in civil pursuits, holding just before the war the office of Street Commissioner in New York City, when the secession outburst took him south. Now he was said to be commanding the Confederates in my front in the neighborhood of Macon, November 15, 1864.
The size of his command was:
