[160] bank of the river, Lieut.-Col. John A. Buckner and Maj. Rice E. Graves, with Captain Byrne's battery and a portion of the Washington artillery, under Lieutenant Vaught, went forward to our line of skirmishers, to the right, and engaged those of the enemy, who had advanced perhaps a thousand yards from the east bank of the river. They soon revealed a strong line of skirmishers, which was driven back a considerable distance by our sharpshooters and artillery, the latter firing several houses in the fields in which the enemy had taken shelter. At the same time, accompanied by Maj. Wm. D. Pickett of Lieutenant-General Hardee's staff and by Maj. James Wilson, Col. Theodore O'Hara and Lieut. J. Cabell Breckinridge, of my own, I proceeded toward the left of our line of skirmishers, which passed through a thick wood about five hundred yards in front of Hanson's position and extended to the river. Directing Captain Bosche of the Ninth and Captain Steele of the Fourth Kentucky to drive back the enemy's skirmishers, we were enabled to see that he was occupying with infantry and artillery the crest of a gentle slope on the east bank of the river. The course of the crest formed a little less than a right angle with Hanson's line, from which the center of the position I was afterward ordered to attack was distant about sixteen hundred yards. It extended along ground part open and part woodlands.While we were endeavoring to ascertain the force of the enemy and the relation of ground on the east bank to that on the west of the river, I received an order from the commanding general to report to him in person. I found him on the west bank near the ford below the bridge, and received from him an order to form my division in two lines and take the crest I have just described with the infantry. After doing this I was to bring up the artillery and establish it on the crest, so as to at once hold it and enfilade the enemy's lines on the other side of the river. Pegram and Wharton, who, with some cavalry and a battery
