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Forrest has followed them so closely that twice during the night he has overtaken their rear-guard, pressing it very hard. The march is therefore extremely fatiguing for the Federals, whose chief is desirous to avoid an encounter at all risks. They have not been allowed to stop for an instant, even to let their exhausted animals quench their thirst. After two hours devoted to the destruction of the last wagons and to the comfort of the beasts of burden, they are obliged to leave Blountsville and resume their march toward Gadsden. Forrest, in fact, is approaching, being henceforth sure of the direction taken by the Federals: notwithstanding a halt of several hours, his men, better mounted than their adversaries, enter Blountsville just as the latter are leaving it. The inhabitants of this town, surprised by, first, the unexpected arrival of the enemy, then of the Confederate cavalry after them, are undecided whether to fly or remain, and, stricken with fear, look with amazement upon the passage of these hostile columns that are carrying war into the very heart of the Confederacy.
In the mean while, Forrest, after having given his soldiers at Blountsville the rest and food they stand in need of, forces them once more into the saddle, whilst Streight, still hastening the pace of his column, crosses the Black Warrior River, penetrates into that mountainous section of country called Sand Mountain, and does not come to a halt until midnight, after a march of nearly thirty miles. Forrest presses hard upon his rear, and overtakes it at the ford of the Black Warrior, but toward nine o'clock in the evening the pursuit is interrupted by an engagement in which he makes a few prisoners. The Federals thus gain an advance on him, which they soon lose by taking a rest from midnight until daylight on the 2d of May, Forrest having resumed his march at the very moment that his adversaries had come to a halt. It is in vain that they burn all the bridges behind them in order to retard his movements; in the course of the morning the Confederates overtake their rear-guard at Will's Creek at the very hour when their head of column has at last reached the banks of the Coosa at Gadsden.
Forrest's soldiers, however, seem to have exhausted their entire strength: the dread of falling into the hands of the enemy does
