been sent out as skirmishers. Later four companies under Major Smith crossed the creek on the right and remained there during the engagement. The remaining companies under the colonel did a large part of the regiment’s hard fighting and suffered much of the loss.
Out of one hundred men these companies lost six killed, thirty-four wounded and five captured. Shortly after midnight on the morning of May 4, orders were issued limiting transportation to one team for each brigade and directing the destruction of all surplus baggage. This done, the army continued its retreat. The men were short of food and the horses were in starving condition. Corduroy roads had to be constructed through swamps over which men helped to drag the artillery as the horses sank down exhausted. The heavy guns and caissons had to be dragged by the weary soldiers. New roads had to be cut through the dense forests and causeways built by men famishing with hunger. It was one of the most desperate retreats of the war. The army struggled along day after day bearing the pangs of hunger and all of the fearful hardships with stern endurance and stout hearts, finally reaching Little Rock. In November a detachment of the Fortieth was sent up the Arkansas River to guard the steamer Alamo. When near Dardenelle the boat was attacked by two hundred cavalry who were driven off with loss after a spirited fight. General Bussey, in command of the Fort Smith district, called for duty on the staff of General Reynolds and did not again join the regiment. Colonel Garrett being for some time in command of a
