and the gunboats continued for about an hour and a half, at the end of which time we had the satisfaction of seeing them drift down the river, evidently very badly cut up. So the end of the second day's battle was in favor of the Confederates.
In the mean time, however, the besieging army was receiving large re-enforcements, and was apparently preparing to renew the attack on the land side with increased vigor.
The Confederate Sortie.
With characteristic energy, the Confederate commanders resolved not to wait to be attacked, but to sally from the fort, and strike the enemy a deadly blow. The sortie was gallantly made, and our soldiers fell upon their antagonists with a fury that made them recoil. The contest was conducted with terrible vigor on both sides for some hours, and our men succeeded in driving back the Federals, with great loss. They, however, were unable to follow up their advantage, and there came a lull in the storm of battle, during which both armies seemed to be taking breath, preparatory to renewing the fight with greater ferocity than ever.
At length the Federals rallied, and stormed the intrenchments with a much larger force than before, arid, after a severe struggle, the Confederates were driven back into the fort, leaving hundreds of the dead and wounded lying on the frozen ground. By this time our ranks had been so thinned out, that every one felt it would be madness to continue the contest longer against the greatly superior force of the enemy. We had fought, and fought gallantly, doing all that soldiers could do to maintain ourselves; but, in spite of the desperate valor that the garrison had displayed, defeat stared us in the face, and it would have been useless bloodshed to have attempted a prolongation of the battle. The Federals, for this once, at least, were masters of the field, and all we cared longer to do was to get as many of our men as possible away before the surrender took place, and to retrieve the disaster by meeting the enemy under more auspicious circumstances another time.
Departure of Floyd and Pillow.
I felt the most profound pity for General Floyd, when he found that further resistance was useless, and that the fort
