and yet I could not understand how he could help knowing, not only that the Federals were in desperate straits, but that fresh troops were hurrying to their assistance, and that in the morning the battle would, assuredly, be resumed with the odds all in their favor.
Arrival of Federal Re-enforcements.
While I was watching and chafing under the blunder that I was sure had been committed, a steamboat with re-enforcements arrived at the Landing. These fresh troops were immediately formed, and despatched to the front. Another detachment came, before I withdrew, overwhelmed with grief and disgust at the idea of our victory coming to nothing, simply because there was not the requisite energy at headquarters to strike the final blow that was needed, in order that our hard fighting might have its proper reward.
There was, evidently, somebody on the Federal, side who was bent on retrieving the disaster ; for the hurried movements of the new troops, and the constant firing which the two gunboats Tyler and Lexington kept up, indicated an aggressiveness that augured unfavorably for our tired and badly cut-up army when the fight should re-open in the morning. The two gunboats had moved up to the mouth of Lick Creek, and about dark commenced throwing shells into our lines in a manner that was anything but agreeable, and that demoralized our men more than any kind of attack they had been compelled to stand up under. I had been under musketry and artillery fire a number of times, and did not find the sharp hiss of the bullets, or the scream of the shells, particularly pleasant. There was something horrible, however, about the huge missiles hurled by the gunboats, and they excited far more disagreeable sensations than either musket or rifle bullets, or the favors which the field artillerists were in the habit of bestowing. These shells could easily be seen in the air for some seconds, and each individual that beheld them had an uncomfortable feeling that they were aiming directly at him, with a strong probability of striking. Sometimes they burst in the air, scattering in every direction; oftener they burst just as they struck, and the pieces inflicted ugly wounds if they happened to hit anybody, and occasionally they would bury themselves in the ground, and then explode, tearing holes large enough to bury a cart and horse in.
