HURLBUT’S DIVISION.
Hurlbut’s division, in reserve, saved the first repulse from proving an absolute defeat, by offering a line behind which the discomfited divisions of Sherman and Prentiss could reform, while his solid ranks were a wall of steel against which the enemy could not prevail. The General, in his report, says of their five hours’ service:
“Receiving from General Prentiss a pressing request for aid, I took command in person of the first and third brigades, respectively commanded by Colonel N. G. Williams, of the Third Iowa, and Brigadier-General Lauman. The first brigade consisted of the Third Iowa, Forty-first Illinois, Twenty-eighth Illinois and Thirty-second Illinois. The third brigade was composed of the Thirty-first and Forty-fourth Indiana, the Seventeenth and Twenty-fifth Kentucky.
“In addition, I took with me the first and second battalions of the Fifth Ohio cavalry; Mann’s light battery of four pieces commanded by first Lieutenant E. Brotzmann; Ross’ battery of the Second Michigan; and Meyer’s battery of the Thirteenth Ohio.
“I formed my line of battle—the first brigade thrown to the front on the southerly side of a large open field—the third brigade continuing the line with an obtuse angle around the other side of the field, and extending some distance into the brush and timber. Mann’s battery was placed in the angle of the lines, Ross’ battery some distance to the left, and the Thirteenth Ohio battery on the right, and somewhat advanced in cover of the timber, so as to concentrate the fire upon the open ground in front, and waited for the attack.”
At half-past seven o’clock, when Brigadier-General Sherman was attacked in force and heavily upon his left, Colonel I. C. Veatch, commanding the second brigade of General Hurlbut’s division, was ordered to proceed to the left of General Sherman. This brigade, consisting of the Twenty-fifth Indiana, Fourteenth, Fifteenth, and Forty-sixth Illinois, was in march in ten minutes, arrived on General Sherman’s left and went into action rapidly. In a few minutes they were in line of battle, and moving forward to the attack. But the brigade had hardly left the camp before it found the roads full of flying Unionists, and the route for two miles was strewn with guns, knapsacks, and blankets. The front had been completely surprised; nearly a whole division was scattered and retreating in utter confusion, and the enemy in force was already a mile within the Federal camps. The brigade, under command of Colonel Veatch, was drawn up in line of battle in a skirt of timber, bordering a large field, on the outer edge of which the Federal troops were engaging the enemy. But the enemy pressed on in overwhelming force, and just as the troops in front began to waver, they discovered that he had flanked Veatch on the right and was rapidly advancing to attack the brigade on the right and rear.
The Fifteenth Illinois was on the right, the Fourteenth Illinois in the centre, and the Twenty-fifth Indiana on the left—the other regiment, the Forty-sixth Illinois, by the rapid flanking of the enemy became detached from the brigade, and was not with it again during the action. This brought the first fire upon the Fifteenth Illinois, which stood it nobly, but was soon overpowered; the Fourteenth followed with a like result. In the mean time the troops in front and on the left were completely routed by the enemy, and came pell mell through the Union lines, causing some little confusion. Hardly had they passed through to the rear before the enemy came rushing on, and the fire of musketry became terrific. There was no resisting this fiery onset short of annihilation; so with a few well-directed volleys the brigade left the field. The loss was very heavy. All the field officers of the Twenty-fifth Illinois were killed instantly; two lieutenants were killed and three wounded.