"Both General Franklin and General Lee wanted the cavalry train to move in the rear of the infantry force, but they disagreed as to the precedence of position when the trains should be joined. General Lee desired that his train should precede General Franklin's infantry train, and the latter insisted that the infantry trains should move in the rear of the infantry force. Because of this disagreement no change was made on the day of the engagement."
We give here an account of the engagement as taken from the records of C. B. Maxwell and J. S. Knowlton:
"At 6 A. M. we started for the advance, marched three miles and came upon a large force of the enemy under Dick Taylor. Two brigades of the 13th Army Corps were sent to us as reinforcements and formed a line of battle, acting as skirmishers. The enemy commenced slowly falling back but closely contending every inch of ground, and in this way we drove them ten miles. At Sabine Cross Roads the enemy made a stand in the woods before which was a clearing of some 75 acres where our cavalry manoeuvred. The enemy was very strongly reinforced at this point. At the extreme front was a hill 50 yards in diameter upon which our six guns were placed. The 4th Brigade of cavalry was on our left with two of the 6th Missouri Howitzers.
"About three o'clock General Banks and his staff arrived. General Lee, on seeing General Banks dismount, saluted and said: 'I am confident, General, that we have a powerful force in front and if we make the attack I am confident we shall be repulsed.' General Banks made no reply, but it was noticed he looked serious. All the staff officers with those of General Lee were sent hurriedly to right, left and rear. About 4 P. M. General Banks' chief of staff rode along our left to where the third piece stood and said to me (Maxwell), 'Call your men, load your gun and point it down the road. If you see anyone crossing where the road enters the wood, open fire. Don't wait for further orders.' In less than fifteen minutes the enemy were sneaking across the road and the third detachment obeyed orders. The battle was on. We soon discovered men coming out of the woods much nearer than those down the road, so we fired to the front and right until they came to point-blank range and then we fed it to them with double-shotted canister. Although the battle was very severe, we received no reinforcements except the 3d division of the 13th Corps. Owing to the superior force of the enemy, our cavalry and infantry were driven back, leaving the hill on which our six guns were planted with out support of 23d Wisconsin and 19th Kentucky to fight nearly alone.
"Our guns belched forth double-shotted canister and the enemy in front, eight deep in line, suffered terribly at each discharge. Wide gaps were opened in their ranks but were immediately filled up again. Finally, all the horses on three of our guns were killed, making it impossible to remove the guns from the field. The remaining three guns being out of ammunition retired to the foot of the hill where our caisson lay, filled up with ammunition and went into position. By this time infantry and cavalry had become completely routed and were fleeing to the rear. Our officers tried to rally them but in vain. Finding it impossible to save the guns, our officers ordered us to slip our traces and save our lives if possible, which the men did reluctantly. Our wagon train had been pushed forward before the engagement, completely blocking the road, making a retreat impossible. During the night we fell back to Pleasant Hill, a distance of 13 miles, and in the morning our company assembled under Lieutenant Greenleaf. We had lost our guns and everything we possessed except the clothes we had on."
The loss of the battery in this battle was very severe. Lieutenant Snow was shot through the left lung and left on the field. Private Reardon was killed. Lieutenant Slack was wounded, 18 men were wounded, of whom five were taken prisoners, together with seven unwounded men. Besides the loss of guns and caissons, 82 of the battery's horses were either killed or wounded. In spite of the terrible defeat and loss, the battery won great praise for its indomitable courage and for the way it handled its guns, for we read in the report of Col. J. W. Landrum,[[16]] "It is proper to say that Captain Nims' Battery displayed throughout the whole of the fight an example of coolness and true courage unsurpassed in the annals of history. They are entitled to highest commendation, and although they lost their guns it is due to them to say that they could not have prevented it, and that the damage they inflicted on the enemy was such as to entitle them to the thanks of the whole army."
Another quotation is from the Lacon, Ill., Gazette,[[17]] "Nims' Battery worked manfully—the veteran battery, hero of seventeen engagements, all successful, but doomed this time to defeat. They double charged their guns with canister and adding a bag of bullets mowed the enemy down only to have their places filled by the advancing hordes." Again, "Nims' splendid battery with its honorable record on every field from Baton Rouge to Port Hudson was taken by Walker's men." Irwin.
Brig. Gen. W. H. Emery, commanding First Division of the 19th Army Corps, had been notified of the state of affairs and had been ordered to advance as rapidly as possible and form a line of battle in order to support the retreating troops and check the advance of the enemy. He took his position at Pleasant Grove about three miles from Sabine Cross Roads, the First Brigade, General Dwight, being placed across the road upon which the enemy was advancing. Waiting until the enemy was within close range they poured a tremendous volley along the whole front, causing it to fall back. The action lasted for an hour and a half, then darkness coming on there was a cessation of hostilities. During the night the entire army retired to Pleasant Hill, where a battle was fought the next day, but in which the battery naturally took no part. The struggle, however, was desperate and sanguinary. The defeat of the enemy was complete and their loss in officers and men more than double that sustained by the Union forces.
It was a sorry looking company of men that gathered at Pleasant Hill the next morning—the remnant of "the finest battery in the army." Guns, caissons, wagon and supplies lost—nothing left but the clothes the men wore. As for blankets, one rubber and one woolen blanket had to do for five men, while half rations only made one all the more hungry.
The next day the remaining men were assigned to guard the ammunition train on the retreat to Grand Ecore, which was reached on the 10th. Here the Union army gathered its scattered battalions.