Our loss was twelve killed and wounded. The rebel loss was twenty-six. Among their wounded was a brigadier general. We lost six battery horses on the transports, while they were running the blockade.
On the morning of the 30th we crossed the river. Our regiment crossed on the old ironclad Benton. The marks of the shot on her iron plates were terrible. Great pieces of shell had been forced under her iron plates, and they were blue all over where the minnie balls had struck and glanced off.
After we had crossed we drew a small amount of hardtack and a little piece of bacon. At four o’clock we started on a march in the direction of Port Gibson, which is seven miles back of Grand Gulf. We marched all night over a very rough, broken country. At 2 o’clock on the morning of the 1st of May, we ran into the rebel army. We were halted from our tiresome march by the terrific sound and the crashing shell of a battery, which broke the still morning air with its echo over hill and valley for many miles and warned even the little birds of that desperate day which was to come and cause so many homes to mourn the loss of some dear friend.
Hovey’s division being in front, our regiment moved down and stacked our arms in line of battle. We were not farther than 100 yards from a concealed line of rebels. They lay in a canebrake. Everything was as still as death and this was the darkest part of the night, the hour just before day. Our regiment was ordered to move to the right and form the right wing of our line of battle so that the troops in the rear might come up and form in line. But before our lines were formed, that ravine and canebrake became a solid sheet of fire, caused by the rebel batteries and small arms. Daylight was now beginning to break and we could see that the shells were playing havoc with our troops on the hill, that were forcing their way up to the front to form our lines.
We had stacked our guns and the boys were trying to make some coffee, but the battery in front seeing that the hungry boys needed some heat to make their coffee boil quickly, rolled in a few shells and blew all of the fire out. Some of the boys swearing, declared that it had come from our own guns, for the shell came directly from the place where we had stacked our arms that morning.
The fight was now on in earnest, and there was no time for arguing about the matter. We now piled our knapsacks and prepared for the charge.
General Osterhos had charged in front, and our regiment charged down across a large ravine, which was grown up with cane, making it almost impassable. The rattle of shot and shell striking the cane and the whoops and yells of the charging regiments made a terrible noise.
We moved across and supported the 8th Indiana, which was commanded by General Benton. The rebels gave way on all parts of their lines and fell back. We then moved up and supported a battery in the edge of a big plantation. They were shelling the rebels on the retreat. Some old houses were near by and the rebel batteries were knocking the chinking and splinters in all directions.
We followed up the retreat five miles. We found everything imaginable scattered along the road. The rebels halted and formed their lines in the timber near Port Gibson. We moved up within a mile of their lines, halted, and stacked our arms, to take a rest.
At two o’clock, the rebels were reinforced by General Tracy and Green, who had fresh forces, and they were also good fighters. We could see them coming down on us in as nice a line as was ever seen in any army. We then had to get busy, and in a hurry too. We advanced to meet the enemy. Our regiment stopped at a ditch. The 47th Indiana and the 19th Kentucky stayed with us.