Beyond our division, to the left, was Johnson's,
and then Baird's division, the latter forming the extreme left of the
army, and extending off into the woods beyond the lower end of the open
field. To our right--though this we could not see, the line being in a
dense forest--was the division of Reynolds; beyond him was Brannan, and
then came Wood; and so on to the right of the army, in what further
order we did not know. It was evident that the line had been hastily
formed: the divisions had been placed just as they were picked up in the
confusion of the night. No corps was together in the line, but it was
made up of a division from one corps, then a division from another, and
then one from a third corps, and so on. Thus it happened that the four
divisions on the left of the line had with them no corps commander.
In the idle hour after daylight our brigade commander directed the
construction of a barricade of rails and logs, a little more than
knee-high, along the front of his command. Some of the troops on the
left and the right followed the example. The supposition was that the
game would be changed this day, and that we should stand for attack as
the enemy had done the day before. There was no little satisfaction in
thinking that Bragg's men would have a chance to walk up to a fire at
least as murderous as we had faced when attacking them. If the
haversacks were empty and the canteens had gone for water never to
return, the cartridge-boxes were full, and each man had about him an
extra package or two of cartridges.
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