Existing comment:
(Stop 20) Cleburne's Advance:
Forced back from the hills above Doctor's Creek, the Union soldiers retreated to this position. Their lines were in chaos -- regiments intermingled, the wounded were left behind, and some panicked troops raced for the rear. Most soldiers, however, continued to stubbornly defy the Southern advance.
With ammunition running low, the Federal troops hastily reformed their lines on this ridge. As they had done all over the battlefield, the Union army used successive hilltops to establish new battle lines. Driven off one hill, the Federal troops reformed on another. It was a strategy that helped stem the crushing tide of the Confederate advance.
Leading the assault against these Union troops was a Southern brigade commanded by Brigadier General Patrick Cleburne. Their blue and white battle flags flapping in the October wind, Cleburne's infantry again bore down upon the Union line.
When Cleburne sent his flag-bearers in front of his main line as a decoy, the Union infantry fired their one-shot muskets at these troops. With their guns emptied, the Federal soldiers were then torn apart when Cleburne's main line appeared. The gun smoke rolled along in waves as the Confederate infantry shattered the Union position.
Against Cleburne's intense attack, the Union lines broke. The blue-clad soldiers fell back to their ridges behind you, which became their third and final position. With night falling, the Federal soldiers formed a line of battle. They knew that another retreat would lead to a crushing defeat.
"... the rattle of the musketry was almost incessant and our troops fought them in much closer quarters than I have ever known, ... (???) "
-- Confederate soldier Robert D. Smart (???), 2nd Tennessee Infantry |