flush with the river, a shelf had been formed by a landslide about half way between the level of the river and the summit of the bluff.  This shelf was enlarged and leveled, and a battery constructed upon it which completely commanded the river in the direction of Cairo.  This battery was large enough to mount ten or twelve heavy guns.  On the summit of the bluff was placed a large Whitworth rifled gun, carrying a round shot weighing one hundred and twenty-eight pounds.  Minie shot of much heavier weight were also used in this gun.  This was one of four which ran the blockade in the Bermuda into Charleston, South Carolina, in the early autumn.

All these works were constructed under the direction of competent engineers, the chief of whom was Captain E.D.  Pickett, since adjutant-general to Major-general Hardee.

Torpedoes and other obstructions were placed in the river; but all this kind of work was done secretly by the engineer corps, and the soldiers knew but little of their number and location.  Some of these torpedoes were made of cast iron at Memphis and Nashville, and would hold from one to two hundred pounds of powder as a charge.  Others were made of boiler iron, of different shapes and sizes.  They were to be suspended near the surface of the water by chains and buoys, and discharged by wires stretched near the surface, which a boat would strike in passing over them.  I never learned that these infernal machines did any damage, except that one of them nearly destroyed one of their own transport boats, which had incautiously ventured too near its resting-place.

After spending nearly two months in the monotonous camp life of drill and fatigue duty, on the morning of the 7th of November I experienced a new sensation, more startling than agreeable.  I had as yet been in no battle, and certainly had no desire to join in a fight against my country and against my kindred, some of whom I had no doubt were in the opposing army, as it was recruited where many of them lived; and I knew they would be loyal to the old flag, and ready to defend it with their lives.  But the alarm came so suddenly that I had no time to feign sickness, or invent an excuse for being off duty.

Tappan’s Arkansas, and Russell’s Tennessee regiments, with a battalion of Mississippi cavalry, about fifteen hundred men in all, who were stationed at Belmont, across the river, were attacked, about seven o’clock, A.M., by General McClernand, with a little over seven thousand men, according to Union authorities.  It was a complete surprise to us.  At first we thought it was a picket skirmish with the cavalry; but soon Frank Cheatham, our brigadier, came galloping through the camp, bare-headed, in shirt and pantaloons, ordering us to “fall in,” saying that the “enemy were murdering the sick men in their tents across the river.”  The report thus started soon took this form:  “The Yankees have bayoneted the sick men in Russell’s regiment.”  This regiment was composed mostly of Irishmen, as was ours.  Instantly the rage of our men was such they could scarcely be restrained, and many of them swore they would swim the river if necessary, to reach the enemy, and would give no quarter.