On the morning of the 28th the line was again formed, and after a circuitous march the army arrived at the crossing place.  James Farley Izard, a first lieutenant of dragoons, being on leave of absence, volunteered his services to General Gaines, was assigned to duty as brigade major, and was about forming the guard when the sharp crack of a rifle and the war-whoop gave notice of the presence of the enemy.  His horse had received a bullet in his neck.  When he dismounted he proceeded to the bank of the river, when a ball from the enemy entered his left eye.  He said to the men, “Keep your positions and lie close.”  He died in a few days from the effect of the wound.  A desultory fight was kept up from nine in the morning until one o’clock in the afternoon, when the enemy withdrew.  The troops threw up breastworks, inside of which they encamped for the night.  Captain William G. Sanders, commanding the friendly Indians, was severely wounded.  Captain Armstrong, of the United States transport schooner Motto, was wounded, and a soldier of Captain Croghan Ker’s company of Louisiana volunteers was killed.  General Gaines sent an express to General Clinch asking his co-operation by crossing the river eight or ten miles above and coming down on the enemy’s rear.  He notified General Clinch that he would not move from his position until he heard from him, and requested to be furnished with needed subsistence.  The dispatch arrived on the following morning, and General Clinch sent it forward to General Scott at Picolata.

On the 29th, orders were issued for one third of the command to remain on duty inside of the encampment, while another third was engaged in strengthening the defenses.  A detachment of two hundred Louisiana volunteers under command of Captain Thistle, an expert marksman, was detailed for the erection of a blockhouse near the river, while others were engaged in preparing canoes and rafts.  Everything was quiet until ten o’clock, when a fire was opened by the Indians on the working parties and on three sides of the camp.  The Indians were concealed in the palmettoes, about two hundred yards distant.  They set fire to the grass and palmettoes, but a sudden shift of the wind carried the fire in their direction.  The firing lasted about two hours, when the Indians retired.  Captain Thistle and party returned to camp without having sustained any loss.  The firing was renewed by the Indians about four o’clock in the afternoon, but soon subsided.  The loss in General Gaines’s camp was one noncommissioned officer of artillery killed, and thirty-two officers, noncommissioned officers, and privates wounded.  General Gaines received a painful wound in the mouth.  Lieutenant James Duncan, Second Artillery, Mr. W. Potter, secretary to General Gaines, and Lieutenant Ephraim Smith, of the Louisiana volunteers, were wounded.