During the night of the 6th the remainder of Nelson’s division, Buell’s army crossed the river and were ready to advance in the morning, forming the left wing.  Two other divisions, Crittenden’s and McCook’s, came up the river from Savannah in the transports and were on the west bank early on the 7th.  Buell commanded them in person.  My command was thus nearly doubled in numbers and efficiency.

During the night rain fell in torrents and our troops were exposed to the storm without shelter.  I made my headquarters under a tree a few hundred yards back from the river bank.  My ankle was so much swollen from the fall of my horse the Friday night preceding, and the bruise was so painful, that I could get no rest.

The drenching rain would have precluded the possibility of sleep without this additional cause.  Some time after midnight, growing restive under the storm and the continuous pain, I moved back to the log-house under the bank.  This had been taken as a hospital, and all night wounded men were being brought in, their wounds dressed, a leg or an arm amputated as the case might require, and everything being done to save life or alleviate suffering.  The sight was more unendurable than encountering the enemy’s fire, and I returned to my tree in the rain.

The advance on the morning of the 7th developed the enemy in the camps occupied by our troops before the battle began, more than a mile back from the most advanced position of the Confederates on the day before.  It is known now that they had not yet learned of the arrival of Buell’s command.  Possibly they fell back so far to get the shelter of our tents during the rain, and also to get away from the shells that were dropped upon them by the gunboats every fifteen minutes during the night.

The position of the Union troops on the morning of the 7th was as follows:  General Lew.  Wallace on the right; Sherman on his left; then McClernand and then Hurlbut.  Nelson, of Buell’s army, was on our extreme left, next to the river.

Crittenden was next in line after Nelson and on his right, McCook followed and formed the extreme right of Buell’s command.  My old command thus formed the right wing, while the troops directly under Buell constituted the left wing of the army.  These relative positions were retained during the entire day, or until the enemy was driven from the field.

In a very short time the battle became general all along the line.  This day everything was favorable to the Union side.  We had now become the attacking party.  The enemy was driven back all day, as we had been the day before, until finally he beat a precipitate retreat.  The last point held by him was near the road leading from the landing to Corinth, on the left of Sherman and right of McClernand.  About three o’clock, being near that point and seeing that the enemy was giving way everywhere else, I gathered up a couple of regiments, or parts