306

was received : " Form battery and load with cannister, as the enemy will presently
be upon us ! " Major Bridges, still lingering in the very presence of their advance,
being so close as to be summoned by them to surrender, but emptying his revolver
into their faces by way of reply, he then came dashing back to the artillery, which
let him pass with his Texans, and then opened on the enemy with eight rounds,
sweeping the road clear for the distance of more than three hundred yards. The
effect on them was decisive; they were thrown into the greatest confusion, many
saddles were emptied and their advance checked.

The artillery limbered up again, and set off at a gallop, not stopping till they
had crossed Black Bayou, a distance of six miles. The enemy followed, but at
length retired to Greenville, burning the town and neighboring residences, in
revenge for their losses in the fight.

The next day Major Bridges learned that the enemy held Haynes' Landing and
Snyder's Bluff, and were likely to attempt his capture by sending troops up the
Yazoo River in his rear. The same evening orders were received from General
Ferguson to leave the Mississippi at once and proceed to Greenwood, on the
Yazoo River by the way of Deer Creek, Bogue Phaliah and Moon Lake. At
midnight the camp at Fish Lake was broken up, and the command proceeded
on its way, and reached the Yazoo on the 24th, after marching a distance of
seventy miles. Obstruction in the river prevented the enemy from ascending
to the point where Major Bridges crossed. From Greenwood the battery was
ordered to Yazoo City, where it arrived on the ist of June. After one more
engagement with the enemy's vessels on the Yazoo, the Maryland section
proceeded, on the 12th, to Vernon, Mississippi, where it was attached to General
McXair's Brigade of Walker's Division. Six days after it was transferred to
Ector's Brigade of the same division. A section of Captain McNally's Arkansas
battery, under Lieutenant Moore, was also attached to this brigade, and, as he was
the senior officer, he took command of both sections. Walker's Division constituted
part of the army which General Joseph E. Johnston was assembling for the relief
of Vicksburg.

On the 1st of July the movement toward Vicksburg began. While waiting
for the pontoons on which the Big Black River was to be crossed to come up the
news was received at headquarters that Vicksburg had capitulated. How great
a calamity to the Confederacy this event was, is well known. It was especially
painful to the detached section of the Third Maryland, as much the larger part of
their battery was lost with the city. As before stated, three officers, seventy men
and five guns of the Third Maryland were surrendered. They were paroled on
the 12th of July, and on the 26th at Enterprise were furloughed for thirty days,
with orders to report at Decatur, Georgia.

Johnston's army reached Jackson on the night of the 7th, and before daylight