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Permission being obtained, the division, with Ammen's brigade the Twenty-fourth Ohio, Sixth Ohio, and Thirty-sixth Indiana in front began their march early on the morning of the 29th, the men stripped of their pantaloons, carrying their cartridge-boxes on their necks; the ammunition-boxes of the artillery taken from the limbers and carried over on scows, and tents packed in the bottom of the wagon-beds, to lift ammunition and stores above water.
The batteries having been left at the junction of the cross-road and the river road, till all the infantry had crossed, followed in their rear, and were posted near the bank. The remainder of Nelson's division followed Ammen's brigade late in the evening. Crittenden's division arrived in the night.
Ammen's line, which fell back under the galling fire called out by Terrill's artillery charge, now returned to the front and occupied the timber where the enemy had been. It was now nearly two o'clock. There was no more fighting in Nelson's front. Terrill's battery suffered so severely that the Sixth Ohio was detailed as its special support, and supplied artillerists from its ranks.
Nelson moved in line with Ammen's brigade on the left, Bruce's in the centre, and Hazen's on the right, his left extending a little beyond the Hamburg road towards the river.
At the same time the Fortieth Illinois, of McDowell's brigade, Sherman's division, which had been marching in reserve to Nelson, filed to the front around Ammen's left flank, and the Confederate line retired to their position in the timber.
The shattered regiments streamed back in confusion, leaving a gap in the division line. Ammen's brigade was sorely pressed. Constituting the left of the army, it was in constant risk of being turned. Bruce's brigade, now put in hazard by the recession of Hazen, could give only indirect assistance to Ammen.
No practicable way was found near the river; one, a little inland, was ascertained, practicable for infantry, but not for wheels. The division moved at one o'clock. General Ammen's brigade, composed of the Thirty-sixth Indiana and the Sixth and Twenty-fourth Ohio, being in advance, crossed the river first.
They opened fire at thirty-five minutes past five. Chalmers had not ended his useless attempt when the boats bearing Ammen's brigade of Nelson's division of Buell's army crossed the river and landed. General Nelson, when ordered by General Grant, early in the morning, to move up the river, sent out a party to discover a route.
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