Comte de Paris, History of the Civil War in America. Vol. 4.
Henry Coppee , LL.D., Ed.

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[544] first time crosses Cane River. However, Banks, once on the march, seemed as if he never meant to stop, so great was his haste to reach Monet's Ferry; he marched his soldiers thirty-seven miles at a stretch, without allowing them the least halt, to Cloutierville, while the rearguard did not arrive till three in the morning. He started on the 23d before daylight, while the soldiers of A. J. Smith renewed their march at seven o'clock; so that, after being on their feet for twenty consecutive hours, they had only four hours for rest. It was only to meet the enemy that they were accustomed to march at this rate, not to run away from him.

When the head of the Federal column reached Monet's Ferry it found Bee posted with about thirty-five hundred men on a steep hill which overlooks the right bank of Cane River; his artillery commanded the ford. A reconnoissance made by Colonel Bailey, whose name will soon reappear under our pen, proved that it was impossible to force the passage of Cane River below this point. General Emory, who was filling the place of Franklin, still suffering from his wound, at once made every preparation to dislodge Bee from his position. He remained before Monet's Ferry with two brigades of his division and all his artillery, while General Birge, with a brigade of Cameron's division and the third of Emory's division under the orders of Colonel Fessenden, tried to turn the flank of the enemy above the ford. Cameron was to support this movement at the head of the rest of the Thirteenth corps. Birge succeeded in crossing the river nearly two miles above Monet's Ferry, and, clearing for himself a road through almost impassable swamps and brakes, he issued from it, toward three o'clock, on the left flank of Bee.

The Confederates were posted on this side on a wooded eminence behind an enclosure, their two flanks protected, the left by a lake, the right by the river. The combatants were separated by a bare slope extending to the underbrush through which the Federals had just advanced. This strong position was defended by several pieces of artillery. However, the attack had to be made in front. Birge, without a moment's hesitation, springs to the charge at the head of his two small brigades. They are decimated by a terrific fire. Fessenden falls dangerously wounded, but in a few minutes the position is carried. The Confederates