Hurlbut had been encamped in the edge nearest the river, of a stretch of open fields, backed with heavy timber. Among his troops were the Seventeenth and Twenty-fifth Kentucky, Forty-fourth and Thirty-first Indiana, constituting Lauman's Brigade; Third Iowa, Forty-first Illinois and some others, forming Colonel Williams' Brigade. As Prentiss fell back, Hurlbut's left aided Wallace in sustaining the Rebel onset, and when McClernand gave way, the remainder of the division was thrown forward. The position beyond the camp, however, was not a good one, and the division was compelled to fall back through its camp to the thick woods behind. Here, with open fields before them, they could rake the Rebel approach. Nobly did they now stand their ground. From 10 to half-past 3 they held the enemy in check, and through nearly that whole time were actively engaged. Hurlbut himself displayed the most daring and brilliant gallantry, and his example, with that of the brave officers under him, nerved the men to the sternest endurance. Three times during those long hours the heavy Rebel masses on the left charged upon the division, and three times were they repulsed, with terrible slaughter. Close, sharp, continuous musketry, whole lines belching fire on the Rebels as the leaden storm swept the fields over which they attempted to advance, were too much for Rebel discipline, though the bodies left scattered over the fields, even on Monday evening, bore ghastly testimony to the daring with which they had been precipitated toward our lines. But there is still much in the Napoleonic theory that Providence has a tendency at least to go with the heaviest battalions. The battalions were against us. The Rebel generals, too, handled their forces with a skill that extorted admiration in the midst of our suffering. Repulse was nothing to them. A rush on our lines failed; they took their disordered troops to the rear, and sent up fresh troops, who, unknowing the fearful reception awaiting them, were ready to try it again. The jaded division was compelled to yield, and after six hours' magnificent fighting, it fell back out of sight of its camps, and to a point within half a mile of the Landing. Let us turn to the fate of Hurlbut's companion division--that of Brigadier-General W. H. L. Wallace, which included the Second and Seventh Iowa, Ninth and Twenty-eighth Illinois, and several of the other regiments composing Major-General Smith's old division; with also three excellent batteries, Stone's, Richardson's and Weber's (all from Missouri), forming an artillery battalion, under the general management of Major Cavender.