Then the most severe and bloody part of the battle commenced. With terrible ferocity Colonel Terry’s regiment of Texas Rangers poured in black masses of cavalry upon the Union skirmishers along the whole line. They rode up within fifteen or twenty yards, some even in the very midst of the men, and commenced a terrible fire from their carbines and revolvers. At their first onset, it seemed as if every one of the men would be destroyed. But here it was that the veteran coolness and bravery of the Union troops shone forth. They allowed the enemy to come almost as near as he chose, and then poured a deadly fire upon him, which shook the entire line. Upon the right flank of the third company’s position, by order of Adjutant Schmidt, the eighth company was led forth by Lieutenants Kappel and Levy; upon the left, Lieutenant-Colonel Treba advanced with the ninth company; both attacked the enemy in close skirmishers’ line, drove him back, and rescued the rest of the heroic little band under Lieutenant Sachs. He himself and a number of his men were, however, already killed, though they had made the enemy pay dearly for their lives. Now the artillery of the enemy was brought to bear upon the Union men. Their fire, balls and shrapnell, was well directed, but fortunately not very fatal. Only a few of the men were wounded by splinters of balls. While this was going on upon the left wing, the conflict on the right was no less severe. The second, sixth and tenth companies were scattered as skirmishers, while the seventh was drawn up in company column for their support. The sixth company had taken position behind a fence. The Rangers galloped up to them in close line, and commenced firing from rifles and revolvers. Their fire was steadily returned by the sixth, which held them in check till a part of them got behind the fence, when the skirmishers fell back behind the seventh, drawn up in a square. Now a fearful conflict ensued. A whole battalion of Rangers, fully two hundred strong, bore down upon the little band of not more than fifty. Upon the front and left flank of the square they rushed, with a fierce attempt to trample down the squad before them.