At seven o’clock the heads of the rebel column were seen, emerging from the woods in front of the Union forces, and slowly bearing down upon their centre—first on Davis, next on Stanley, and last on Hamilton. The rebel force was so overpowering that the jaded and worn troops of the Union fell back before it. A contemporary correspondent describing this portion of the battle on the 4th, writes as follows: “It was perhaps half-past nine o’clock when the bitter tragedy began to develop in earnest. A prodigious mass, with gleaming bayonets, suddenly loomed out, dark and threatening on the east of the railroad, moving sternly up the Bolivar road in column by divisions. Directly it opened out in the shape of a monstrous wedge, and drove forward impetuously toward the heart of Corinth. It was a splendid target for our batteries, and it was soon perforated. Hideous gaps were rent in it, but those massive lines were closed almost as soon as they were torn open. At this period the skilful management of General Rosecrans began to develop. It was discovered that the enemy had been enticed to attack precisely at the point where the artillery could sweep them with direct, cross and enfilading fire. He had prepared for such an occasion. Our shell swept through the mass with awful effect, but the brave rebels pressed onward inflexibly. Directly the wedge opened and spread out magnificently, right and left, like great wings, seeming to swoop over the whole field before them. But there was a fearful march in front. A broad turfy glacis, sloping upward at an angle of thirty degrees to a crest fringed with determined, disciplined soldiers, and clad with terrible batteries, frowned upon them. There were a few obstructions—fallen timber—which disordered their lines a little. But every break was instantly welded. Our whole line opened fire, but the enemy, seemingly insensible to fear, or infuriated by passion, bent their necks downward and marched steadily to death, _with their faces averted like men striving to protect themselves against a driving storm of hail_. The Yates and Burgess sharpshooters, lying snugly behind their rude breastworks, poured in a destructive fire, but it seemed no more effectual than if they had been firing potato-balls, excepting that somebody was killed. The enemy still pressed onward undismayed. At last they reached the crest of the hill in front and to the right of Fort Richardson, and General Davies’s division gave way. It began to fall back in disorder. General Rosecrans, who had been watching the conflict with eagle eye, and who is described as having expressed his delight at the trap into which General Price was blindly plunging, discovered the break and dashed to the front, inflamed with indignation. He rallied the men by his splendid example in the thickest of the fight. Before the line was demoralized he succeeded in restoring it, and the men, brave when bravely led, fought again. But