Adam Badeau, Military history of Ulysses S. Grant from April 1861 to April 1865. Volume 1

[40] on a line of heights, in general parallel with the enemy's outworks, and extending for a distance of over three miles. Various spaces and elevations afforded positions for artillery, and from these he annoyed the enemy, but they were not of such a commanding character as to enable him to achieve decided results.

At sunset on this day no reenforcements of importance had yet arrived, and the gunboats were not in sight. That night the weather became intensely cold, the thermometer falling to ten degrees above zero (Fahrenheit), and the troops, who were mostly raw, and not yet inured to the hardships of war, suf. fered extremely in consequence. They were obliged to bivouac in line of battle, and with arms in their hands, for they lay within point-blank musket-range of the enemy's breastworks. The rebel pickets were out in strong force, and no fires could be built; many of the men had thrown away their blankets on the march; they had insufficient rations, having been careless of what they brought in their haversacks, and the new supplies had not arrived. There were no tents, and towards morning a driving storm of snow and hail set in. Not a few of the soldiers on both sides were frozen. An incessant firing was kept up by the rebel pickets, and the groans of the wounded, who lay shivering between the two armies, and calling for help and water, were heard all night through the storm. The force of the enemy at this time was largely superior to Grant's, and that commander sent across to Fort Henry for the garrison which had been left there.

Before daylight of Friday, the 14th, however, Commodore Foote came up the river, and the troops