The Bayonet or Retreat

With 22,000 men on the field of battle, imagine how many acts of courage have been lost to history.

As the Confederates clambered back up the hillside, Herron believed a second assault would finish them off. He ordered two more regiments up the steep slope. The 26th Indiana and the 37th Illinois Infantry executed the order "in fine style, the men advancing steadily and swiftly up to the edge." The 26th Indiana advanced on the left and quickly found themselves outnumbered against Colonel Shelby's dismounted cavalry. Following a few minutes behind, the 37th Illinois Infintry advanced around the Borden House and hesitantly entered the orchad. Upon seeing over a hundered dead bodies strewn across the ground, Lieutenant Colonel John C. Black, who was still nursing a wound to his arm from the Battle of Pea Ridge, decided to fall back to the front of the Bordon House.

Black's troops had just reformed when they watch in horror as the 26th Indiana attempted to escape the "avalanche" of Confederates chasing after them. The 37th Illinois Infantry was now alone on the ridge with the entire Confederate Army. The Confederates "rose like a wall" and soon surrounded Black on three sides. "With bullets whizzing by like a severe hail storm," Colonel Black was hit in his good arm. Now lacking the use of both of his arms, Black remained on horseback and continued to shout commands until he witnessed a battery moving into position on his right."

Thus overwhelmed, the only hope from annihilation was the bayonet or retreat. The bayonet could not be used; directly in front of us was a rail fence, and it could not have been passed, and we reformed, before the enemy would have been upon us; so, reluctantly, I ordered a retreat.