Page:History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Volume 2.djvu/436

 of capturing Helena. Under his command were the troops of Price, Marmaduke, Parsons and Shelby. Helena is situated on low level ground and on the west is a ridge of hills a quarter of a mile distant broken by deep ravines into numerous elevations. The valleys open toward the town and all of these approaches were commanded by guns of Fort Curtis. But beyond the fort was still higher ground upon which were four batteries of light artillery, each on a commanding elevation from which the guns could sweep in all directions and connected by rifle pits for infantry. The low ground on both flanks of this line of fortifications was protected by rifle pits and batteries of ten-pound Parrotts and six and twelve-pound brass cannon. The public roads leading into the town had been obstructed by fallen trees. The effective force of the garrison was aroused at two o’clock on the 4th of July, 1863, by the approach of the Confederate army and the various commands were assigned to positions. The battle was opened by artillery upon both flanks of our army at about half-past four and both wings were soon engaged. It soon became evident that the plan of the Confederate commander was to concentrate his main assault on the center of the Union defenses, break through the line, then taking the two wings in turn throw them into confusion. Holmes and Price directed the attacks upon batteries D and C simultaneously, but were met with a fire which hurled them back with broken ranks. These were reformed, heavily reënforced and again pressed forward for the assault. Again they were repulsed with heavy loss and sought shelter in the ravines and among the fallen trees. A dense fog now settled over the field and for an hour the conflict was suspended. As the mist cleared away, three regiments were seen advancing upon battery C, the bayonets glistening in the sunlight as