ments, and no troops on the field fought with more stern determination. As the commands of Sherman and Prentiss were gradually driven from their positions they fell back to the line held by Hurlbut and Wallace. Here a terrific conflict ensued. In overwhelming numbers the Confederates charge again and again upon our lines and were met with continuous fire of musketry and artillery that has seldom been surpassed. So stubborn was the resistance that General A. S. Johnston, commander of the Confederate army, finding column after column driven back with shattered ranks, at last led another charge in person and in it fell mortally wounded. This part of the field has been appropriately named the “Hornet’s Nest,” to designate the spot where, for hours, the hottest fight of that bloody conflict raged. General Wallace was mortally wounded; Prentiss and most of his command were surrounded and captured after five hours of heroic fighting. Woods says in his report:
The killed and wounded numbered more than numbered more than one hundred and fifty and over four hundred were captured, eighty of whom died in southern prisons. Colonel Woods was recaptured in the next day’s battle. The