Dibrell's Position

Dibrell's Position. . The Regiment's First Fight , Colonel George Dibrell placed his dismounted cavalry in this area, on a rise southeast of the Parker house. "Here," Dibrell wrote, "we began our first regular battle as cavalry." His position, east of Colonel Alonzo Napier and across the cotton field from the 122nd Illinois, is where Forrest placed Sergeant Nat Baxter's 12-pounder howitzer., Baxter's gun had disabled one of the three Union artillery pieces that morning during the engagement at Hicks field. Now, his gun kept the Illinois troops pinned down. Baxter recalled, "We were at such close quarters a good deal of the time that we used two charges of canister with a single charge of powder.", Punishing the Federals , Confederate artillery, arranged from east to west along a line north of the cotton field, pummeled the Union forces. Two guns worked the west end of Forrest's line, one with Napier and the other with Dibrell. Lieutenant John Morton's two guns were in the center. The rest of Freeman's battery covered the east end of the Confederate line. Firing as fast as possible, they rained lead down on Colonel Dunham's line., Colonel John Rinaker, commander of the 122nd Illinois, remembered: "They had placed ten pieces of artillery at distances varying from 300 to 600 yards, and as we came into line, facing the north and in front of the rebels' guns, they opened upon us most furiously with grape, canister, shell, and solid shot." The smoke from the artillery fire clouded the battlefield, creating confusion. The shot and shells inflicted heavy casualties on the Union defenders, whose artillery had run out of ammunition early in the fight., (captions) , Stg. Nat Baxter, right, commanded a 12-pounder howitzer identical to that shown below at a Union encampment. , Col. George Dibrell, CSA. , Col. John Rinaker, 122nd Illinois Infantry