Return to Bell's Farm

Return to Bell's Farm. . The second day of fighting saw the Federals retaking ground lost the day before. Here, General Don Carlos Buell's fresh divisions attacked the Confederate right and fighting once again consumed Sarah Bell's farm. Debris from the previous day's battle littered the fields and woods. The Confederates launched a piecemeal counterattack from Union camps they had occupied overnight. Within the southern ranks, confusion lingered as lines of authority, disrupted during the battle's first day, deteriorated further. Commanders had lost touch with their men, entire regiments had seemingly gone missing, and officers had failed to resupply their commands with ammunition. Despite these problems, the hastily reformed Confederates stubbornly resisted and halted Buell's morning advance. At noon, bolstered by reinforcements, Buell once again advanced, driving the Confederate right and center south. By sunset, Buell's troops occupied Union camps lost the previous day., ...all the wretched debris of battle still littered the spongy earth as far as one could see, in every direction. Dead horses were everywhere...ammunition wagons standing desolate behind four or six sprawling mules. Men? There were men enough; all dead... , Sergeant Ambrose Bierce , Co. C, 9th Indiana Infantry, (captions) , General Don Carlos Buell , Army of the Ohio, . 1 Buell's troops comprise the left wing of the Union counterattack. , . 2 The front lines see-saw as the Confederates repulse Buell's morning attacks. , . 3 Reinforced, Buell advances at noon, his attacks driving the Confederates back beyond the Hamburg, Purdy Road.