Sharon --

July 3, 1864, pages 194-95 --

On the night of the 2nd, General Johnston evacuated his lines around Marietta, and fell back five miles from Marietta to Smyrna Church camp ground.
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At about one o'clock on the morning of the 3rd, we reached our new position near the Smyrna camp ground. The night was a very dark one, and part of our line running thro [sic] a thick wood, it was impossible to get to work before daylight. The men threw themselves on the ground in rear of their stacks of arms, and slept until daybreak. As soon as it was light enough to see, the ground was laid out, and the labor of constructing breastsworks and batteries was commenced. In a few hours the lines were in a condition to resist an attack, and by midday the enemy were upon us. The rattle of musketry gave us a warning that our outposts were engaged, and shortly after their dark lines could be seen drawing towards us. Steadily and warily they felt their way onwards, until, arriving at a proper distance, they halted, going to work immediately to secure themselves in the same way that we had done. During the 3rd and 4th we were employed in strengthening our works, clearing out the woods in our front, where they existed, and constructing "abatis" and "palisades", fighting between the pickets going on all the time, as well as a steady artillery fire. I do not think that the position selected here was a very strong one. The line selected was a very irregualr one, many salient points occuring in it. The consequence was that with the long-range weapons of the present day, many of the projectiles fired at a certain point that missed and passed over the works, would strike some poor fellow in the back, on duty in the other face of the salient.

At this place I saw two Yankee batteries, a mile and a half apart, engage each other with great spirit, firing round after round, each one under the impression that he was engaged with a rebel battery. Our line was so tortuous that I am not surprised at the mistake being made, and just at that point and from the position that hese two batteries had taken up, I daresay that each had the appearance to the other of being located in our line of defense. It was a very ludicrous sight, causing much merriment and shouts of laughter for the space of fifteen minutes, until the two combatants found out their error.
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I will mention here that Genral Hindman on the night of the 3rd, injured his eye in some manner. He was anxious to get away, and everybody else equally so to get rid of him. The accident furnished a good excuse,and we never saw him again during the war.
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I will now take leave of him, and will refrain from expressing any further opinion of him, for I have nothing to say in his favor, and was only too glad to get rid of him.

I have left out several sections of narrative, but you get the idea of what was happening on this day. Next time one of your children asks what you really need, mention the title of Manigault's book!