"Have we lost after doing so much ?" The lips of the Vermonter parted in a kind of savage grin.
"I won't say we've lost," he shouted in reply, "but I can't see anything we've won." Then he lost Warner in the smoke and the regiment retreated yet further.
It was impossible to preserve cohesion or keep a line formed.

The Southerners never ceased to press upon them with overwhelming weight.
Pillow, now decisive in action, continually accumulated new forces upon the Northern right.

Every position that McClernand had held at the opening of the battle was now taken, and the Confederate general was planning to surround and destroy the whole Union army.

Already he was sending messengers to the telegraph with news for Johnston of his complete victory.
But the last straw had not yet been laid upon the camel's back.
McClernand was beaten, but the hardy men of Kentucky, East Tennessee and the northwest still offered desperate resistance.

Conspicuous among the defenders was the regiment of young pioneers from Nebraska, hunters, Indian fighters, boys of twenty or less, who had suffered already every form of hardship.