the previous day. At 1 p.m., Porter's ships moved towards the fort to again bombard it. The three Union ironclads, supported by Lexington and two other gunboats, fired from the river, while the Union cannons on land joined in as well. Four cannons from the Chicago Mercantile Battery contributed fire, as well. It took only about an hour to wreck one side of the Confederate fort and knock out all three heavy guns. The Union land artillery had orders to fire for thirty minutes after the naval bombardment opened, which was to be followed by an infantry attack three minutes after thirty-minute firing interval. When the infantry attack began, the men were ordered to yell loudly, so that the naval vessels would hear the noise and know to shift their fire to prevent friendly fire. Morgan could observe the progress of the gunboats, while Sherman had to judge by sound. With the Confederates not firing in response to his cannonade, Sherman cut his cannon fire off early and sent his infantry in for the assault. When Hovey's brigade attacked, it came under fire from Confederates on the other side of Post Bayou. To counter this threat, the 17th Missouri Infantry was aligned along Post Bayou. Fire from Deshler's Confederates and two of Hart's pieces halted the Union attack until the 76th Ohio Infantry moved up and drove the Confederate cannon crews off. Hovey suffered an arm wound but remained on the field. To the left, Thayer's brigade was repulsed by the 10th Texas Infantry. Hovey in turn had the 3d Missouri Infantry and the 31st Iowa Infantry attacked the 15th Texas Cavalry, but they were also repulsed. Deshler sent the 19th Arkansas to support the Texans. In Stuart's sector, Giles Smith's brigade came under heavy enfilade fire from Hart's battery, and men had to crawl forward to a wooded position to fire into the battery and silence it. T. K. Smith's brigade aligned on Giles Smith's left and two artillery batteries were brought forward. The two brigades were then held in preparation for a general storming of the Confederate works. To counter the attacks against his line, Deshler requested reinforcements, and was granted parts of three Texas cavalry units from Garland's brigade. As the Union attack moved from the right to the left, Brigadier-General Stephen G. Burbridge's brigade from Morgan's corps advanced. Confederate soldiers fired upon the brigade from a