two o'clock
_ '' and all advanced like a wall , with the greatest courage -- that we can not deny . Our cannon opened huge gaps in their lines ; still they pressed on ; but at the top of the hill we charged again , and drove them to the river . We would have massacred them to a man , were it not for one of their batteries before Mockern , which enfiladed us and forced us to give up the pursuit . This lasted until two o'clock ; half our officers were killed or wounded ; the colonel , Lorain , was among the first , and the commandant , Gémeau , the latter ; all along the river side were heaps of dead , or wounded men crawling away from the struggle . Some , furious , would rise to their knees to fire a last shot or deliver a final bayonet-thrust . Never was anything seen like it . In the river floated long lines of corpses , some showing their faces , others their backs , others their feet .