With the dawn Cotton's position was serious, if not desperate.

He was not only surrounded, but was commanded from Gun Hill.

Perhaps it would have been wiser if, after being wounded, he had handed over the command to Jones, his junior officer.

A stricken man's judgement can never be so sound as that of the hale.

However that may be, he came to the conclusion that the position was untenable, and that it was best to prevent further loss of life.