Simply stated, yes, but they weren't out far enough to do much good. However, many soldiers and even officers heard the Confederates in their march or as they deployed. At least one battery commander, Capt. Hubert Dilger, took it upon himself to scout in his own front and when he attempted to report what he'd seen he was brushed off by some of Howard's aides at corps headquarters. A problem was that prim and proper New England Yankee Howard was totally unsuited to his new command, largely consisting of recent German immigrants like Dilger, whose English left a deal to be desired. They were on the whole good soldiers who had performed well under Fremont and Sigel but were looked down on by their own commander and his staff.