SHILOH AND THE SIEGE OF CORINTH.
The Error of the Rebels.--Story of a Surgeon.--Experience of a
Rebel Regiment.--Injury to the Rebel Army.--The Effect in our own
Lines.--Daring of a Color-Bearer.--A Brave Soldier.--A Drummer-Boy's
Experience.--Gallantry of an Artillery Surgeon.--A Regiment Commanded
by a Lieutenant.--Friend Meeting Friend and Brother Meeting Brother
in the Opposing Lines.--The Scene of the Battle.--Fearful Traces
of Musketry-Fire.--The Wounded.--The Labor of the Sanitary
Commission.--Humanity a Yankee Trick.--Besieging Corinth.--A
Cold-Water Battery.--Halleck and the Journalists.--Occupation of
Corinth.
The fatal error of the Rebels, was their neglect to attack on the 4th,
as originally intended. They were informed by their scouts that Buell
could not reach Savannah before the 9th or 10th; and therefore a delay
of two days would not change the situation. Buell was nearer than they
supposed.
The surgeon of the Sixth Iowa Infantry fell into the enemy's hands
early on the morning of the first day of the battle, and established a
hospital in our abandoned camp. His position was at a small log-house
close by the principal road. Soon after he took possession, the
enemy's columns began to file past him, as they pressed our army. The
surgeon says he noticed a Louisiana regiment that moved into battle
eight hundred strong, its banners flying and the men elated at the
prospect of success. About five o'clock in the afternoon this regiment
was withdrawn, and went into bivouac a short distance from the
surgeon's hospital. It was then less than four hundred strong, but the
spirit of the men was still the same. On the morning of the 7th,
it once more went into battle. About noon it came out, less than a
hundred strong, pressing in retreat toward Corinth. The men still
clung to their flag, and declared their determination to be avenged.
The story of this regiment was the story of many others. Shattered and
disorganized, their retreat to Corinth had but little order. Only the
splendid rear-guard, commanded by General Bragg, saved them from utter
confusion. The Rebels admitted that many of their regiments were
unable to produce a fifth of their original numbers, until a week
or more after the battle. The stragglers came in slowly from the
surrounding country, and at length enabled the Rebels to estimate
their loss. There were many who never returned to answer at roll-call.
In our army, the disorder was far from small. Large numbers of
soldiers wandered for days about the camps, before they could
ascertain their proper locations. It was fully a week, before all
were correctly assigned. We refused to allow burying parties from the
Rebels to come within our lines, preferring that they should not
see the condition of our camp. Time was required to enable us to
recuperate. I presume the enemy was as much in need of time as
ourselves.
A volume could be filled with the stories of personal valor during
that battle. General Lew Wallace says his division was, at a certain
time, forming on one side of a field, while the Rebels were on the
opposite side. The color-bearer of a Rebel regiment stepped in front
of his own line, and waved his flag as a challenge to the color-bearer
that faced him. Several of our soldiers wished to meet the challenge,
but their officers forbade it. Again the Rebel stepped forward, and
planted his flag-staff in the ground. There was no response, and again
and again he advanced, until he had passed more than half the distance
between the opposing lines. Our fire was reserved in admiration of the
man's daring, as he stood full in view, defiantly waving his banner.
At last, when the struggle between the divisions commenced, it was
impossible to save him, and he fell dead by the side of his colors.
On the morning of the second day's fighting, the officers of one of
our gun-boats saw a soldier on the river-bank on our extreme left,
assisting another soldier who was severely wounded. A yawl was sent to
bring away the wounded man and his companion. As it touched the side
of the gun-boat on its return, the uninjured soldier asked to be sent
back to land, that he might have further part in the battle. "I have,"
said he, "been taking care of this man, who is my neighbor at home. He
was wounded yesterday morning, and I have been by his side ever since.
Neither of us has eaten any thing for thirty hours, but, if you will
take good care of him, I will not stop now for myself. I want to get
into the battle again at once." The man's request was complied with. I
regret my inability to give his name.
A drummer-boy of the Fifteenth Iowa Infantry was wounded five times
during the first day's battle, but insisted upon going out on the
second day. He had hardly started before he fainted from loss of
blood, and was left to recover and crawl back to the camp.
Colonel Sweeney, of the Fifty-second Illinois Infantry, who lost an
arm in Mexico and was wounded in the leg at Wilson Creek, received a
wound in his arm on the first day of the battle. He kept his saddle,
though he was unable to use his arm, and went to the hospital after
the battle was over. When I saw him he was venting his indignation
at the Rebels, because they had not wounded him in the stump of
his amputated arm, instead of the locality which gave him so much
inconvenience. It was this officer's fortune to be wounded on nearly
every occasion when he went into battle.
During the battle, Dr. Cornyn, surgeon of Major Cavender's battalion
of Missouri Artillery, saw a section of a battery whose commander had
been killed. The doctor at once removed the surgeon's badge from his
hat and the sash from his waist, and took command of the guns. He
placed them in position, and for several hours managed them with good
effect. He was twice wounded, though not severely. "I was determined
they should not kill or capture me as a surgeon when I had charge
of that artillery," said the doctor afterward, "and so removed every
thing that marked my rank."
The Rebels made some very desperate charges against our artillery, and
lost heavily in each attack. Once they actually laid their hands on
the muzzles of two guns in Captain Stone's battery, but were unable to
capture them.
General Hurlbut stated that his division fought all day on Sunday with
heavy loss, but only one regiment broke. When he entered the battle
on Monday morning, the Third Iowa Infantry was commanded by a
first-lieutenant, all the field officers and captains having been
disabled or captured. Several regiments were commanded by captains.
Colonel McHenry, of the Seventeenth Kentucky, said his regiment fought
a Kentucky regiment which was raised in the county where his own was
organized. The fight was very fierce. The men frequently called out
from one to another, using taunting epithets. Two brothers recognized
each other at the same moment, and came to a tree midway between the
lines, where they conversed for several minutes.
The color-bearer of the Fifty-second Illinois was wounded early in the
battle. A man who was under arrest for misdemeanor asked the privilege
of carrying the colors. It was granted, and he behaved so admirably
that he was released from arrest as soon as the battle was ended.
General Halleck arrived a week after the battle, and commenced a
reorganization of the army. He found much confusion consequent upon
the battle. In a short time the army was ready to take the offensive.
We then commenced the advance upon Corinth, in which we were six
weeks moving twenty-five miles. When our army first took position
at Pittsburg Landing, and before the Rebels had effected their
concentration, General Grant asked permission to capture Corinth.
He felt confident of success, but was ordered not to bring on an
engagement under any circumstances. Had the desired permission been
given, there is little doubt he would have succeeded, and thus avoided
the necessity of the battle of Shiloh.
The day following my arrival at Pittsburg Landing I rode over the
battle-field. The ground was mostly wooded, the forest being one
in which artillery could be well employed, but where cavalry was
comparatively useless. The ascent from the river was up a steep bluff
that led to a broken table-ground, in which there were many ravines,
generally at right angles to the river. On this table-ground our camps
were located, and it was there the battle took place.
Everywhere the trees were scarred and shattered, telling, as plainly
as by words, of the shower of shot, shell, and bullets, that had
fallen upon them. Within rifle range of the river, stood a tree
marked by a cannon-shot, showing how much we were pressed back on
the afternoon of the 6th. From the moment the crest of the bluff was
gained, the traces of battle were apparent.
In front of the line where General Prentiss's Division fought, there
was a spot of level ground covered with a dense growth of small trees.
The tops of these trees were from twelve to fifteen feet high, and had
been almost mowed off by the shower of bullets which passed through
them. I saw no place where there was greater evidence of severe work.
There was everywhere full proof that the battle was a determined one.
Assailant and defendant had done their best.
It was a ride of five miles among scarred trees, over ground cut by
the wheels of guns and caissons, among shattered muskets, disabled
cannon, broken wagons, and all the heavier débris of battle.
Everywhere could be seen torn garments, haversacks, and other personal
equipments of soldiers. There were tents where the wounded had been
gathered, and where those who could not easily bear movement to the
transports were still remaining. In every direction I moved, there
were the graves of the slain, the National and the Rebel soldiers
being buried side by side. Few of the graves were marked, as the
hurry of interment had been great. I fear that many of those graves,
undesignated and unfenced, have long since been leveled. A single
year, with its rain and its rank vegetation, would leave but a small
trace of those mounds.
All through that forest the camps of our army were scattered. During
the first few days after the battle they showed much irregularity, but
gradually took a more systematic shape. When the wounded had been
sent to the transports, the regiments compacted, the camps cleared
of superfluous baggage and _matériel_, and the weather became more
propitious, the army assumed an attractive appearance.
When the news of the battle reached the principal cities of the West,
the Sanitary Commission prepared to send relief. Within twenty-four
hours, boats were dispatched from St. Louis and Cincinnati, and
hurried to Pittsburg Landing with the utmost rapidity. The battle had
not been altogether unexpected, but it found us without the proper
preparation. Whatever we had was pushed forward without delay, and the
sufferings of the wounded were alleviated as much as possible.
As fast as the boats arrived they were loaded with wounded, and sent
to St. Louis and other points along the Mississippi, or to Cincinnati
and places in its vicinity. Chicago, St. Louis, and Cincinnati were
the principal points represented in this work of humanity. Many
prominent ladies of those cities passed week after week in the
hospitals or on the transports, doing every thing in their power, and
giving their attention to friend and foe alike.
In all cases the Rebels were treated with the same kindness that our
own men received. Not only on the boats, but in the hospitals where
the wounded were distributed, and until they were fully recovered, our
suffering prisoners were faithfully nursed. The Rebel papers afterward
admitted this kind treatment, but declared it was a Yankee trick to
win the sympathies of our prisoners, and cause them to abandon the
insurgent cause. The men who systematically starved their prisoners,
and deprived them of shelter and clothing, could readily suspect the
humanity of others. They were careful never to attempt to kill by
kindness, those who were so unfortunate as to fall into their hands.
It was three weeks after the battle before all the wounded were sent
away, and the army was ready for offensive work. When we were once
more in fighting trim, our lines were slowly pushed forward. General
Pope had been called from the vicinity of Fort Pillow, after his
capture of Island Number Ten, and his army was placed in position
on the left of the line already formed. When our advance began, we
mustered a hundred and ten thousand men. Exclusive of those who do not
take part in a battle, we could have easily brought eighty thousand
men into action. We began the siege of Corinth with every confidence
in our ability to succeed.
In this advance, we first learned how an army should intrench
itself. Every time we took a new position, we proceeded to throw
up earth-works. Before the siege was ended, our men had perfected
themselves in the art of intrenching. The defenses we erected will
long remain as monuments of the war in Western Tennessee. Since
General Halleck, no other commander has shown such ability to fortify
in an open field against an enemy that was acting on the defensive.
It was generally proclaimed that we were to capture Corinth with all
its garrison of sixty or seventy thousand men. The civilian observers
could not understand how this was to be accomplished, as the Rebels
had two lines of railway open for a safe retreat. It was like the old
story of "bagging Price" in Missouri. Every part of the bag, except
the top and one side, was carefully closed and closely watched.
Unmilitary men were skeptical, but the military heads assured them it
was a piece of grand strategy, which the public must not be allowed to
understand.
During the siege, there was very little for a journalist to record.
One day was much like another. Occasionally there would be a collision
with the enemy's pickets, or a short struggle for a certain position,
usually ending in our possession of the disputed point. The battle of
Farmington, on the left of our line, was the only engagement worthy
the name, and this was of comparatively short duration. Twenty-four
hours after it transpired we ceased to talk about it, and made only
occasional reference to the event. There were four weeks of monotony.
An advance of a half mile daily was not calculated to excite the
nerves.
The chaplains and the surgeons busied themselves in looking after
the general health of the army. One day, a chaplain, noted for his
advocacy of total abstinence, passed the camp of the First Michigan
Battery. This company was raised in Coldwater, Michigan, and the
camp-chests, caissons, and other property were marked "Loomis's
Coldwater Battery." The chaplain at once sought Captain Loomis, and
paid a high compliment to his moral courage in taking a firm and noble
stand in favor of temperance. After the termination of the interview,
the captain and several friends drank to the long life of the chaplain
and the success of the "Coldwater Battery."
Toward the end of the siege, General Halleck gave the journalists a
sensation, by expelling them from his lines. The representatives of
the Press held a meeting, and waited upon that officer, after the
appearance of the order requiring their departure. They offered a
protest, which was insolently rejected. We could not ascertain General
Halleck's purpose in excluding us just as the campaign was closing,
but concluded he desired we should not witness the end of the siege
in which so much had been promised and so little accomplished. A week
after our departure, General Beauregard evacuated Corinth, and our
army took possession. The fruits of the victory were an empty village,
a few hundred stragglers, and a small quantity of war _matériel_.
From Corinth the Rebels retreated to Tupelo, Mississippi, where
they threw up defensive works. The Rebel Government censured General
Beauregard for abandoning Corinth. The evacuation of that point
uncovered Memphis, and allowed it to fall into our hands.
Beauregard was removed from command. General Joseph E. Johnston was
assigned to duty in his stead. This officer proceeded to reorganize
his army, with a view to offensive operations against our lines.
He made no demonstrations of importance until the summer months had
passed away.
The capture of Corinth terminated the offensive portion of the
campaign. Our army occupied the line of the Memphis and Charleston
Railway from Corinth to Memphis, and made a visit to Holly Springs
without encountering the enemy. A few cavalry expeditions were made
into Mississippi, but they accomplished nothing of importance. The
Army of the Tennessee went into summer-quarters. The Army of the Ohio,
under General Buell, returned to its proper department, to confront
the Rebel armies then assembling in Eastern Tennessee. General Halleck
was summoned to Washington as commander-in-chief of the armies of the
United States.