"The weather is very pleasant now. The trees are coming out in full
bloom. I took a long ride out into the country to-day; went as far as
it was safe to go this side of the rebels. The woods are full of wild
flowers; I got quite a bouquet which I would love to have presented to
my wife, but she was not here to get it; maybe I may enclose you some
of the violets I have among them."
And yet notwithstanding the quietness and confidence prevailing in the
army encamped at Pittsburg Landing, as indicated in these extracts
from my letters, on the 2d of April the entire Confederate army under
General A. S. Johnston had marched from Corinth, and on the 3d, the
day I took my "long ride into the country," it was within striking
distance of our camp, designing to make its united attack on Grant's
army on the 5th. Being unexpectedly delayed one day, the rebel
onslaught broke upon our lines at day-break on Sunday the 6th. Of the
terrible two-days battle which ensued, I was able the night of the
second day to write to my father a pretty full account:--
"_Pittsburg Landing, Tenn._,
"_April 7, 1862_.
"DEAR FATHER:--
"Tired, worn out, almost exhausted, I have just brought the remnant
of the noble Twenty-fifth Indiana back into our old camp from the
front of the hardest-fought, most strongly contested, and bloodiest
battlefield upon the American continent. But I cannot lie down without
first preparing a short account of it, to assure you of my own personal
safety, the gallant conduct of our regiment, and the glorious triumph
of our arms. A terrible conflict of two full days of continuous
fighting has this evening left us in possession of the field which was
at one time almost lost.
"Yesterday (Sunday) morning, about 6.30 o'clock, just after we had
finished breakfast, we were attracted by a continuous roar of musketry,
with occasional discharges of artillery on our extreme left, near the
river. In a few minutes we were in line of battle, and moving forward
to the attack. We had hardly left the camp before we saw the roads
full of our flying men, and all along the route for the two miles we
passed over were strewn guns, knapsacks, and blankets, and we found,
to our dismay, that our front had been completely surprised, one whole
division scattered and retreating in utter confusion, and the enemy in
force already a mile within our camps.
"We were drawn up in line of battle, our brigade, under command of
Colonel Veatch, in a skirt of timber bordering a large field, on the
outer edge of which our troops were engaging the enemy. But the enemy
pressed on in overwhelming force, and just as the troops in front of
us began to waver, we discovered that the enemy had flanked us on the
right and was rapidly advancing (in what force we knew not, but the
woods were perfectly swarming), to attack our brigade on the right and
rear. So it became necessary for us to change our front to the rear to
meet them.
"The Fifteenth Illinois was on the right, the Fourteenth Illinois
in the center, and the Twenty-fifth Indiana on the left, the other
regiment, the Forty-sixth Illinois, by the rapid flanking of the enemy
becoming detached from the brigade, was not with us again during
the whole action. This brought the first fire upon the Fifteenth
Illinois, which stood it nobly, but was soon overpowered; likewise,
the Fourteenth. In the meantime the troops in front and on the left
were completely routed by the enemy and came pell-mell right through
our lines, causing some little confusion, and hardly had they passed
through to the rear before the enemy were upon us, and here the fire of
musketry was most terrible.
"Our men tried to stand up to it, but everything was breaking to
pieces all around us, and it was more than we could do, short of
annihilation. We poured in a few well-directed volleys, and reluctantly
left the field--many of our men firing as they fell back. The loss here
was very heavy. All the field officers of the Twenty-fifth Illinois
were killed instantly, and many commissioned officers; two of our
lieutenants were killed and three wounded, and one of our captains is
either killed or a prisoner. We will make thorough search for him on
the field in the morning.
"We left dead on this field fifteen men killed almost instantly
on the first fire, and a large number wounded. At the first fire
Lieutenant-Colonel Morgan was wounded in the leg (not seriously),
and was immediately carried off the field. From this time I led the
regiment in person. I did all I could to make the men contest the
ground firmly as they fell back, and on the first favorable ground,
about one hundred yards from the first line of battle, I planted the
colors and mounted a fallen tree, and, waving my hat with all my might,
I cheered and called upon the men to rally on the flag--never to desert
their colors.
"All of the left wing responded to my call most nobly, and rallied with
considerable alacrity under a most galling and dangerous fire. I did
not see Colonel Morgan fall, and supposed he had charge of the right
wing; but the various captains collected a large number of their men,
and as soon as I got under cover of the regiments on the left and rear,
they brought their men up and joined me, and I thus had still quite
a battalion, notwithstanding the killed and number wounded, and the
straying or lost ones. The men who came to me at this time had been
'tried in the furnace,' and were true men, and during all the trying
scenes of the rest of the day and of to-day, they never faltered in
obeying my commands, and did most bravely.
"As soon as our brigade was collected, Colonel Veatch moved us over to
the right to support General McClernand's division, which was being
very hard pressed by the enemy, said to be commanded by Beauregard. The
left, so our prisoners report, was commanded by Bragg, and the center
by Johnston. They also report that the column that attacked our brigade
in the morning, of which I have just spoken, numbers twelve thousand,
under Bragg, and that the whole force was near one hundred thousand;
but we do not know, only that it was very large, sufficiently so to
attack the entire line of our extensive camp in heavy force.
"In the afternoon our pickets reported the enemy advancing against us,
on the left of General McClernand. As soon as we had drawn them well
up by our picket skirmish under Captain Rheinlander, the Fourteenth
Illinois flanked them, and was just beginning to pour upon them a heavy
fire, while we were moving up to the assistance of the Fourteenth in
fine style, when the whole mass of our left, which had, for five or
six hours, been steadily and stubbornly contesting the victorious
advance of the enemy in that direction, gave way in all directions,
about half-past three, and came sweeping by us in utter and total
confusion--cavalry, ambulances, artillery, and thousands of infantry,
all in one mass, while the enemy were following closely in pursuit, at
the same time throwing grape, canister, and shells thick and fast among
them.
"It was a time of great excitement and dismay--it appeared that all was
lost; but I was unwilling to throw our regiment into the flying mass,
only to be trampled to pieces and thoroughly disorganized and broken.
So I held them back in the wash on the side of the road until the mass
of the rout had passed, when I put my men in the rear of the retreat,
and by this means fell into a heavy cross-fire of the enemy, but I
preferred that to being crushed to pieces by our own army. Here we lost
a number of our men killed, and many wounded.
"Among those who fell, wounded badly in the leg, was Sergeant-Major
William Jones, who had stood right by me fearlessly through the whole
day. This rout decided that day's work. We were driven back nearly to
the river landing, but the enemy kept pressing us in all the time,
and, if, at this time, they had made a bold and united charge all
along their line, we would have been totally and utterly routed; but
a half-hour's apparent cessation of heavy firing gave our scattered
forces time to rally, while the first two regiments of Buell's
long-expected advance took position on the hill in the rear, and our
forces fell back and formed with them near the landing for a final
stand.
"About five o'clock in the evening the enemy made a heavy charge and
attempted to carry this position. The contest was most terrible--the
roar of musketry was one continuous peal for near half an hour. All
that saved us was two heavy siege-pieces on the hill and the firmness
of our men on this last stand. Night closed in on us, with almost
the whole of our extensive camps in the hands of the enemy. It was a
gloomy night for us all, and to add to our discomforts we had a heavy
rain with no shelter. But we had saved enough ground to make a stand
upon, and during the night twenty thousand fresh troops from Buell's
army were transported across the river, and Lew Wallace moved up his
division from below on our right.
"This morning at dawn of day began one of the grandest and most
terrific battles ever fought. Buell moved forward on the left and
center, and Wallace on the right, with their fresh troops, while
Grant's army steadily followed them up and held the ground firmly as
it was gained. From early in the morning until three o'clock in the
afternoon the roar of musketry and artillery was one almost continuous
thunder. It was grand beyond description. I have not time to tell you
of it in this letter, and you will have it fully described in the
newspapers.
"The enemy fought with great desperation and steadiness, but Wallace
continued to press them on the right, driving them to the left, and
Buell pressing them on the left, driving them to the right, until
they were getting completely outflanked, when at three o'clock our
brigade was ordered up to the front and center, and directed to charge
the retreating enemy, but they traveled too fast for us. Nothing but
cavalry could reach them. We remained on the outposts till evening,
and then came in to get a good night's sleep in the tents of our own
camp after the fatigues of a two days' steady fight. The night is
terribly disagreeable--rainy and chilly--and tens of thousands of
troops are sleeping on the bare ground with no covering, just as we did
last night.
"Indiana has borne an honorable part in the great battle. I know
that the Ninth, Eleventh, Twenty-fifth, Thirty-first, Thirty-second,
Forty-fourth, and Fifty-seventh Regiments were engaged, and I think the
Twenty-third and Twenty-fourth, with several others, I have no doubt,
though I have been too busy on the field to know much of it--have not
even had time yet to see Colonel Morgan or our wounded officers and
men. The Forty-second was busy here to-day, but I hardly think it was
in the fight, though it may have been. Thomson's Battery is said to
have done noble work. Aleck [brother of the writer] was busy with the
trains and baggage--the enemy came right up to our tents--the camp was
shelled; he had to move wagons and baggage to the landing. Did his duty
well. But we are back again to-night.
"I tried in this terrible conflict to do my duty well, and I am willing
to leave to my officers and men the judgment.
"I forgot to mention Colonel Veatch. He acted with great coolness and
courage, always with his brigade in the thickest of the fight. He had
two horses shot under him, but escaped unharmed.
"I have written this hurried letter to you for the family, not the
public. My deliverance was almost miraculous and I am grateful for it."