"_My own dear Wife_:--
"Your husband is still safe and unharmed, though he has passed through
a most terrible and deathful battle, the bloodiest ever fought on the
continent. While it was terrible, it was grand.
"I have just written a long letter to father, which is for you all.
I would write you at length, but it is now past midnight, and after
two days of hard fighting and one rainy night of gloomy and fearful
watching, I need rest. You will excuse me, will you not?
"My dear Parke, God, our merciful Father, has been my shield and my
protector; let us give Him all the glory.
"Captain Dudley Smith [a relative of my wife] is badly (not mortally)
wounded. His regiment fought next to us, and I shook hands of
encouragement with him not five minutes before he fell. Both his
lieutenants and first sergeant were shot.
"I believe, my dear, that God will continue to preserve my life for you
and my dear child. Live in hope and faith. I will write a long letter
soon."
In the letter to my father, given above, I refer in commendation to
my brother Alexander H. Foster, the regimental quartermaster. He
rendered a most valuable service in saving all our camp and personal
baggage. When during the first day's fighting it became evident that
the battle was going against us, he brought up the wagons and loaded
up all the company and headquarters baggage and outfit, and took them
to the rear. The rebels occupied our tents on Sunday night, and would
have plundered everything but for our quartermaster's thoughtfulness.
He also displayed great daring in keeping us supplied with ammunition
during the first day's heavy fighting.
Another incident respecting our tents may be noted. When attending
the Harvard Law School, I had formed a very close friendship with a
classmate from Alabama, Walter Bragg. I corresponded with him for some
time, but lost sight of him when the war began. Years after he came to
Washington to fill an important official position. I learned from him
then that on Sunday night of the Shiloh battle his regiment occupied
the camp of the Twenty-fifth Indiana, and he slept in our headquarters
tent.
General Grant in his "Personal Memoirs" says: "The battle of Shiloh was
the severest battle fought at the West during the war, and but few in
the East equaled it for hard, determined fighting." General Sherman, in
his "Memoirs," characterizes it as "one of the most fiercely contested
of the war."
The number of the Confederate forces engaged in the battle, as reported
by Beauregard, was 40,955. Grant reports the Federal forces in the
first day's fighting at 33,000, and that on the second day he was
reinforced by General Lew Wallace with 5000 and from Buell's army
with 20,000. The losses of the Federals were, killed 1754, wounded
8408, missing 2934. The Confederate losses were, killed 1728, wounded
8012, and missing 957. In my official report I placed the loss of the
Twenty-fifth Indiana at 149.
While the battle was recognized as a distinct Union victory, it was
followed in the North by severe criticism of the generalship displayed
on the Federal side. Sherman says that "probably no single battle
of the war gave rise to such wild and damaging reports"; and in his
"Memoirs" Grant writes: "The battle of Shiloh or Pittsburg Landing has
been perhaps less understood, or, to state the case more accurately,
more persistently misunderstood, than any other engagement during the
entire rebellion."
The main criticisms were three in number: first, that no intrenchments
or fortifications of any kind were made to protect the encampment;
second, that our army was surprised; and, third, that the retreating
enemy was not pursued. It is generally conceded that the encampment was
well located for defense, as three sides were protected by the river
and creeks full of water. Sherman, in discussing the first criticism
in later years, said, "The position was naturally strong; ... we could
have rendered this position impregnable in one night." General Force,
in reviewing the battle after the close of the war, wrote: "The army
had many things to learn, and the use of field fortifications was one
of them."
The charge that our camp was surprised was indignantly denied by
both Generals Grant and Sherman, and they produce statements of
fact, not generally understood at the time, which seem to sustain
their contention. But a different impression was generally prevalent
in the camp. One of the most intelligent and daring of the Civil
War correspondents was a young man writing under the _nom-de-plume_
of "Agate," who became afterwards well known throughout the world,
Whitelaw Reid. He was on the battlefield during the two days' fighting
and wrote lengthy reports of the battle. His contention was that it
was a complete surprise. Years afterwards he had a discussion on this
matter with General Sherman, and in the course of it he cited my letter
to my father, above quoted, to sustain his contention.
Doubtless the rebel army would have been much more demoralized and have
sustained great loss in military equipment and supplies, if it had been
vigorously pursued. The greater part of Grant's army was so reduced
and fatigued as not to be able to make an effective pursuit of the
retreating Confederates, but Buell's army was not in that condition.
Publications made after the war by Grant and Buell make it plain that
there was want of harmony, if not an unfriendly spirit, that prevented
the cordial coöperation which might have made the battle much more
decisive.
For some months previous to the battle of Shiloh General Halleck had
been commanding the Department of the West, with his headquarters at
St. Louis, from which place he was directing the movements of the
armies. Immediately after this battle he came to Pittsburg Landing,
arriving on April 11, and, assuming personal command, he began the
reorganization and reinforcement of the army in the vicinity, for
a march on Corinth, where it was understood the Confederates were
concentrating. This step on his part had the effect of practically
relieving General Grant from command.
The news of the battle and heavy losses suffered by the Union forces
awakened throughout the country great interest and sympathy, and from
all the leading cities of the West located on the Ohio and Mississippi
Rivers steamers were chartered and dispatched to the battlefield,
loaded with hospital supplies, volunteer surgeons, and friends of the
soldiers. A boat was sent from Evansville, and among the passengers was
my brother George, bringing letters from home and delicacies for the
wounded soldiers of the Twenty-fifth and our mess. In a letter of the
11th, four days after the battle, I wrote to my wife:--
"I can assure you I was glad to see the _Bowen_ with a load of our kind
friends after the terrible experience of the last week, and to know
that the great patriotic heart of the Nation was going out in sympathy
and in acts of mercy to our suffering wounded, who have been so sadly,
cruelly neglected by our army general medical officers. I thank you and
Eliza and Eleanor [my sisters] and our good friends at home for their
presents. In our hard-fought battle of last Sunday the enemy drove us
back clear behind our camp and rascally carried off or devoured all our
eatables, and your delicacies came just in time to be fully appreciated.
"I haven't seen Captain Smith since he was wounded. I suppose he has
gone down the river in the boats. You remember I wrote you we were on a
court-martial together; I was finally excused from it to take command
of our regiment. I saw Colonel Harlan [afterwards Justice of the United
States Supreme Court; married Miss Shanklin, of Evansville] to-day. He
was in good health. His regiment is lying near us, in the woods without
tents. I meet a large number of acquaintances in the Indiana regiments
of Buell's army.
"I send by George a copy of my official report of the Twenty-fifth.
Tell father I cannot have it published yet, but I thought he and our
home folks would want to read it, but don't circulate it too freely.
As soon as I can get the necessary consent, I will have both Colonel
Veatch's brigade and my regimental reports sent home for publication. I
am anxious that our regiment should have a fair share of the honor, as
it had of the fighting.
"Say to father and our friends that our regiment fought bravely and
did itself and the State credit. I had the entire responsibility of
the command. I believe I did my duty well; all assure me of it in
the highest terms. I know I saved the regiment from disgrace and
annihilation by a little daring exposure and vigorous encouragement of
our men. This I write freely, but privately, to you and father. It is a
great consolation to me as a citizen to know I have done my duty, but
it is a further gratification to know that my friends at home give me
credit for it."
On the 13th I write about the return of the steamer _Bowen_ to
Evansville:--
"I was much out of humor because they let the boat be filled up with
slightly wounded of other regiments, and left thirty or forty of our
badly wounded Twenty-fifth in the hospitals at Savannah, to linger and
suffer from neglect and bad treatment, and run the chance of getting
home on the charity of other parts of the State. But I suppose the
committee in charge did what they thought was for the best; still, we
are naturally sensitive and jealous for the comfort of our own men."
In my letter of the 13th I speak of the difficulty of getting my
letters. Officers and men of the regiment were constantly going and
coming from Evansville on furlough or sick-leave, and they were often
availed of to carry mail matter, as the mail was not regular, but I
note one instance in which my letters by private hand did not reach me
for thirty days. I tell my wife:--
"When you can't have opportunities of sending letters to me by private
means, send them by mail; they will get here _afterwhile_, and they are
never old. Your letter of Sunday was seven days in coming. I have just
received your three letters sent by Schoenfield. They were a _little_
behind time, being dated March 14! but they were still very welcome. I
received by him the 'Evangelist' and 'Independent.' I always like to
get them, especially the 'Evangelist,' as it gives a little variety to
my religious reading.
"Colonel Morgan's father arrived in camp to-day, expecting to find the
colonel nearly dead, and found he had gone home only slightly wounded.
These newspaper reporters ought to be severely punished for their
wicked and foolish exaggerations. The idea of reporting twenty thousand
of our troops and forty thousand of the rebels killed and wounded
serves only to fearfully excite the country, and is so very grossly
absurd. It was a terrible fight, but not such as was reported in the
first dispatches. These reporters _see_ but little of the fight, hear
a great deal, and tell all they hear and a great deal more.
"I have nothing new to write, but thought you would love to hear after
this terrible battle. Be cheerful, hopeful and patriotic."
My letter of the 15th was in the most desponding tone since I had
entered the service. It must be confessed it presented a sorry picture
of the 1046 stalwart men who left Evansville eight months before for
the war:--
"I enclose you an extract from a communication addressed to our brigade
commander. You will see from it that our regiment is pretty well used
up, between sickness and the bullets of the enemy, having suffered
more than any other regiment from Indiana in battle. In this condition
of affairs, I feel constrained to ask that the regiment be somewhat
relieved.
"Aleck has been troubled with camp dysentery, and wants to resign soon
but I have been doing all I can to keep him up and in good spirits, and
to stay with us."
Col. James C. Veatch,
Commanding Second Brigade, Fourth Division.
_Sir_:--
Permit me to call your attention to the present condition of the
Twenty-fifth Regiment, Indiana Volunteers.
In the late action at Fort Donelson we sustained a loss in killed and
wounded of one hundred and fifteen, and in the late battle of Pittsburg
Landing of one hundred and forty-nine, making a total of _two hundred
and sixty-four_. A number of the wounded have since died; a large
number are entirely disabled for any military duty, and nearly all of
the wounded will be unfit for duty for some time.
There are now absent from the regiment, sick, three hundred and nine
enlisted men, and sick in the regiment one hundred and thirty, making
a total sick of four hundred and thirty-nine.
I am left in sole command of the regiment, the lieutenant-colonel being
wounded and the adjutant having resigned. Three of our most efficient
officers were killed in the late action, and six of them severely
wounded and disabled. Two of our captains absent; one of them badly
wounded at Fort Donelson, the other sick. Three other of our captains
broken down with continuous sickness and hard service, and are asking
that they may be relieved or resign. We now report only three hundred
and eighty-seven men for duty.