SHILOH--SUNDAY.
Three companies of the Twenty-fifth Missouri, which regiment formed the
right of Colonel Peabody's brigade, Prentiss' division, were sent out on
reconnoissance about three o'clock in the morning of Sunday, April 6th.
Following the road cautiously in a south-westerly direction, oblique to
the line of the camp, they struck the enemy's pickets in front of
General Sherman's division. General Johnston, at breakfast with his
staff, hearing the fire of the encounter, turned to Colonel Preston and
to Captain Munford, and directed them to note the hour in their blank
books. It was just fourteen minutes after five o'clock.
Order was given to advance. To communicate the order along the line
required time. General Beauregard says the advance began at half-past
five. The three companies struck a battalion under Major Hardcastle, on
Hardee's picket-line. Major Hardcastle was posted on picket with a
battalion of the Third Mississippi, a quarter of a mile in front of
Wood's brigade, Hardee's corps. Lieutenant McNulty was posted with a
small party, one hundred yards, and Lieutenant Hammock with another
small party, two hundred yards, in front of the centre of the battalion.
Cavalry videttes were still farther to the front. The Major reports:
"About dawn, the cavalry videttes fired three shots, wheeled and
galloped back. Lieutenant Hammock suffered the enemy to approach within
ninety yards. Their line seemed to be three hundred and fifty yards
long, and to number about one thousand. He fired upon them and joined
his battalion with his men. Lieutenant McNulty received the enemy with
his fire at about one hundred yards, and then joined his battalion with
his men, when the videttes rode back to my main position. At the first
alarm my men were in line and all ready. I was on a rise of ground, men
kneeling. The enemy opened a heavy fire on us at a distance of about two
hundred yards, but most of the shots passed over us. We returned the
fire immediately and kept it up. Captain Clare, aide to General Wood,
came and encouraged us. We fought the enemy an hour or more, without
giving an inch. Our loss in this engagement was: killed, four privates;
severely wounded, one sergeant, one corporal, and eight privates;
slightly wounded, the color-sergeant and nine privates. At about 6.30
A.M. I saw the brigade formed in my rear, and I fell back."
At six o'clock, Colonel Moore, of the Twenty-first Missouri, also of
Peabody's brigade, was directed by General Prentiss to move out with
five companies to support the pickets. About half a mile from camp he
met the three companies of the Twenty-fifth returning. Despatching the
wounded on to camp, and sending for the rest of his regiment, he halted
with the detachment of the Twenty-fifth till joined by his remaining
five companies. So reinforced, he continued his advance three hundred
yards, met the advance of Shaver's brigade, halted on the edge of a
field, and repulsed it. Colonel Moore being wounded, Lieutenant-Colonel
Van Horn took command, and was further reinforced; after an engagement
of half an hour, was overpowered and fell back to the support of the
brigade.
According to General Bragg's report, Johnston's line of battle, after
marching less than a mile beyond the scene of the first attack made by
the three companies of the Twenty-fifth Missouri, came upon the
strengthened National pickets, which he calls advanced posts. These fell
back fighting. The army advanced steadily another mile, pushing back the
fighting pickets, and then encountered the National troops "in strong
force almost along the entire line. His batteries were posted on
eminences, with strong infantry supports. Finding the first line was now
unequal to the work before it, being weakened by extension, and
necessarily broken by the nature of the ground, I ordered my whole force
to move up steadily and promptly to its support."
Thus opened the battle of Shiloh. A combat made up of numberless
separate encounters of detached portions of broken lines, continually
shifting position and changing direction in the forest and across
ravines, filling an entire day, is almost incapable of a connected
narrative. As the first shock of the meeting lines of battle was near
the right of the National line, an intelligible account may be given by
describing the action of the divisions of Grant's army separately,
beginning with the right, or Sherman's.
The direction of General Johnston's advance was such as to bring him
first in contact with Sherman's left and Prentiss's right. To preserve
even an approximate alignment of a line of battle of two miles front,
marching with artillery, through wet forest, over rough, yet soft
ground, with regiments in column doubled on the centre, the advance was
necessarily slow. The reports show that portions of the second line,
instead of keeping the prescribed distance of eight hundred yards in
rear of the first, overtook it, and had to halt to regain the distance.
The National pickets, posted a mile in front of the camps, were struck
about half-past six o'clock Colonel J. Thompson, aide-de-camp to General
Beauregard, in his report to his chief, says: "The first cannon was
discharged on our left at seven o'clock, which was followed by a rapid
discharge of musketry. About 7.30 I rode forward with Colonel Jordan to
the front, to ascertain how the battle was going. Then I learned from
General Johnston that General Hardee's line was within half a mile of
the enemy's camps, and bore from General Johnston a message that he
advised sending forward strong reinforcements to our left. From eight
o'clock to 8.30 the cannonading was very heavy along the whole line, but
especially in the centre, which was in the line of their camps. About
ten o'clock you moved forward with your staff and halted within about
half a mile of the enemy's camps."
[Illustration: The Field of Shiloh.]
SHERMAN'S DIVISION.
The Seventy-seventh Ohio, of Hildebrand's brigade, was ordered the
evening before to go out to See's, Sunday morning, and reinforce the
picket reserve stationed there, and was up early Sunday morning. General
Buckland, having slept little in the night, rose early. While at
breakfast he received word that the pickets were heavily attacked, and
were falling back toward camp. He at once had the long-roll sounded, and
his brigade formed on the color-line. He rode over to General Sherman's
headquarters, a few hundred yards off, and reported the facts.
Meanwhile, the brigades of Hildebrand and McDowell formed on their
respective color-lines. The division was formed--Taylor's battery on a
rising ground in front of Shiloh Church; Hildebrand's brigade to its
left, the Seventy-seventh Ohio being next to the battery, and four guns
of Waterhouse's battery placed between the Fifty-seventh and Fifty-third
Ohio--the Fifty-third detached and forming the extreme left. The other
two guns of Waterhouse's battery were advanced to the front beyond Oak
Creek. Buckland's brigade formed to the right of Taylor's battery, and
McDowell's still farther to the right, on the bluffs of Oak Creek, near
its junction with Owl Creek, and separated from Buckland by a lateral
ravine which opened into Oak Creek. Behr's battery was with McDowell.
One of its guns, with two companies of infantry, was stationed still
farther to the right, commanding the bridges over Oak Creek and Owl
Creek, immediately above their junction.
The advanced section of Waterhouse's battery fell back before an
approaching skirmish line and took position with the battery. General
Sherman rode to the front of the Fifty-third, to the edge of a ravine,
the continuation or source of Oak Creek, and saw, through the forest
beyond, Johnston's lines sweeping across his front toward his left. At
the same time, General Johnston was, a few hundred yards off, on the
other side of the ravine, putting General Hindman with one of his
brigades into position for attack. Hindman's skirmishers opened fire and
killed Sherman's orderly. Sherman's brigades advanced to the sloping of
the ravine of Oak Creek; Sherman had already sent word to General
McClernand asking for support to his left; to General Prentiss, giving
him notice that the enemy was in force in front; and to General Hurlbut,
asking him to support Prentiss.
The first line of Johnston's army, commanded by General Hardee, opened,
widening the intervals between brigades as it advanced. The two brigades
commanded by General Hindman, having less rough ground to traverse,
outstripped General Cleburne. Hindman's own brigade, commanded by
Colonel Shaver, inclining to the right, struck Prentiss' right. General
Hindman in person, with Wood's brigade, came to the front of the
Fifty-third Ohio. General Johnston, having put it in position, rode back
to Cleburne and moved his brigade to Buckland's front. The battle
opened. The Fifty-third Ohio, detached by the position of its camp from
the rest of Hildebrand's brigade, being off to the left and farther to
the front, was first engaged. According to the report of
Lieutenant-Colonel Fulton, the advancing line of Wood's brigade having
twice recoiled before the fire of the regiment, Colonel Appler cried out
to his men to fall back and save themselves. The regiment retired in
confusion behind McClernand's Third Brigade, which had come up in
support; but, soon rallied by the Lieutenant-Colonel and Adjutant Dawes,
it returned to the front to the bank of the stream. The colonel
reappeared and again ordered a retreat. The regiment was now fatally
broken. Adjutant Dawes, however, rallied two companies and attached them
to the Seventeenth Illinois, of McClernand's Third Brigade, while a
considerable detachment joined the Seventy-seventh Ohio, then commanded
by Major Fearing. In the afternoon, Lieutenant-Colonel Fulton, with the
greater part of the regiment reunited, acted as support to Bouton's
battery.
General Patton Anderson, with his brigade, and Captain Hodgson's battery
of the Washington Artillery, pressed forward from Johnston's second
line, commanded by General Bragg, into the gap between Hindman and
Cleburne. Posting his battery on high ground, he advanced his brigade
down into the wet and bushy valley of Oak Creek, and charged up the
slope. Taylor's battery and the Fifty-seventh and Seventy-seventh Ohio
instantly drove him back. His regiments, not discouraged, charged
singly, and when broken, charged by battalion, but could not withstand
the fire, and as often fell back. General Johnston, who had passed on
toward his right, dispatched two brigades, Russell's and Johnson's, from
the third line, commanded by General Polk, to aid the assault. General
Beauregard moved them to his right, beyond Hindman, to attack
McClernand.
Meanwhile, Cleburne, forming the extreme left of Hardee's line, with his
brigade of six regiments and two batteries engaged Buckland. The valley
of Oak Creek is there wider, deeper, and boggy. The slope, crowned by
Buckland's brigade, was steep and bushy. A bend in its course gave some
companies of the Seventieth Ohio an enfilading fire. Cleburne's
regiments, tangled in the morass, struggled with uneven front up the
wooded ascent, only to be driven back by Buckland's steady fire.
Reforming, they charged again, to meet another repulse. The regiments,
broken, disordered, and commingled, persisted in the vain endeavor, only
to encounter heavier losses. The Sixth Mississippi lost 300 killed and
wounded out of a total of 425. More than one-third of the brigade were
killed and wounded. Pond's brigade, of Bragg's corps, came up in
support, but paused on the wooded bank, and did not attempt to cross
this valley of death.
McClernand's other brigades, which were to the left of the Third, after
some very sharp fighting, fell back. The long line of Wood's brigade
then largely outreached Colonel Raith's left flank. Raith refused his
left regiments. Wood's brigade wheeled to their left, confronting
Raith's new line. Waterhouse's battery, being taken on the flank, was
limbering up to withdraw, when Major Taylor ordered it into action
again. Raith's regiments gave way. Wood's brigade charged on
Waterhouse's battery, capturing three of its guns. Captain Waterhouse
and two lieutenants being wounded, Lieutenant Fitch, by order of Major
Taylor, retired to the river with the two pieces that were saved sound.
The Fifty-seventh and Seventy-seventh Ohio being now assailed on the
flank by Wood's advance, fell back in disorder. Anderson's brigade then
gathered itself up, emerged from the wet borders of the creek, and
gained the plateau in front of Hildebrand's camps. Buckland's rear was
now commanded by a hostile battery and threatened by Wood's brigade.
General Sherman at ten o'clock ordered his division to take position to
the rear along the Purdy road. Barrett's battery, moving back by the
Corinth road, came into position with McClernand's division in its
second position. McDowell's brigade had not yet been engaged, and to get
into the new position merely shifted his line to the left along the
road. Buckland moved back through his camp in order, his wagons carrying
off his dead and wounded and such baggage as they could hold. The
greater part of the Seventy-seventh Ohio, commanded by Major Fearing,
together with some companies of the Fifty-seventh, held by
Lieutenant-Colonel Rice, and some companies of the Fifty-third,
represented Hildebrand's brigade. Colonel Hildebrand finding his command
so reduced, served part of the day on McClernand's staff, but returned
to General Sherman in the evening. Colonel Crafts Wright, commanding the
Thirteenth Missouri in W.H.L. Wallace's division, was ordered in the
morning to take a designated position on the Purdy road. This brought
him on the left of General Sherman's new line. The remnant of
Hildebrand's brigade formed on Wright's left and operated with him.
Meanwhile General Grant, at breakfast at Savannah, nine miles below
Pittsburg Landing by river, but six miles in an air-line, heard the
firing. He at once sent an order to General Nelson to march his division
up the river to opposite Pittsburg; and, not aware that General Buell
had arrived the previous evening, sent a letter out to meet him,
advising him of the order given to Nelson and explaining the reason for
not waiting in person for his arrival. Steaming up the river, he
stopped at Crump's Landing at eight o'clock and directed Lewis Wallace
to hold his division in readiness to move. Arrived at Pittsburg Landing,
Colonel Pride, of his staff, at once organized ammunition trains, which
were busy all day supplying the troops at the front. The Twenty-third
Missouri, just arrived by boat, he hurried out to reinforce Prentiss.
The Fifteenth Iowa, just arrived, and the Sixteenth, sent by Prentiss to
the landing for ammunition, he directed to form line, arrest the tide of
stragglers from the front, and organize them to return. Riding to the
front, he found General Sherman a little before ten o'clock in his
hottest engagement, still holding the enemy at bay in front of his camp;
told him that Wallace would come up from Crump's Landing; sent word to
Wallace to move; to Nelson, to hasten his movements; returned to the
landing, dispatched the two Iowa regiments to reinforce McClernand, and
proceeded to visit the other divisions in the field.
The loaded wagons of McDowell's brigade, hurrying to the rear along the
Purdy road, interfered with the formation of Sherman's new line. Behr's
battery, galloping to the position assigned to it--the centre of the
line--added to the difficulty. This battery was hardly in position and
under fire before Captain Behr was killed, and the men abandoned their
guns, fleeing from the field with the caissons. The line so disordered
and broken was hard pressed by the enemy, and Sherman selected another
line of defence, to his left and rear, connecting with McClernand's
right. McDowell, nearly cut off by the enemy's pressing through the gap
left by Behr's men, brought the remaining gun of this battery from its
position near the bridge, and by a rapid fire pressed back the advance.
His regiments became separated while struggling through dense thickets
to the new position. The Fortieth Illinois found itself marching by the
flank, with a deep ravine along its left, and a confederate regiment
marching in parallel course not far to its right. Thus cut off, the
Fortieth formed with its rear to the ravine, with a desperate effort
drove its dangerous companion out of the way, and, pushing through the
timber, came into a valley in rear of McClernand.
Not all the force engaged in the two hours' fight in front of Sherman's
camp followed him to his new position. Cleburne had difficulty in
reforming his shattered command. The remnant of the Sixth Mississippi
marched to the rear under command of the senior surviving captain,
disabled for further service. The fragment of the Twenty-Third Tennessee
remaining near Cleburne was sent to the rear to hunt up the portions
that had broken from it in the contest. Cleburne, proceeding for his
other regiments, was stopped by General Hardee about noon, and directed
to collect and bring into action the stragglers who were thronging in
the captured camps. With the aid of cavalry he gathered up an
unorganized multitude; but, finding he could do nothing with them, he
resumed the search for his remaining regiments. About two o'clock he
found the Fifth and Twenty-fourth Tennessee and Fifteenth Arkansas
"halted under the brow of an abrupt hill." The Second Tennessee had
moved to the rear, and did not rejoin the brigade during the battle.
Cleburne was not again severely engaged during the day. Colonel Pond
kept his brigade, in pursuance of General Bragg's order, watching the
crossings of Owl Creek.
But the brigades of Anderson and Wood pressed on. Trabue's heavy brigade
of five regiments, two battalions and two batteries, had been detached
from the reserve at Beauregard's request for reinforcements, and sent by
Johnston to his extreme left. Skirting Owl Creek, he came in full force
upon Sherman's right flank, at half-past twelve o'clock. McDowell's two
remaining regiments, the Sixth Iowa and Forty-sixth Ohio, were quickly
moved to confront Trabue. The Forty-sixth Ohio was more alert in
movement, and opened a hot fire before Trabue was completely deployed
and in position. A steady combat through the timber and underbrush, and
across the ravines, lasted an hour and a half. The Sixth Iowa lost 51
killed and 120 wounded; the Forty-sixth Ohio, losing fewer killed, but
more wounded--34 killed, 150 wounded, and 52 taken prisoners--was quite
shattered, and took no further part in the battle. Colonel Trabue's
estimate of the character of the fighting at this point appears from his
statement that his command in this encounter killed and wounded four or
five hundred of the Forty-Sixth Ohio alone. It appears also from his
report, which has never been officially published, but which is printed
in the "History of the First Kentucky Brigade," that, of the 844
casualties in the brigade in the two days' battle, 534 were in the four
regiments engaged in this encounter. Sherman readjusted his line,
resting his right on a deep ravine running to Owl Creek, and keeping his
left in connection with McClernand. Trabue was reinforced by General
A.P. Stewart and part of his brigade, and a part of Anderson's brigade
which had been resting in a ravine in the rear. The struggle lasted with
varying intensity and alternate success.
There were charges and countercharges, ground was lost and regained; but
the general result was a recession of the battered division to the left
and rear. About four o'clock, during a lull, Sherman moved his reduced
command still farther in the same direction, and took position so as to
cover the road by which Lewis Wallace was to arrive. Here, with an open
field in front, he was not further molested, and here he bivouacked for
the night. At this point, Captain Hickenlooper, who had been engaged
all day in the sturdy defence made by Prentiss, joined Sherman with his
battery. Buckland, rejoined by the Seventieth Ohio, was ordered, late in
the afternoon, to take his brigade to the bridge over Snake Creek, by
which Lewis Wallace was expected. From this point the Forty-eighth Ohio
marched to the landing for ammunition, and was there detained as a
portion of the force supporting the reserve artillery till next morning.
The bridge appearing free from risk, Buckland returned to the place of
bivouac, constituting the right of Sherman's line. The Thirteenth
Missouri became separated from the division in the last struggle, was
incorporated for the night in Colonel Marsh's collection of regiments,
constituting for the night McClernand's right. The position of the
Thirteenth during the night was close by the headquarter tents of
General McArthur, of W.H.L. Wallace's division. The Fifty-third Ohio
bivouacked with the Eighty-first Ohio, in front of the camp of the
Second Iowa, in Tuttle's brigade of W.H. Wallace's division. McDowell's
brigade had disappeared from the division. Portions of the Fifty-seventh
and Seventy-seventh Ohio, with Lieutenant-Colonel Rice and Major
Fearing, were still with Sherman, and formed the left of his line in the
bivouac.
McCLERNAND.
The Forty-third Illinois, of McClernand's brigade, being out by
permission, Sunday morning, to discharge their pieces, which had been
loaded since they marched to the picket-line, Friday evening, distant
firing was heard. This being reported to General McClernand, he sent an
order to Colonel Reardon to hold the brigade in readiness for action.
Colonel Reardon, being confined to bed by illness, directed Colonel
Raith to assume command. There was some delay in getting the brigade
formed, owing to the sudden change of commanders and to the incredulity
of the officers in some of the regiments as to the reality of an attack.
The brigade being at length formed, advanced, and took position, with
its right near Waterhouse's battery--its line making an angle with
Sherman's line, so as to throw the left of the brigade upon and along
Oak Creek. Colonel Marsh, of the Twentieth Illinois, heard considerable
musketry on the left of the National camp. This continuing without
material interruption for some time, he ordered regimental commanders to
be in readiness to form, and soon after received an order from General
McClernand to form the brigade. Soon after the brigade was formed an
order was received to advance to the support of General Sherman, who was
reported to be heavily attacked. The brigade moved to the left to a
position assigned by General McClernand. The First Brigade was ordered
to form three regiments on the left of the Second, and to post one
regiment, the Eleventh Iowa, in reserve in rear of the right of Colonel
Marsh's brigade. The alignment of the Third Brigade, by Colonel Raith
throwing his left too far to the front, so as to be exposed to a flank
attack and also to cover Colonel Marsh's right, Colonel Raith wheeled
his left to the rear to connect with Marsh. The right of McClernand's
division, as thus formed, connected with Sherman, but the left was
uncovered.
General Johnston sent two brigades from Polk's corps, Colonel Russell's
and General B.R. Johnson's, to reinforce his extreme left. General
Beauregard, who had taken immediate command on the Confederate left,
sent them farther to his right, and they went into position on the left
of Wood's brigade. Two regiments of Russell's brigade formed on the left
of Wood; the rest were marched by General Clark, the division
commander, still farther to the right. Three of General Johnson's
regiments formed on the right of Russell's two, while General Bragg
moved Johnson's remaining two regiments off to his right, to another
attack. The assault on Colonel Marsh was made with great fury. In five
minutes most of the field officers in the brigade were killed or
wounded. The enemy's fire seemed especially directed at Burrow's
battery, posted in the centre of Marsh's brigade, all the horses of
which were killed or disabled. The colonel and lieutenant-colonel of the
Forty-eighth Illinois being wounded and taken off the field, the
regiment finally became disorganized and retired in disorder. The other
regiments fell back. The battery was lost. The first brigade, which had
not been severely engaged, next retired in some disorder. The Third
Brigade, being now enfiladed and turned on its left flank, Colonel Raith
refused his left regiment, and was himself soon mortally wounded. Wood's
brigade then wheeling to its left and advancing, the Third Brigade fell
back, leaving Waterhouse's battery on the flank of Sherman's division
exposed.
The division formed again, its right connected with Sherman's left on
the Purdy road. When Sherman fell back from the Purdy road, McClernand
adjusted his right to connect again with Sherman's left. While his right
connected still with Sherman, his left for a while almost joined W.H.L.
Wallace in the position which he had assumed, and, when pushed back
still farther, his left was yet to some extent protected by the
character of the ground, rough, intersected by ravines, and dotted with
impenetrable thickets that intervened between it and W.H.L. Wallace.
McAllister's battery, and Schwartz's battery commanded by Lieutenant
Nispel, were reinforced by Taylor's battery, commanded by Captain
Barrett, brought over from Sherman, and by Dresser's battery, commanded
by Captain Timony.
A determined and desperate struggle ensued, which lasted, with
occasional intermissions, till late in the afternoon. Shaver's brigade,
which, after a severe and protracted contest, had overcome Peabody's
brigade of Prentiss' division, was ordered to the attack upon the left
of McClernand's line. Advancing across a wide and open field, he
encountered so hot a fire in front and on his right flank, that his
brigade recoiled back to the shelter of timber and halted paralyzed,
till later in the day he was ordered to attack in another quarter.
General B.R. Johnson was wounded, and his brigade so severely handled
that it retreated from the field, leaving its battery, Polk's, behind.
McClernand's whole division advanced in line, pushing the enemy back
half a mile through and beyond his camp. This success was only
temporary. Changing front to meet fresh attacks, refusing first one
flank, then the other, clinging desperately to his camp, but, on the
whole, shifting slowly back from one position to another, he formed, in
the afternoon, in the edge of timber on the border of an open field, and
here, during a pause of half an hour, supplied his command with
ammunition. The respite was followed by a more furious assault. Falling
back from his camp toward the river, to the farther side of a deep
ravine running north and south, being the continuation of the valley or
ravine of Brier Creek, he formed his line, facing west with wings
refused, the centre being the apex, and still connecting on the right
with the remnant of Sherman's division. Several fitful onslaughts at
intervals forced McClernand to refuse his left still farther.
The swinging around of McClernand's left, while he receded in a general
direction toward the northeast, left a wide interval between his command
and W.H.L. Wallace. The force which had been massed against him and
Sherman had been diminished by detachments sent to aid in the attack
against W.H.L. Wallace and Prentiss. The remainder drifted through the
gap to Wallace's rear. Pond's brigade, to which had been assigned the
special duty of guarding along Owl Creek against any advance around
Johnston's left flank, constituted the extreme Confederate left. This
brigade had been very little under fire during the day. The battery
attached to it, Ketchum's, was now detached to aid in the assault upon
Wallace's front. Pond, with three Louisiana regiments of his brigade,
was directed to move to the left along the deep ravine which McClernand
had crossed, and silence one of McClernand's batteries. Trabue's
brigade, which had been struggling through the tangled forest covering
rough ground, separated by a lateral ravine from the ground in rear of
Wallace and Prentiss, through the dense thickets of which ravine no
command had been able to penetrate, was just emerging from the forest,
and crossing the Brier Creek ravine toward Hurlbut's camp. Trabue's men,
catching sight of the blue uniform of Pond's Louisiana regiments, fired
upon them. This being silenced, Pond's brigade continued down the
ravine, and up a lateral ravine toward the river, Colonel Mouton's
Eighteenth Louisiana in advance. As they neared the position the battery
withdrew, unmasking a line of infantry. A murderous fire was opened by
this line. Pond's brigade faltered, recoiled, withdrew; the Eighteenth
Louisiana, according to Colonel Mouton's report, leaving 207 dead and
wounded in the ravine.
This was the final attack on the National right. But scarcely was this
over before Hurlbut's command came falling back through his camp, pushed
on by Bragg and Breckenridge. W.H.L. Wallace's regiments, finding the
force which had been contending with Sherman and McClernand closing on
their rear, faced about and fought to their rear; some regiments
succeeded in cutting their way through and streamed toward their camp.
This sudden, tumultuous uproar, far in the rear of the day's conflict,
infected McClernand's command, and a large part of it broke in disorder.
The broken line was partially rallied and moved back to what McClernand
designates as his eighth position taken in the course of the day, and
here he bivouacked for the night, his right joining the left of
Sherman's bivouac; the left swung back so as to make an acute angle with
it. Colonel Marsh formed the right of the line. His "command having been
reduced to a merely nominal one" in the afternoon, he had been sent back
across the Brier Creek ravine before the rest of the division, to form a
new line, arrest all stragglers, and detain all unattached fragments.
Colonel Davis, with the Forty-sixth Illinois, was resting in front of
their camp in Veatch's brigade, Hurlbut's division, but on Colonel
Marsh's request took position on Marsh's right; McClernand, when he fell
back, formed the rest of his command on Marsh's left. The line consisted
of the Forty-sixth, Forty-eighth, Twentieth, Seventeenth, Forty-ninth,
Forty-third, and Forty-fifth Illinois, the Thirteenth Missouri, and the
Fifty-third and Eighty-first Ohio. The Forty-sixth Illinois lay in front
of its camp, being the right of Veatch's brigade camp, Hurlbut's
division. The Forty-eighth and Twentieth lay on its left. The
Seventeenth, Forty-ninth, and Forty-third moved around to connect with
Sherman's left. The position of the Forty-third was between the bivouac
of the Forty-sixth Illinois and the Thirteenth Missouri, and midway
between the camp of the Ninth Illinois of McArthur's brigade, W.H.L.
Wallace's division, and the camp of the Forty-sixth Illinois. The
Fifty-third and Eighty-first Ohio were in front of the camp of the
Second Iowa, Tuttle's Brigade, W.H.L. Wallace's division. Colonel
Crocker, Thirteenth Iowa, who had assumed command of the First Brigade
on the wounding of Colonel Hare, bivouacked with his regiment in front
of the camp of the Fourteenth Iowa, Tuttle's brigade. The Eighth and
Eighteenth Illinois spent the night with the reserve artillery.
Colonel Veatch, commanding Hurlbut's Second Brigade, formed his command
at half-past seven o'clock in the morning, and was shortly after ordered
to march to the support of Sherman. He reached a point not well defined,
between nine and ten o'clock, and was placed in reserve. He soon became
hotly engaged on McClernand's left. His two right regiments, the
Fifteenth and Forty-sixth Illinois, became separated from Colonel Veatch
with the other two regiments, and then separated from each other. The
Forty-sixth aided the Sixth Iowa and Forty-sixth Ohio in their desperate
struggle with Trabue, and after continual engagements, being forced back
to within half a mile of its camp, repaired thither about two o'clock
and had a comfortable dinner. The Fifteenth suffered severely. The
lieutenant-colonel and the major, the only field-officers with the
regiment, were killed, two captains were killed and one wounded, one
lieutenant was killed and six wounded. Colonel Veatch, with the
Twenty-fifth Indiana and Fourteenth Illinois, continued fighting and
manoeuvring with skill and determination till the retreating division
of Hurlbut passed along his rear. Colonel Veatch then reported to
Hurlbut, and formed part of his line of defence in support of the
reserve artillery at the close of the day.
PRENTISS AND W.H.L. WALLACE.
Prentiss' division in the front line, and W.H.L. Wallace's on the
plateau between the river and Brier Creek, were more widely separated in
camp than any other two divisions; but in the contest of Sunday they
operated together.
Colonel Moore, of the Twenty-first Missouri, being wounded early in the
encounter with the Confederate advance, Lieutenant-Colonel Woodyard took
command of the regiment, together with the accompanying detachment of
the Twenty-fifth Missouri and four companies of the Sixteenth Wisconsin,
sent out the night before to reinforce the pickets. Pushed by Shaver's
brigade, he fell back after a struggle on the edge of a field to the
farther side of a narrow ridge, about half a mile from camp, where he
was joined by Colonel Peabody with the rest of the brigade. After a
contest of half an hour, Shaver was repulsed and fell back. General A.S.
Johnston observing men dropping out of the ranks of the retreating
brigade, rallied it himself and ordered it to renew the attack. Peabody
recoiled under the fresh onset, and, falling back, took his place,
constituting the right of the line of battle of the division formed a
quarter of a mile in advance of the camp.
Gladden's brigade, forming part of Bragg's corps, on the second line of
Johnston's army, was moved forward to extend the right of Hardee on the
first line, when, by the divergence of Lick Creek from Owl Creek,
Hardee's line became inadequate to fill the distance between them. The
line of Johnston's advance being oblique to the line of Prentiss' front,
Gladden arrived in front of Prentiss' left after Shaver had become
engaged with Peabody. Colonel Adams, who took command of the brigade
upon the death of General Gladden, and who made the full report of the
brigade, says they arrived in position at eight o'clock. Colonel Deas,
who took command when Adams was wounded, says they arrived a little
after seven. Colonel Loomis, who was in command on the return to
Corinth, says in his report, made April 13th, that the engagement of
this brigade began at half-past seven. Wheeling to the left and
deploying into line, the brigade moved confidently forward. Gladden was
mortally wounded and his command fell back in confusion. General
Johnston ordered it to return to the attack, but, on inspecting its
condition, countermanded the order.
Chalmers' brigade, coming up from the second line, made an impetuous
charge. Jackson's brigade, which followed in rear of Chalmers, moved
forward and joined in the attack. Prentiss fell back and made a stand
immediately in front of his camp. After a gallant but short struggle,
his division, about nine o'clock, gave way and fell back through his
camp, leaving behind Powell's guns and caissons and two of
Hickenlooper's guns, all the horses of Hickenlooper's two guns being
killed. The line was broken and disordered by the tents. The
Twenty-fifth Missouri, and portions of other regiments drifted to the
rear. On the summit of a slope, covered by dense thicket, not far to the
rear of his camp, Prentiss rallied the Eighteenth and Twenty-first
Missouri, Twelfth Michigan, and Eighteenth Wisconsin. The Sixty-first
Illinois and Sixteenth Wisconsin were also rallied, but detached to form
in reserve to Hurlbut. The Twenty-third Missouri, arriving by boat at
the landing after the battle had begun, moved out at once and took
position in Prentiss' new line. In this position his left was near the
extreme southern head of the ravine of Brier Creek; thence his line
extended along an old, sunk, washed-out road running a little north of
west, and reached nearly to the Corinth road. Prentiss in person put
Hickenlooper's battery in position immediately to the right of the
Corinth road, near the intersection of the roads. Prentiss' men used the
road cut as a defence, lying down in it and firing from it. General
Grant, visiting Prentiss, approved the position and directed him to hold
it at all hazards. The order was obeyed. Continually assaulted by
successive brigades, he repelled every attack and held the position
till the close of the day.
General W.H.L. Wallace, commanding Smith's division, formed his
regiments at eight o'clock. Some of the regiments loaded their wagons
and received extra ammunition. At half-past eight o'clock the division
moved; McArthur with two of his regiments, the Ninth and Twelfth
Illinois, went to support Stuart's brigade at its isolated camp at the
extreme left of the National line, having sent the Thirteenth Missouri
to Sherman, and left the Fourteenth Missouri and Eighty-first Ohio to
guard the bridge over Snake Creek, on the Crump's Landing road. Wallace
led his other two brigades to the support of Prentiss, placing Tuttle on
Prentiss' right, and Sweeney to the right of Tuttle. Tuttle's left was
about one hundred yards to the right of the Corinth road, and the
division line extending northwestwardly behind a clear field, Sweeney's
right reached the head of a wide, deep ravine--called in some of the
Confederate reports a gorge--which ravine, filled with impenetrable
thickets, extended from his right far to his rear and ran into the
ravine of Brier Creek. Wallace added to the defence of this ravine by
posting sharpshooters along its border. General Wallace detached the
Eighth Iowa from Sweeney's brigade and placed it across the Corinth
road, filling the interval between the two divisions.
Wallace's line was barely formed when, at ten o'clock, Gladden's
brigade, now commanded by Colonel Adams, moved again against Prentiss.
Advancing slowly up the slight ascent through impeding thickets, against
an unseen foe, it encountered a blaze of fire from the summit, faltered,
wavered, hesitated, retreated, and withdrew out of range. A.P. Stewart
led his brigade against Wallace's front, was driven back, returned to
the assault, and was again hurled back; but still rallied, and moved
once more in vain, to be again sent in retreat.
The Confederates gave this fatal slope the name "The Hornet's Nest."
General Bragg ordered Gibson with his brigade to carry the position. The
fresh column charged gallantly, but the deadly line of musketry in
front, and an enfilading fire from the well-posted battery, mowed down
his ranks; and Gibson's brigade fell back discomfited. Gibson asked for
artillery. None was at hand. Bragg ordered him to charge again. The
colonels of the four regiments thought it hopeless. The order was given.
The brigade struggled up the tangled ascent; but once more met the
inexorable fire that hurled them back. Four times Gibson charged, and
was four times repulsed. Colonel Allen, of the Fourth Louisiana, one of
Gibson's regiments, rode back to General Bragg to repeat the request for
artillery. Stung by the answer, "Colonel Allen, I want no faltering
now," he returned to his regiment, led it in a desperate dash up the
slope, more persistent, and therefore more destructive, and returned
with the fragment of his command that was not left strewn upon the
hill-side. As the line of Sherman and McClernand continually contracted
as they fell back, the successive reinforcements pushed in toward the
left of the Confederate line gradually pressed Hindman's two
brigades--first wholly against McClernand's front, then against his
left, then beyond his line. These two brigades were then moved to the
front of W.H.L. Wallace. Flushed with victory, they advanced with
confidence. The same resistless fire wounded Hindman and drove back his
command. Led by General A.P. Stewart, the brigades gallantly advanced
again and rushed against the fatal fire, only to be shivered into
fragments that recoiled, to remain out of the contest for the rest of
the day.
The commander of the Confederate Army was killed farther to the right,
at half-past two o'clock in the afternoon. As the news of this loss
spread, there was a feeling of uncertainty and visible relaxation of
effort in parts of his command. In front of Prentiss and Wallace attack
was suspended about an hour.
Hickenlooper's four guns, standing at the salient where Prentiss and
Wallace joined, sweeping both fronts, had all day long been reaping
bloody harvests among the lines of assailants that strove to approach.
So near, yet so far; in plain view, yet out of reach, the little battery
exasperated the baffled brigades while it extorted their admiration.
General Ruggles sent his staff officers in all directions to sweep in
all the guns they could reach. He gives the names of eleven batteries
and one section which he planted in a great crescent, pouring in a
concentric fire. From this tornado of missiles Hickenlooper withdrew his
battery complete, and, passing to the rear through Hurlbut's camp,
reported to Sherman for further service.
The terrible fire of this artillery was supplemented by continued, but
desultory infantry attacks. The Crescent regiment of Louisiana essayed
to charge, but recoiled. Patton Anderson led his brigade up, but was
driven back. About four o'clock, Hurlbut, whose right had joined
Prentiss' left, finally gave way, and Bragg, following him, passed on to
the rear of Prentiss. By half-past four the fighting in front of Sherman
and McClernand had ceased, and Cheatham, Trabue, Johnson, and Russell,
finding that Wallace could not be approached across the dense tangle
filling the great ravine which protected his right, felt their way
unopposed to the plateau in his rear, meeting the combined force under
Bragg in front of Hurlbut's camp. General Polk collected in front of the
steadfast men of Prentiss and Wallace all the other troops within
reach, and at five o'clock, with one mighty effort, surged against their
line, now pounded by Ruggles' batteries.
When Hurlbut fell back, leaving Prentiss and Wallace entirely isolated,
these two commanders consulted and resolved to hold their position at
all hazards, and keep the enemy from passing on to the landing. But when
they became enveloped, almost encircled, the enemy having passed behind
them toward the landing and were closing upon the Corinth road in their
rear, Wallace ordered his command to retire and cut a way through.
Tuttle gave the order to his brigade, which faced about to the rear and
opened fire on the forces closing behind. The Second and Seventh Iowa,
led by Colonel Tuttle, charged, cut their way through, and marched to
the landing. The Twelfth and Fourteenth Iowa, lingering with the Eighth
Iowa to cover the retreat of Hickenlooper's battery, were too late, and
found themselves walled in. Colonel Baldwin, who had succeeded to the
command of the other brigade when Colonel Sweeney was wounded, brought
off part of his command; but two of his regiments, the Fifty-eighth
Illinois as well as the Eighth Iowa, were securely enclosed. Wallace
fell mortally wounded. Groups and squads of Prentiss' men succeeded in
making their way out before the circle wholly closed. Prentiss, with the
remaining fragments of the two divisions, facing the fire that
surrounded them, made a desperate struggle. But further resistance was
hopeless and was useless. Prentiss, having never swerved from the
position he was ordered to hold, having lost everything but honor,
surrendered the little band. According to his report, made after his
return from captivity, the number from both divisions surrendered with
him was 2,200. The statements vary as to the precise hour of the
surrender, and as to what command surrendered last. Colonel Shaw, of
the Fourteenth Iowa, who fought toward the rear before surrendering,
says that at the time he yielded he compared watches with his captor,
and both agreed it was about a quarter to six; he adds that the Eighth
and Twelfth Iowa and Fifty-eighth Illinois surrendered at about the same
time, and that the ground where they surrendered is about the spot
marked by three black dots in the fork of the Purdy and the Lower
Corinth roads, on Colonel George Thom's map of the field.
HURLBUT'S DIVISION.
It remains to describe the combat on the National left, where Hurlbut
with two of his brigades, supporting Stuart's isolated brigade of
Sherman's division and aided by two regiments of McArthur's brigade of
W.H.L. Wallace's division, resisted a part of Bragg's corps and the
reserves under General Breckenridge.
Colonel Stuart received word from Prentiss at half-past seven o'clock
that the enemy was advancing in force. Shortly after, his pickets sent
in word that the hostile column was in sight on the Bark road. He sent
his adjutant, Loomis, to General Hurlbut for assistance, but Hurlbut was
already in motion. Hurlbut, receiving notice from General Sherman, sent
Veatch's brigade to his aid. Soon after, getting a request for support
from Prentiss, he marched from his camp at twenty minutes after eight
o'clock, with his first brigade commanded by Colonel Williams, of the
Third Iowa, and his Third Brigade, commanded by Brigadier-General
Lauman. Passing out by the Hamburg road, across the first small field
and through a belt of timber beyond that, and into the large field that
stretched to Stuart's camp, he formed the First Brigade in line near the
southern side of the field, the Forty-first Illinois on the left, and
the Third Iowa on the right. The Third Brigade, Lauman's, the
Seventeenth and Twenty-fifth Kentucky forming the left, and the
Thirty-first and Forty-fourth Indiana the right, connected with
Prentiss' left, and was posted like it, protected in front with dense
thickets. General McArthur's two regiments appear to have operated on
Stuart's right. The Sixteenth Wisconsin and Sixty-first Illinois, from
Prentiss' division, formed in reserve in rear of the centre of Hurlbut's
line.
Colonel Stuart, finding Mann's battery, supported by the Forty-first
Illinois, coming to his aid and going into position by the headquarters
of one of his regiments, the Seventy-first Ohio, formed his line, the
Seventy-first Ohio and Fifty-fifth Illinois to the left of this battery
and facing nearly west, the Fifty-fourth Ohio at their left and facing
south. He sent four companies as skirmishers across the ravine to the
south of his camp, which discharges eastwardly into Lick Creek. His
skirmishers were unable to prevent the establishment of a hostile
battery on the heights beyond the ravine. While he was on the bank of
the ravine observing the enemy with his glass, Mann's battery, after
firing a few rounds at the hostile battery at a range of eleven hundred
yards, withdrew with the Forty-first Illinois back into the field, to
connect with their brigade. The Seventy-first Ohio, without orders, at
the same time retired. The Seventy-first Ohio was engaged in supporting
distance of the brigade in its first combat, though without the
knowledge of Colonel Stuart; but it was not with the brigade during the
rest of the day. The adjutant, however, returned with a score of men
after the regiment disappeared.
General Johnston, having personally seen the battle begun on his left
and centre, proceeded to reconnoitre the National right and try the
feasibility of turning it. Chalmers, called from his attack on Prentiss,
retired a short distance and halted half an hour, waiting for a guide
and further orders. He then marched directly south across the ravine
which runs eastwardly and debouches into Lick Run near the site of
Stuart's camp, and, advancing along the high land beyond, eastwardly
toward the river, arrived opposite Stuart's camp. Here the fire of the
skirmishers sent across the ravine by Stuart threw the Fifty-second
Tennessee into disorder. Chalmers, finding it impossible to rally more
than two companies of the regiment, ordered the remaining eight
companies out of the line, and they took no further part in the battle.
Here Chalmers halted half an hour while Clanton's cavalry reconnoitered
along the river. About ten o'clock, or a little later, Stuart having
withdrawn his two remaining regiments, the Fifty-fourth Ohio and
Fifth-fifth Illinois, back across the eastern extremity of the field to
the summit of a short, abrupt ascent in timber, Chalmers deployed his
brigade and advanced. The advantage of position partially compensated
Stuart for his inferiority in numbers. A contest with musketry across
the open field lasted some time without effect. Stuart reports it lasted
two hours. Clanton moved his cavalry forward along the river bluffs
toward Stuart's rear, around his left flank; Chalmers charged across the
field, and Stuart retreated to another ridge in his rear, and again
formed. Chalmers, being out of ammunition, and the wagons being far to
the rear, halted till ammunition could be brought up.
Meanwhile, Jackson's brigade, the Third Brigade of Withers' division,
marched to attack McArthur. The assault was gallantly made; but the
troops, unable to stand the steady fire which they encountered, fell
back. Being rallied after a rest, they renewed the attack. For a long
time the fate of the obstinate struggle was undecided. At length
McArthur's two regiments, pounded by well-posted batteries, yielded to
Jackson's persistent attack, after the Ninth Illinois had lost 61 killed
and 287 wounded, and withdrew, steadily and in order, to a new position.
Withers' First Brigade--Gladden's having been disordered in its first
attack on Prentiss, when General Gladden was killed--remained an hour at
halt in Prentiss' camp. After its sharp repulse in the later attack, the
brigade drifted to its right, following the course of preceding
brigades, came in front of Hurlbut's line, and moved to the attack.
Lauman's brigade, of Hurlbut's division, had remained undisturbed for an
hour after taking position. A skirmish line which he had posted in front
reported an advance of the enemy. Artillery from a distance in front
opened fire. At the first shot which fell in the Thirteenth Ohio
Battery, posted in the field to Lauman's left, with the right of
Williams' brigade, the entire battery deserted their guns and fled.
Shortly after the battle the men were, by order, distributed among other
batteries; the Thirteenth was blotted out, and on Ohio's roster its
place remained a blank throughout the war.
Soon, a line of gleaming steel was seen above the dense undergrowth in
Lauman's front. It advanced steadily till about one hundred yards from
his line. A sheet of fire blazed from the front of the brigade. The men,
restrained till then, fired rapidly but coolly. The fire could not be
resisted or endured. Gladden's brigade, now commanded by Colonel Adams,
was arrested in its march, broken, and fell back. Three times the
brigade rallied and returned to the assault. Once, a portion advanced to
within a few paces of the Thirty-first Indiana. But every charge was
vain, and Colonel Adams, the commander, being wounded, the brigade,
discomfited, withdrew.
After the termination of this engagement, several regiments--either the
Gladden brigade, now commanded by Colonel Deas, or one of the brigades
of Breckenridge's reserve--moved into the field to the left of Lauman.
Colonel Williams, commanding Hurlbut's first brigade, had been killed in
an artillery duel across the field, and the brigade, now commanded by
Colonel Pugh, had been drawn back from the field, behind a fence along
its northern boundary. The force that moved into the field was not only
confronted by the brigade under Colonel Pugh, but its flank was
commanded by the Seventeenth and Twenty-fifth Kentucky, which General
Lauman promptly wheeled to the left, against the fence bounding the
westerly face of the field. The assault made in this field was gallant
and deliberate, but brief and sanguinary. Pugh's command remained still
until the lines, advancing over the open field, were near. Then rising,
they poured in a volley, and continued firing into the smoke until no
bullets were heard whistling back from the front. The two Kentucky
regiments poured in their fire upon the flank, and when the smoke
cleared away, the field was so thickly strewn with bodies, that the
Third Iowa, supposing it was the hostile force lying down, began to
reopen fire upon them.
Before Withers' division became thus engaged with Hurlbut, McArthur, and
Stuart, General Johnston had dispatched Trabue's brigade, of
Breckenridge's reserve, off to his extreme left, to report to General
Beauregard, who, stationed at Shiloh Church, was superintending
operations in that quarter. The three brigades, Bowen, Statham, Trabue,
composing the reserve, had marched in rear of General Johnston's right
in echelon, at intervals of eight hundred yards. Johnston, observing
with anxiety the stubborn resistance opposed to Withers' division, and
eager to crush the National right, called up the remaining brigades of
the reserve, Bowen and Statham, and pushed them forward. Bowen was first
engaged, and the National left, in a series of encounters with the
increased force in its front, gradually but slowly receded, always
forming and rallying on the next ridge in rear of the one abandoned.
The Forty-first Illinois, constituting the left of Hurlbut's division,
held its position, and the Thirty-second Illinois was moved from its
place to support the Forty-first. The afternoon was come. Johnston
directed Statham's brigade against this position. Statham deployed under
cover of a ridge, facing and commanded by the higher ridge held by the
Illinois regiments, and marched in line up the slope. On reaching the
summit, coming into view and range, he was received by a fire that broke
his command, and his regiments fell back behind the slope in confusion.
Battle's Tennessee regiment on the right alone maintained its position
and advanced. Lytle's Tennessee regiment three times rallied and
advanced; but, unable to stand the fire, fell back. Every time it fell
back, the Thirty-second Illinois threw an oblique fire into Battle's
regiment, aiding the direct fire of the Forty-first, and preventing
Battle's further advance. The Forty-fifth Tennessee could not be urged
up the slope. Squads would leave the ranks, run up to a fence, fire, and
fall back to place; but the regiment would not advance. General
Breckenridge, foiled and irritated, rode to General Johnston and
complained he had a Tennessee regiment that would not fight. Governor
Harris, of Tennessee, who was with Johnston, remonstrated, and riding to
the Forty-fifth, appealed to it, but in vain. General Johnston moved to
the front of the brigade, now standing in line, rode slowly along the
front, promised to lead them himself, and appealed to them to follow.
The halting soldiers were roused to enthusiasm. Johnston, Breckenridge,
and Governor Harris in front, followed by the brigade, charged up the
slope and down the hollow beyond. Unchecked by the hot fire of the
Illinois regiments, they pushed up the higher slope, and the position
was gained.
The Illinois regiments fell back slowly, halting at intervals to turn
and fire, and were not pursued. One of those Parthian shots struck
General Johnston, cut an artery, and, no surgeon being at hand, he bled
to death in a few minutes. His body was carried at once by his staff
back to Corinth. General Beauregard, at his station at Shiloh Church,
was notified of the death, and assumed command. Albert Sydney Johnston
was a man of pure life, and, like McPherson, full of the traits that
call out genuine and devoted friendships. He was esteemed by many the
ablest general in the Confederate service. His death was deplored in the
South as a fatal loss. It was half-past two when Johnston fell. The loss
paralyzed operations in that part of the field, and for an hour there
was here a lull. The two Illinois regiments, though not followed, failed
to rally, and fell back to a bluff near the landing, where Colonel
Webster was putting batteries into position.
General Bragg, hearing of the death of General Johnston while he was
superintending operations in front of Prentiss and W.H.L. Wallace, rode
to the Confederate right. He there found a strong force, consisting of
three parts, without a common head: General Breckenridge, with two
brigades of his reserve division, pressing forward; General Withers,
with his division greatly exhausted and taking a temporary rest; and
General Cheatham, with his division of Polk's corps, to their left and
rear. Bragg at once assumed command, and began to assemble these
divisions and form them for a general advance. Hurlbut, observing these
preparations, moved Lauman's brigade, which had already twice
replenished its boxes and expended one hundred rounds of cartridges--to
his left to fill the gap made by the retreat of the Thirty-second and
Forty-first Illinois. Willard's battery, that accompanied McArthur's
brigade, was posted near the road from the landing to Hamburg. Hurlbut
brought up two twenty-pound guns of Major Cavender's artillery, which
were served by Surgeon Cornine and Lieutenant Edwards. A little after
four, according to Bragg, about half-past three according to Hurlbut,
Bragg moved forward. The artillery, aided by the rapid fire of Hurlbut's
infantry, checked the first impulse and made the advancing line pause.
Hurlbut, taking advantage of the lull, and first notifying Prentiss,
withdrew Lauman's brigade and the artillery. Bragg's line advanced
again. Hurlbut attempted to make another stand in front of his camp, but
the attempt was ineffectual. He fell back to the height behind Webster's
batteries.
The Third Iowa and Twenty-eighth Illinois, under Colonel Pugh, made a
desperate effort to maintain their position, but were ordered by General
Hurlbut to fall back when Lauman retired. These two regiments fell back
fighting, forming wherever the ground gave vantage, and turning upon
their pursuers. In the little field they halted and replenished their
cartridge-boxes. Here the Twenty-second Alabama attacked them, but was
so roughly handled that it took no further part in the contest that day.
As these two regiments fell back thus slowly, from time to time turning
at bay, portions of Bragg's command were pushing behind them and the
troops of Hardee, coming from the front of Sherman and McClernand, were
reaching toward their front. A narrow gap was left, and through a
gauntlet of fire, still fighting, the little band pressed on and joined
Hurlbut behind Webster's artillery.
The gunboat Tyler, commanded by Lieutenant Gwin, fired from ten minutes
to three o'clock until ten minutes to four upon Breckenridge's brigades,
and, joined by the Lexington, commanded by Lieutenant Shirk, fired later
upon the portion of Bragg's command close to the river-bank, for
thirty-five minutes. This fire drove a battery from its position, threw
Gibson's brigade and a portion of Trabue's brigade into disorder, killed
ten and wounded many of Wood's brigade, killed and wounded a number of
Anderson's brigade, and compelled it to seek shelter in a ravine.
As the National lines were drifting back toward the landing, Colonel
Webster, of General Grant's staff, gathered all the artillery within
reach--Major Cavender's six twenty-pounders, Silversparre's twenty-pound
Parrotts, and some light batteries--on a commanding position from a
quarter to half a mile from the landing. Immediately above the landing a
wide and deep ravine opens to the river. For some distance back from the
river its bottom was filled with back-water and was impassable. Half a
mile back it was still deep, abrupt, and wet, though passable for
infantry. Here Colonel Webster gathered from thirty-five to fifty guns.
Two of Hurlbut's batteries--Mann's, commanded by Lieutenant Brotzman,
and Ross'--had done brilliant service; Brotzman's battery of four pieces
had fired off one hundred and ninety-four rounds per gun. Ross' battery
was lost in the retreat. Brotzman lost so many horses that he was able
to bring off only three guns. These took place in Webster's frowning
line. Hurlbut was joined at this position by half of Veatch's brigade,
which had been with McClernand through the day, and reformed his
division in support of the artillery. General Grant directed him to
assume command of all regiments and coherent fragments near. The
Forty-eighth Ohio, of Buckland's brigade, being then at the landing,
some of W.H. L. Wallace's regiments, that succeeded in breaking through
the encircling force, and other detachments, reported to him. Squads of
men, separated from their commands, fell in. Hurlbut thus gathered in
support of the artillery a force in line which he estimated at four
thousand men.
General Bragg proposed to push his success and attempted to withdraw his
two divisions, Ruggles' and Withers', from the tumult which accompanied
the surrender, and ordered them to press forward and assault the
position to which Hurlbut had fallen back. When Ruggles received Bragg's
order for farther advance, one of his brigades, Pond's, was on the
extreme Confederate left, near Owl Creek; Gibson's brigade was in
confusion, caused by the fire of the gunboats; Anderson's was apart in a
ravine, taking shelter from the same fire. But Ruggles began at once to
assemble what force he could. Of Withers' division, the First Brigade
was scattered. The brigades of Jackson and Chalmers received the order
while they were resting in the field where the Third Iowa had rested and
filled their cartridge-boxes, and where Jackson was about to replenish
the empty boxes of his men. Withers immediately moved these two brigades
forward to the deep ravine whose farther bank was crowned with the grim
line of artillery, behind and to the right of which stood Hurlbut's
command.
While there was this activity at the front, the aspect at the rear,
about Shiloh Church, where General Beauregard kept his position, was
very different. As the Confederate lines advanced, men dropping out of
the ranks filled the woods with a penumbra of stragglers. Hunger and
fatigue, stimulated by the remembrance of abandoned camps passed
through, later in the day led squads--Beauregard and some of his staff
say, led regiments--to straggle back from the fighting front to the
restful and attractive rear. Language cannot be stronger than that used
by General Beauregard. The fire of the gunboats, many of the shells
passing over the high river-bank and exploding far inland, appeared even
more formidable than it really was; and Beauregard was assured by a
despatch, which he received that day on the field, that Buell, instead
of being near Pittsburg, was, in fact, before Florence, and could not
effect a junction. It must have been about five o'clock or a little
later when Beauregard sent an order to his command to retire and go into
bivouac. The order was delivered by his staff not only to corps
commanders, but directly to commanders of divisions and brigades.
General Ruggles, while attempting to assemble a force in pursuance of
Bragg's order, received the command to retire.
According to Withers' report, he moved his division forward and just
entered a steep and precipitous ravine when he was met by a terrific
fire. He sent to the rear for reinforcements and ordered his brigade
commanders to charge the batteries in front. The orders were about being
obeyed, when, to his astonishment, he observed a large portion of his
command move rapidly by the left flank away from under the fire. He then
learned that this was in accordance with General Beauregard's orders,
delivered directly to the brigade commanders. Jackson reports that he
began a charge, but his men, being without ammunition, could not be
urged up the height in face of the fire of Hurlbut and the batteries.
Leaving his men lying down, he rode to the rear to get an order to
withdraw, when he met a staff officer bearing such an order from General
Beauregard. General Chalmers plunged into the ravine, and the order to
retire did not reach him. He was not aware that his brigade alone, of
all the Confederate Army, was continuing the battle. He brought Gage's
battery up to his aid, but this battery was soon knocked to pieces by
the fire of the heavier National artillery. The gunboats, having
previously taken position opposite the mouth of the ravine, opened fire
as soon as the assault began. They opened fire at thirty-five minutes
past five.
Chalmers had not ended his useless attempt when the boats bearing
Ammen's brigade of Nelson's division of Buell's army crossed the river
and landed. General Nelson, when ordered by General Grant, early in the
morning, to move up the river, sent out a party to discover a route. No
practicable way was found near the river; one, a little inland, was
ascertained, practicable for infantry, but not for wheels. The division
moved at one o'clock. General Ammen's brigade, composed of the
Thirty-sixth Indiana and the Sixth and Twenty-fourth Ohio, being in
advance, crossed the river first. The Thirty-sixth Indiana, landing
first, pushed up the bluff through a great mob of fugitives from the
field, some thousands in number, and, by direction of General Grant,
General Ammen sent it forward to the support of the batteries. One
soldier was killed while the regiment was forming; one was killed and
one wounded after it reached its position. The Sixth Ohio marched up
under like order in reserve to the Thirty-sixth Indiana. The
Twenty-fourth Ohio marched half a mile to the right of the batteries,
scoured the country half a mile out to the front without finding any
enemy, and there went into bivouac. The day's battle was over.
Prentiss was driven back through his camp about nine o'clock; Sherman
was forced from his about ten o'clock; at the same time, Stuart took
position in rear of his. McClernand was compelled finally to abandon his
camp about half-past two, and at half-past four Hurlbut fell back
through his. When night came, the National troops held W.H.L. Wallace's
camp and an adjoining portion of Hurlbut's, while Beauregard's army
occupied Sherman's, McClernand's, and Prentiss'.
When Prentiss and Sherman were attacked, there was a wide gap between
their lines. A little after ten o'clock the National line was connected,
Sherman on the right, McClernand next, then W.H.L. Wallace, and next, on
his left, Prentiss, and Hurlbut and McArthur filling the space between
Prentiss and Stuart. The right was gradually forced back on a curve
till, at half-past four o'clock, there was a gap between McClernand and
Wallace. Hurlbut held his ground till four o'clock, but by half-past
four he retreated, leaving Prentiss' left in air. Through the two gaps
thus made the Confederate left and right poured in and encircled
Prentiss and Wallace. After their surrender there was no fighting,
except Chalmers' bold, but idle assault.
In this day's battle the National loss was nearly ten thousand killed,
wounded, and captured. The Confederate loss was as great in killed and
wounded, but the loss in prisoners was small.