From Fort Henry to Corinth Part 7

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.

CHAPTER VII.

s.h.i.+LOH--NIGHT, AND MONDAY.

The vice of the formation of Johnston's army into three long, thin, parallel lines, together with the broken character of the ground and the variable obstinacy of resistance encountered, produced a complete and inextricable commingling of commands. General Beauregard left it to the discretion of the different commanders to select the place for bivouac for the night.

Colonel Pond, retiring from his disastrous repulse toward the close of the afternoon, found himself wholly separated by an interval of more than a quarter of a mile from the nearest support, the whole of the Confederate left having drifted from him toward the southeast.

a.s.sembling all his brigade, except the Crescent Regiment, which had become detached, and recalling his battery--Ketchum's--he remembered that the special duty had been a.s.signed to him, by General Bragg, of guarding the flank along Owl Creek. When night fell, he moved to his rear and then to his left, and bivouacked in line facing to the east, on the high land west of Brier Creek. Ketchum's battery was placed in a field a little back from the ravine. He posted pickets to his rear as well as to his front. The other two brigades of Ruggles' division spent the night to the east of s.h.i.+loh Church.

Jackson's brigade, of Withers' division, when it recoiled from its fatal attack on Hurlbut and the reserve artillery, went to pieces.

Jackson with the battery marched to s.h.i.+loh Church and reported to General Beauregard. He saw nothing more of his brigade till he rejoined it at Corinth. Chalmers, abandoning his vain a.s.sault, was astonished to find that the army had fallen back, leaving him alone. He fell back to the field where Prentiss surrendered, and there rested. Of the remaining brigade, Gladden's, the merest fragment cohered; this little band, or detachment, bivouacked near the Hamburg road. Trabue's brigade, except one regiment which had become separated, spent the night in the tents of McDowell's brigade camp; Breckenridge's other two brigades were between s.h.i.+loh Church and the river.

Of General Polk's command, Clark's division, though partially scattered, rested, the greater portion of it, between Breckenridge and s.h.i.+loh Church. The other division, Cheatham's, which remained the freshest and least disordered command in Beauregard's army, moved off the field; and, accompanied by General Polk and one regiment of Clark's division, marched back to its camp of Sat.u.r.day night.

Of Hardee's corps, so much of Cleburne's brigade as remained with him, slept in Prentiss' camp; Wood's brigade slept in McClernand's camp; Shaver's brigade was disintegrated and dissipated.

In the National army, what men were left of Prentiss' division were gathered about the landing and with Hurlbut. The regiments of W.H.L.

Wallace that had escaped capture returned to their division camp.

Hurlbut after dark moved his division out to the front of the reserve artillery. Being relieved by General Nelson, he formed his line with its left near the reserve artillery and the right near McClernand.

McClernand's command bivouacked along the eastern face of the camp-ground of W.H.L. Wallace's division. Sherman's left joined McClernand; his right, Buckland's brigade, lay along the field at the south flank of McArthur's brigade camp, and along the east bank of the ravine of Brier Creek. Stuart's brigade, the Fortieth Illinois of McDowell's brigade, and the Forty-eighth Ohio of Buckland's brigade spent the night near the reserve artillery.

Captain Baxter, of General Grant's staff, brought to Lewis Wallace at eleven or half-past eleven, a verbal order to move his division. The First Brigade had already moved out to Stony Lonesome, and the division was ready to march. General Wallace believed the attack at Pittsburg was a feint, and that the real attack was to be made at Crump's Landing, on account of the great acc.u.mulation of stores at that point, and desired the order requiring him to move away from Crump's Landing should be in writing. Captain Baxter wrote and gave him an order to march to the Purdy road, form there on Sherman's right, and then act as circ.u.mstances should require. The two brigades at Stony Lonesome were at once put in motion. When the head of the division had just reached Snake Creek, not much more than a mile in an air-line from the right of Sherman's camp, Captain Rowley came up and informed Wallace of the state of affairs, and that the National line had fallen back. Wallace countermarched the two brigades to keep his right in front, retraced his steps (being joined on the way by Major Rawlins, Grant's adjutant, and by Colonel McPherson) the greater part of the way to Stony Lonesome, and there took a rude cross-road which came into the river road from Crump's to Pittsburg Landing, about a mile from the bridge which had been guarded for his approach. McPherson and Rawlins confirmed Captain Rowley's statement of the disastrous falling back of the National lines toward the river. The wagons were not allowed to accompany the column, but continued on through Stony Lonesome to Crump's Landing, and the Fifty-sixth Ohio, and one gun from Thurber's battery were detached to guard them. Whittlesey's brigade, at Adamsville, received at two o'clock the order to march.

Sending the wagons with the Sixty-eighth Ohio as guard to Crump's Landing, the remaining three regiments pushed through the mud, the field officers dismounting to let broken-down men ride, and overtook the other brigades as they were beginning to cross Snake Creek. The Twenty-fourth Indiana in advance, crossing the bridge just after sunset, deployed skirmishers in front, marched along the road along the east bank of Brier Creek, and halted in front of the camp of the Fourteenth Missouri, which regiment was occupying its camp. The Twentieth Ohio, the rear regiment of the division, halted on the bank of Brier Creek ravine, in front of the camp of the Eighty-first Ohio, at eight o'clock. The division facing to the right, making a front to the west, along the ravine, brought the Twenty-fourth Indiana to the left and the Twentieth Ohio to the right of the division. The batteries having been left at the junction of the cross-road and the river road, till all the infantry had crossed, followed in their rear, and were posted near the bank.

The remainder of Nelson's division followed Ammen's brigade late in the evening. Crittenden's division arrived in the night. McCook receiving orders to hasten forward in the morning, while twelve miles out from Savannah, halted at the outskirts of the village at seven o'clock P.M., rested his men two hours, marched to the landing, seized such boats as were there and such as arrived, and reached Pittsburg Landing at five o'clock Monday morning with Rousseau's brigade and one regiment of Kirk's brigade.

General Grant and General Buell met at Sherman's headquarters in the evening; it was there agreed that Buell with his army should in the morning attack on the left, and Grant's immediate command should attack on the right. Buell formed Nelson's division about two hundred yards in front of the reserve artillery, with his left near the river, facing south. Crittenden, when he arrived, was placed in rear of Nelson, half a mile from the landing, where his command stood at arms all night. At eleven o'clock a heavy rain began to pour. All the National troops and most of the Confederate lay on the ground without shelter. The gunboats every fifteen minutes through the night fired a sh.e.l.l over the woods, to explode far inland and banish sleep.

Early Monday morning, Nelson on the extreme left, on the Hamburg road, and Lewis Wallace on the extreme right, by Snake Creek, moved to the attack. Beauregard knew then that Buell had arrived and the junction of the two National armies had been effected. The opening of the battle proclaimed what the conclusion would be.

Nelson moved in line with Ammen's brigade on the left, Bruce's in the centre, and Hazen's on the right, his left extending a little beyond the Hamburg road towards the river. A remnant of Gladden's brigade, between two and three hundred men, under Colonel Deas, some fragments of some of the regiments of Jackson's brigade, with some regiments that had strayed from their proper commands, the Fourth Kentucky from Trabue's brigade, the First Tennessee from Stephens' brigade, the One Hundred and Fifty-fourth Tennessee from General B.R. Johnson's brigade, and the Crescent Regiment from Pond's brigade, scattered about, were roused by Nelson's advance and retired before it. At six o'clock Nelson was halted by Buell to allow Crittenden's division to complete its deployment and form on Nelson's right. Nelson again advanced. General Withers meanwhile had thrown the heterogeneous fragments into an organized force, added Chalmers' brigade to it, and strengthened it by the addition of three batteries. Nelson, when he again advanced, came upon this consolidated line, which drove him back. Nelson was without artillery. His batteries, unable to get through the soft mud which the infantry traversed, remained behind at Savannah. General Buell sent to his aid Mendenhall's battery from Crittenden's division. The rapid and accurate fire of Mendenhall's guns silenced the central opposing battery. Hazen's brigade charged upon it, captured the guns and drove in retreat the cannoneers and their support. Bowen's brigade of Breckenridge's reserve corps, commanded by Colonel Martin since General Bowen was wounded Sunday afternoon, was coming up in support. Colonel Martin made his brigade lie down in a ravine till the torrent of fugitives pa.s.sed over, then rising, charged the pursuers. Hazen's brigade, torn by the fire of two batteries, one on each flank, and now charged by a fresh brigade, suffered in a short time more than half the whole loss suffered by the division in the entire day. The loss of the division in killed and wounded, was 90 killed and 558 wounded. The Forty-first Ohio, in Hazen's brigade, out of a total engaged of 371, lost 140 killed and wounded. The shattered regiments streamed back in confusion, leaving a gap in the division line.

Ammen's brigade was sorely pressed. Const.i.tuting the left of the army, it was in constant risk of being turned. Bruce's brigade, now put in hazard by the recession of Hazen, could give only indirect a.s.sistance to Ammen. Just then, Terrill's regular battery, of four twelve-pounders (Napoleons) and two ten-pound Parrotts, having arrived from Savannah, and missed its way to McCook's division, was ordered by General Buell to Nelson's relief. Das.h.i.+ng out to the skirmish line in front of Colonel Ammen, in order to get the range of the enemy's batteries, Terrill's guns became the target of the concentrated fire of the opposing batteries and the line of infantry. He was compelled to retire; but, firing as he retired, he kept at a distance the long line that followed and essayed to charge. Colonel Tuttle, who had been marching what was left of W.H.L. Wallace's division in reserve, in rear of Nelson and Crittenden, sent the Second Iowa forward in aid of Terrill. At the same time the Fortieth Illinois, of McDowell's brigade, Sherman's division, which had been marching in reserve to Nelson, filed to the front around Ammen's left flank, and the Confederate line retired to their position in the timber. Ammen's line, which fell back under the galling fire called out by Terrill's artillery charge, now returned to the front and occupied the timber where the enemy had been. It was now nearly two o'clock. There was no more fighting in Nelson's front. Terrill's battery suffered so severely that the Sixth Ohio was detailed as its special support, and supplied artillerists from its ranks. From an advanced position in Nelson's front, upon his skirmish line, this battery succeeded in opening an enfilading fire upon the troops in front of McCook, and one section advanced far enough to take in reverse the batteries that were engaged with Crittenden and McCook.

General Crittenden's division moved a little after five o'clock to Nelson's right. Colonel W.S. Smith's brigade connected with Nelson and continued his line. General J. T. Boyle's brigade was formed in rear of the left wing of Smith's brigade. A little after six o'clock McCook marched to the front with Rousseau's brigade, and formed on Crittenden's right, but facing to the west. The Fourteenth Wisconsin, a.s.signed to Prentiss' division, not arriving at Pittsburg till Monday morning, reported to General Crittenden, and acted during the day as a part of Colonel Smith's brigade. General Buell describes the line thus formed as follows; "The force under my command occupied a line of about a mile and a half. In front of Nelson's division was an open field, partially screened toward his right by a skirt of woods, which extended beyond the enemy's line, with a thick undergrowth in front of the left brigade of Crittenden's division; then an open field in front of Crittenden's right and McCook's left, and in front of McCook's right woods again, with a dense undergrowth. The ground, nearly level in front of Nelson, formed a hollow in front of Crittenden, and fell into a small creek or ravine, which empties into Owl Creek, in front of McCook. What I afterward learned was the Hamburg road (which crosses Lick Creek a mile from its mouth) pa.s.sed perpendicularly through the line of battle near Nelson's left. A short distance in rear of the enemy's left, on high, open ground, were the encampments of McClernand's and Sherman's divisions, which the enemy held." This line is almost identical with the line held by McArthur, Hurlbut, Prentiss, and Wallace, Sunday afternoon. Buell's cavalry was not brought up, and, from want of transportation, only three batteries--Bartlett's and Mendenhall's of Crittenden's division, and Terrill's of McCook's division. But these were served with remarkable efficiency.

When Crittenden took position, his skirmishers were advanced across the open field to the edge of the timber in front. This dense growth, called in the reports "chapparal" and "jungle," covered both slopes of a hollow, which was threaded by a rivulet with muddy borders, and was the scene of many a b.l.o.o.d.y repulse the day before, in the repeated a.s.saults upon Prentiss. The skirmishers soon became engaged, and a battery concealed in woods on rising ground beyond, played upon the troops in line. The skirmishers retired to the line, but were sent back to their original position, while Bartlett's battery silenced the hostile battery, and, by accurate fire, compelled it several times to s.h.i.+ft its position. A line of battle appearing in the timber preparing to charge, the skirmishers were called back, Bartlett swept the bushes with canister and shrapnell, Boyle's brigade charged into the brush, encountered the fire of the Confederate line at close quarters, replied, charged, and drove the enemy through the timber to an open field beyond.

The enemy rapidly crossed the field and took position in woods on its farther side. A line of cavalry appearing at one end of the field, which was also commanded by the enemy's battery, Boyle withdrew his regiments to their original position. Bartlett's battery, aided by Mendenhall's, was in constant activity. The infantry, with intervening pauses of cessation, met and made charges into the chapparal. Mendenhall's battery, in the course of the day, expended five hundred and twenty-six rounds of ammunition, or about eighty-eight to the gun. Bartlett, by noon, had fired his entire supply, six hundred rounds, and took his battery to the landing to replenish. When he returned, the fighting had ceased. After an hour of quiet, a furious attack was made on Smith's brigade. The contest that ensued is described in Colonel Smith's report: "The enemy soon yielded, when a running fight commenced, which extended about a mile to our front, where we captured a battery and shot the horses and many of the cannoneers. Owing to the obstructed nature of the ground, the enthusiastic courage of the majority of our men, the laggard discharge of their duty by many, and the disgraceful cowardice of some, our line had been transformed into a column of attack, representing the various grades of courage, from reckless daring to ignominious fear. At the head of this column stood a few heroic men, not adequately supported, when the enemy returned to the attack with three fresh regiments in good order. We were driven back by these nearly to the first position occupied by our line, when we again rallied and moved forward toward the battery. Reaching a ravine to the right, and about six hundred paces from the battery, we halted and awaited the a.s.sistance of Mendenhall's battery, which was brought into action on a knoll within half a mile of the enemy's battery, which it immediately silenced. We then advanced and captured it the second time, and succeeded in holding it despite the efforts of the enemy to repulse us." This charge entirely shattered Cleburne's brigade, and it disappeared from the contest. This ended the battle in Crittenden's front, and Mendenhall's battery advanced and fired on the flank of the column, by that time retiring before McCook's division. The force which General Crittenden engaged was commanded by General Breckenridge, and consisted of one of Breckenridge's brigades--Statham's--aided by the brigades of Russell and A.P. Stewart, from Polk's corps. These two brigades const.i.tuted Clark's division, but General Clark having been wounded the previous day, the brigades were under Breckenridge's immediate command. To these was added Cleburne's brigade, reduced to one-third of its numbers. One-third was killed and wounded before Buckland's brigade, Sunday morning; one-third had straggled to the rear; the remaining third rallied to enter into Monday's battle.

In accordance with the direction of General Buell, McCook deployed Rousseau's brigade into line facing toward s.h.i.+loh Church. The Fifteenth Michigan, intended for Prentiss' division, being now without a.s.signment, reported to McCook, and was by him attached for the day to Rousseau's brigade. General Beauregard still held his own position near the church, and as the line of inevitable retreat was by the road pa.s.sing by the church, it was necessary that his force should hold this position to the last. It was a centre to which stragglers and fragments of commands had drifted during the night. Monday morning the greater part of Beauregard's army reported there, and, though much was despatched thence to other quarters, portions so despatched returned to take part in the final conflict. Pond's brigade, after its rapid retreat from Lewis Wallace's front, had a fatiguing march before finally settling into position. He says in his report: "I was ordered by General Ruggles to form on the extreme left and rest my left on Owl Creek. While proceeding to execute this order, I was ordered to move by the rear of the main line to support the extreme right of General Hardee's line. Having taken my position to support General Hardee's right, I was again ordered by General Beauregard to advance and occupy the crest of a ridge in the edge of an old field. My line was just formed in this position when General Polk ordered me forward to support his line. While moving to the support of General Polk, an order reached me from General Beauregard to report to him with my command at his headquarters." Ruggles' division and Cheatham's division, with one regiment of Clark's, were put on the Confederate left of s.h.i.+loh Church; Wood's brigade and Trabue's brigade to the right. Russell and A.P. Stewart were first sent to oppose Crittenden, but were afterward s.h.i.+fted toward the Confederate left, to McCook's front. The report of Colonel Thompson, Beauregard's aide-de-camp, to General Beauregard, states: "About 11.30 o'clock it was apparent that the enemy's main attack was on our left, and our forces began to yield to the vigor of his attack."

When Rousseau's brigade was formed, his right was in the air. McCook held it in place till Kirk's brigade arrived from Savannah, and occupied the time exploring the ground to his front and right. Kirk having arrived, McCook moved Rousseau's brigade across a ravine to a rising ground a few hundred yards in advance, and placed Kirk's brigade in reserve of Rousseau's right, to protect the exposed flank. A company of regulars (there were three battalions of regulars in Rousseau's command) was sent into the woods as skirmishers. In less than an hour the skirmishers were driven back and followed by the Fourth Kentucky Regiment and Fourth Alabama Battalion belonging to Trabue's brigade.

After a fierce attack for twenty minutes, the a.s.sailants fell back before the rapid and well-directed fire of Rousseau's men and retired out of sight in the timber. Trabue's regiments rallied and quickly returned to the a.s.sault with greater vigor than before. The steady fire of Rousseau's men again drove them to retreat; Rousseau advanced into the timber, pa.s.sed through it to an open field, when Trabue, who, with three regiments was engaged with McClernand, united the two portions of his brigade and charged furiously upon Rousseau. After a desperate struggle Trabue gave way; Rousseau captured two guns and repossessed McClernand's headquarters.

This advance drew Rousseau away from Crittenden, while it connected him with McClernand; exposed his left, while it covered his right. Colonel Willich, who had arrived with the Thirty-second Indiana, pa.s.sed around to the left, and, with regiment in column doubled on the centre, charged upon the enemy in that quarter, drove him into the timber, then deploying in line opened fire. Willich became subject to so hot a fire--mainly, he reports, from the National troops--that he was compelled to retire. Dressing his lines he charged again. Observing undue excitement in his men, he halted the regiment, and in the midst of the battle exercised the men in the manual of arms. Having thus steadied them, he resumed the charge and again drove the enemy into the timber.

Rousseau's command having exhausted their cartridges, Kirk's brigade took place in the line, while Rousseau, behind them, replenished from the supply which General McCook had already procured. Gibson's brigade having now arrived, was deployed, about two o'clock, on the left. The two armies were concentrating about s.h.i.+loh Church. Gibson's left flank being twice threatened and partially turned, the Forty-ninth Ohio twice, under fire, changed front to the rear on the right company with precision. Veatch's brigade, of Hurlbut's division, which had been acting in reserve, was moved forward by McCook and extended his left.

The division being now sorely pressed by the enemy's artillery, Major Taylor, Sherman's chief of artillery, brought forward Bouton's battery and a.s.signed part to each brigade. The section a.s.signed to Gibson quickly silenced the batteries in his front. McCook was now connected with the forces to his right.

McClernand's command consisted--Monday morning--of the Forty-sixth Illinois, of Hurlbut's division, const.i.tuting his right; the Twentieth, Seventeenth, Forty-third, Forty-fifth, Forty-eighth, and Forty-ninth Illinois, of his own division, being his First and Second Brigades, and, on his left, the Fifty-third Ohio, of Sherman's division, and the Eighty-first Ohio, of W.H.L. Wallace's division. Except the two flanking regiments, the Forty-sixth Illinois and the Eighty-first Ohio, the regiments were extremely reduced. After firing had opened by Nelson and by Lewis Wallace, McClernand moved across the ravine of Brier Creek to the large open field, where his line was dressed; McAllister's battery was brought up and engaged a battery posted beyond, or in the proper front of, McClernand's First Brigade camp. Lewis Wallace's batteries beyond the timber to the northwest, and a battery with Sherman in the same direction, joined in the artillery combat. The Confederate battery becoming silent, McClernand moved forward and entered the camp of his First Brigade, being the northwestern extremity of his camp, without having encountered opposing infantry. It was discovered that a body of the enemy was advancing beyond the left of the line. McClernand moved by the flank to the left till the left regiments came to a field in rear of his camp, and charged across it against a battery and its supports on the farther side. The Fifty-third and Eighty-first Ohio recoiled, were ordered back, fell to the rear in some disorder, and the whole line retired. The Twenty-eighth Illinois was moved forward from Hurlbut's reserve and added to McClernand's left. The line again advanced, pushed the enemy back through McClernand's camp, where he made a stand, and McClernand was again compelled to yield. General McCook now extended his right by throwing forward the Louisville Legion. The two divisions connected, and the Twenty-eighth Illinois returned to the reserve.

Sherman, being ordered by General Grant early in the morning to advance and recapture his camps, sent his staff out to gather in the members of his command. Colonel Sullivan marched the Forty-eighth Ohio, at dawn, out from the reserve artillery, and Buckland's brigade was complete.

Colonel Stuart was found near the landing with two regiments of his brigade, and a small detachment of the Third, the Seventy-first Ohio.

The Thirteenth Missouri, temporarily attached to Sherman, which had become entangled with McClernand's command the previous afternoon, and bivouacked at night in his line, was regained. Portions of the Fifty-seventh and Seventy-seventh Ohio still adhered. Major Taylor, chief of artillery, brought Lieutenant Wood's battery. The column being formed, he marched by the flank toward the west to the bluffs of Owl Creek, and along them to an open field at the extreme right of McClernand's camp, and awaited the approach of McCook on the Corinth road. Hearing heavy firing in front of Rousseau, about ten o'clock, and observing it gradually gaining ground toward s.h.i.+loh Church, he moved the head of his column to General McClernand's right, formed line of battle, facing south, with Buckland next to McClernand and Stuart on his right, and advanced slowly and steadily under a heavy fire of musketry and artillery.

General Lewis Wallace discovered at dawn, on the bluff on the opposite side of Brier Creek, and just facing Thompson's battery, a hostile battery. The Twentieth Ohio discharging their rifles to clear them, were answered by a volley that disclosed the presence of a hostile line of battle. At the same time Pond's brigade and Ketchum's battery became aware of the fact that only the valley of Brier Creek separated them from troops that had arrived in the night. Colonel Pond was dismayed by the further discovery that he was nearly a mile in advance of his nearest support. After a short engagement he withdrew his infantry, leaving Wharton's regiment of mounted Texas Rangers to support the battery. After a sharp artillery duel, Ketchum drew off his battery, covered by the mounted regiment. General Grant directing Wallace to push his line of attack to the west, directly from the river, the division advanced, the brigades in echelon, the First to the front and left, the Third to the right and rear, sweeping the bluffs facing Snake Creek and Owl Creek, and coming out in the fields in rear of Sherman's camps.

Wheeling the division to the left, he soon became hotly engaged, first Thompson's battery with another battery, then infantry with opposing infantry.

There was yet a gap between Sherman and Wallace, but the conflict now raged about s.h.i.+loh Church with a fury surpa.s.sing any portion of the battle of Sunday. McCook, with his well closed division, McClernand and Sherman with their attenuated but persistent commands, Wallace with his fresh and compact division, with the batteries of Bouton, McAllister, Wood, Thompson, and Thurber, formed a curved line concentrating upon the convex line comprised of part of Clark's division, Wood's brigade, Trabue's brigade, Cheatham's division, and Ruggles' division, with the batteries of Ketchum, Byrne, Bankhead, and others. McClernand, Sherman, and Wallace all speak with admiration of the splendid fighting of McCook's division. Ammunition was becoming exhausted. Buckland withdrew his regiments to fill their boxes. Stuart's brigade, now commanded by Colonel Kilby Smith, plunged forward to make up with renewed vigor for diminished numbers. Wallace's left flank was exposed. The Eleventh Indiana, changing front, faced the danger on its flank. The First Nebraska having used its last cartridge, the Seventy-sixth Ohio leaped to its place. Thompson's battery having expended its last round, Thurber's guns took their place so quickly that there was no intermission in the fire. The Twentieth Ohio, sent off to the right to meet a force springing up in that quarter, met with a sudden discharge at close range, dashed through a fringe of bushes, and drove a battery from the field beyond.

Wood's brigade, charging on Rousseau, was knocked to pieces and retired to the rear, where General Wood with the aid of cavalry gathered up 1,500 stragglers into an ineffective reserve. McCook pushed his line forward to Sherman's camp. The lines were pressed closer and the fire was hotter than ever. General Grant called two regiments, and in person led them in a charge in McCook's front, and broke the enemy's line.

Endurance has its limits. The intense strain of two days was telling.

Beauregard saw his men were beginning to flag; exhausted regiments were dropping out of line. It was now three o'clock. Two hours before, General Beauregard had sent word to his extreme right in Nelson's front, to retire slowly in alternate lines. Breckenridge, put in command of the movement, had drawn Statham's brigade from Crittenden's front.

Beauregard was fighting to secure his retreat.

Colonel Thompson, aide-de-camp to Beauregard, says in his report: "While I was engaged in rallying our disorganized troops to the left and rear of the church, you seized the banners of two different regiments and led them forward to the a.s.sault in face of the fire of the enemy; but from the feebleness of the response I became convinced that our troops were too much exhausted to make a vigorous resistance. I rode up to you and advised that you should expose yourself no further, but should dispose your troops so as to retire from s.h.i.+loh Church in good order." Colonel Whittlesey, in his report, states: "There being signs of a retreat farther to the south, Lieutenant Thurber was directed to sweep the ground in front, which he did with his two howitzers and three smooth-bores in fine style. Two prisoners captured near there, one of them an officer of the Creole Guard, state that General Beauregard was endeavoring to form a line for a final and desperate charge on our right when Lieutenant Thurber opened upon him, and the result was a disorderly retreat."

The battle was over. General Beauregard posted a battery and a brigade on the rising ground south of Oak Creek, commanding the ground about s.h.i.+loh Church, and withdrew his worn troops behind them. General Beauregard says this was at two o'clock. Cheatham fixes the hour when he retired at half-past two. The National commanders fix the close of the contest at about three o'clock. At Woods', about two miles beyond, a rear-guard took position again. At Mickey's, where Breckenridge had already arrived, he was detailed with his command as rear-guard, and the rest of the army pa.s.sed on to Monterey.

There was no pursuit of the retreating army. All advance by the National troops ceased about four o'clock. McCook went into bivouac near the camp of Peabody's brigade, Prentiss' division. Wood's division, arriving too late to take part in the battle, pushed to the front and engaged his skirmishers with the light troops covering the retreat. Mendenhall's battery, far off toward Crittenden's left, catching some glimpses of the retiring column through openings in the forest, sent some parting rounds. Wood and Crittenden went into bivouac in front of Prentiss'

camp. General Buell pushed Nelson forward on the Hamburg road, near to the crossing of Lick Creek, and the division bivouacked near Stuart's camp. The divisions, or what was present of them, of McClernand, Sherman, Hurlbut, and W.H.L. Wallace, returned to their camps. Lewis Wallace advanced his division across Oak Creek to the large field.

Company A, of the Twentieth Ohio, obtaining permission to proceed farther, advanced to the Confederate hospital and was deploying to drive off a detachment of cavalry that was burning a commissary train, when it was recalled to rejoin the division, then returning across Oak Creek, to bivouac in front of the camp of McDowell's brigade.

McClernand and Sherman formed part of the line of battle. Prentiss'

division was gone. The other two divisions, what was left of them, acted in reserve. Hurlbut formed his division in the morning complete, with the exception of the Forty-sixth Illinois, which served for the day with McClernand. It was a skeleton division. The Third Iowa was 140 men under the command of a lieutenant. In the forenoon, General Grant sent Hurlbut out to act as reserve to McClernand. The Twenty-eighth Illinois took place for a while on McClernand's left, and Veatch with his three regiments took place on McCook's left, when he diverged from Crittenden.

Colonel Tuttle, senior officer in the Second Division, by the death of W.H.L. Wallace and the wounding of McArthur, gathered the remaining regiments of his division, except the Fourteenth Missouri and the Eighty-first Ohio, added to them Colonel Crocker and three regiments of McClernand's First Brigade, and marched in reserve to Crittenden. He sent the Second Iowa to Nelson, when Nelson's line was broken by the gallant but disastrous charge of Hazen; the Eighth and Eighteenth Illinois moved out to the left of Crittenden when he diverged from Nelson, and the Seventh Iowa, moved into the front line later in the day.

The number of Johnston's army has already been given as 40,000 men.

Badeau says the effective force present in the National camps Sunday morning was 33,000 men. General Sherman makes the number 32,000. William Preston Johnston, in the Life of his father, makes the number of the National troops, the "grand total in Sunday's battle," 41,543. These various statements arise from the different ways of making and reading returns. Forty thousand does not represent the total force which A.S.

Johnston led to s.h.i.+loh. Forty thousand "present for duty" is exclusive not only of the brigade of detailed teamsters and cooks that General Johnston complained of, but of all regular and permanent details. It appears from some reports which give numbers, that it was also exclusive of temporary details made for the occasion of the battle--hospital men, train guards, ammunition guards, sappers and miners, infantry detailed to act with batteries, etc. It appears from some of the reports, which state numbers, that the "enlisted men" "present for duty," in the "Field Returns of the Confederate Forces that marched from Corinth to the Tennessee River," comprised only non-commissioned officers and privates, and was therefore exclusive of musicians, buglers, artificers, etc., though enlisted as such. The 40,000, therefore, is the number of the combatants engaged in the battle. The field return is susceptible of further explanations, the character of which does not appear. The field return, for example, gives the "present for duty," in the artillery in Polk's corps, as 20 officers and 331 enlisted men--351 in all; while the official report of the chief of artillery of the corps, of casualties in the battle, giving each battery separately, states the number actually engaged in the battle as 21 officers, 56 non-commissioned officers, and 369 privates, making a total of 446. It is clear, therefore, that the 40,000 is intended as the number of officers, non-commissioned officers, and privates actually engaged in the battle, and a comparison of the reports of General Polk's chief of artillery with the returns suggests that in some way it may not be the full number of combatants engaged.

The aggregation of returns making 41,153 present for duty in Grant's army at Pittsburg Landing, Sunday morning, is not a consolidated return, but a collection of footings of regimental returns, the nearest in date attainable to April 6th, for the most part furnished by the War Department to Colonel Johnson, the rest either taken from reports of State adjutant-generals, or else estimated. The statement includes the Fourteenth Wisconsin and the Fifteenth Michigan, neither of which arrived till after the close of Sunday's battle.[3] Deducting the "present for duty" given for these, 1,488, leaves, in round numbers, as in General Johnston's army, 40,000. But "present for duty" in the returns of the National forces, includes musicians, buglers, artificers, etc.; all men present for the duty for which they were enlisted. The army was clothed with music. There were 72 regiments present, including those which arrived Sunday morning. The field music of 720 companies, with the buglers of cavalry and artillery, made about three thousand men. Besides these there were bands so numerous that an order was shortly afterward made, restricting the number of bands to one to each brigade. Where the battle reports give the number taken into action, the difference in the number given and the number of "present for duty," as given by the War Department to Colonel Johnston, suggests that many had gone on to the sick list, or been detailed, between the date of the return and April 6th; or that many men present for duty were left behind in camp. Probably all were true, and thirty-three thousand or thirty-two thousand is the number of officers, non-commissioned officers, and privates actually engaged in Sunday's battle on the National side. The reinforcements of Monday numbered, of Buell's army, about twenty thousand; Lewis Wallace, sixty-five hundred; other regiments, about fourteen hundred.

[Footnote 3: This is a mistake as to the Fifteenth Michigan, which lost, Sunday, 33 killed, 64 wounded, and 7 missing.]

There ought to be no uncertainty in the reports of casualties. Yet, while the general result is clear, precision in detail is now hardly attainable. General Beauregard's report gives his loss as 1,728 killed, 8,012 wounded, and 959 missing; making an aggregate of 10,699. Of the reported missing, many were killed or wounded. These numbers are the aggregate of losses reported by brigades. They cannot include casualties at division, corps, or army headquarters, happening either to the generals commanding, or to the officers on their staff, or to enlisted men on duty there. And while batteries were attached to brigades, the cavalry was a wholly independent command, not attached or reporting to brigades or divisions; two regiments were not attached to any corps.

Their casualties cannot be included in brigade reports. Colonel Johnston, after much examination, "finds a possible variation of 218 more casualties, princ.i.p.ally in missing, that might be added to General Beauregard's report."

The generally accepted official report of the National loss is: in Grant's army, 1,437 killed, 5,679 wounded, and 2,934 missing, making a total of 10,050; in Buell's army, 263 killed, 1,816 wounded, and 88 missing--making a total of 2,167. The two armies aggregated 1,700 killed, 7,495 wounded, and 3,022 captured--making total, 12,217. The War Department, in the printed collection of battle reports, does not give the casualties of the two armies separately, but gives the aggregate, 1,574 killed, 7,795 wounded, and 2,794 missing--making a total of 12,163. The "Medical and Surgical History of the War" makes the loss 1,735 killed, 7,882 wounded, 3,956 missing--making a total of 13,573.

The loss of the Army of the Ohio, as given above, is the report of General Buell on April 15th. Six days later, the Medical Director of that army made to General Buell a tabulated statement of killed and wounded in each regiment, brigade, and division engaged, which makes the number 236 killed and 1,728 wounded. All these estimates are based upon the same material--upon the field reports. As the revisers of the reports for publication have had the best opportunity for deliberate examination and for comparison of the reports with muster-rolls, their estimate of casualties is perhaps the most trustworthy.

The loss in artillery on each side was about equal. General Sherman lost seven guns and captured seven. General McClernand lost six guns and captured three. Prentiss lost eight guns. Hurlbut lost two batteries.

The Army of the Ohio captured about twenty guns, many of them being recaptured guns, lost on Sunday. One of Breckenridge's brigades threw away their arms, taking in place better arms picked up on the field.

There was a great destruction of camp equipage and stores. The quartermaster of the Third Iowa, in Hurlbut's division, packed everything in wagons, safely carried stores and baggage to the landing, and let down the tents to save them from damage by shot. Before the wagons of Prentiss' division went to the rear, while the division was still engaged at the front, Colonel Miller's servant gathered everything in the Colonel's tent, packed it in one of the wagons, carried it safely off, and kept all in good order till Miller returned from captivity. But such thoughtfulness was the exception, and the returning troops found much missing and more destroyed.