From Fort Henry to Corinth Part 6

McClernand's whole division advanced in line, pus.h.i.+ng 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, s.h.i.+fting 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 a.s.sault. 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 ma.s.sed 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 a.s.signed the special duty of guarding along Owl Creek against any advance around Johnston's left flank, const.i.tuted 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 a.s.sault 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 a.s.sumed 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 pa.s.sed 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, const.i.tuting 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 a.s.saulted 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 a.s.sault, 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 s.h.i.+vered 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 b.l.o.o.d.y harvests among the lines of a.s.sailants 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, pa.s.sing 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, pa.s.sed 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 pa.s.sing on to the landing. But when they became enveloped, almost encircled, the enemy having pa.s.sed 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 a.s.sistance, 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. Pa.s.sing 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 gla.s.s, 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 a.s.sault 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 a.s.sault. 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 a.s.sault 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 s.h.i.+loh 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, const.i.tuting 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 s.h.i.+loh Church, was notified of the death, and a.s.sumed command. Albert Sydney Johnston was a man of pure life, and, like McPherson, full of the traits that call out genuine and devoted friends.h.i.+ps. 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 a.s.sumed command, and began to a.s.semble 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 pus.h.i.+ng 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 s.h.i.+rk, 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 impa.s.sable. Half a mile back it was still deep, abrupt, and wet, though pa.s.sable 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 a.s.sume 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 a.s.sault 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 a.s.semble 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 s.h.i.+loh 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 pa.s.sed 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 sh.e.l.ls pa.s.sing over the high river-bank and exploding far inland, appeared even more formidable than it really was; and Beauregard was a.s.sured 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 a.s.semble 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 a.s.sault 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 s.p.a.ce 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 a.s.sault.