USA > Indiana > The soldier of Indiana in the war for the union, Vol. I > Part 32
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TEN O'CLOCK.
protected the troops in their rear. An open field, the willow fringed run, the steep bank beyond it, were all gained, when, as Wallace's skirmishers were not more than seventy-five yards from the Rebel lines, a battery opened on them, and the woods blazed with musketry. The skirmishers stood, and Thayer and Smith fixed their bayonets for a charge, but the enemy removed his guns and fell back to a new position. Here Lieutenant-Colonel John Gerber of the Twenty-Fourth was killed. "No man died that day with more glory, yet many died, and there was much glory." Captain McGriffin and Lieutenant Southwick also fell,-gallant spirits, deserving honorable recollection. Many soldiers, equally brave, perished or were wounded in the same field .*
Beauregard's center pressed hard on Sherman. Three times Sherman's line was broken, once so completely that Wallace's left flank was gained, but the Eleventh Indiana and Seventy-First Ohio formed a new line of battle at right angles with the first, and sharply repelled the intruders. During this struggle on the flank, Thurber's battery, supported by two Ohio regiments, diligently played on the enemy's left, and the center of the division continued the onward move- ment. In the woods and out of the woods, up hill and down hill, standing, charging, lying flat, steady but quick, cool yet fiery, always obeying orders as the wave obeys the wind, Wallace's troops fought their way hour by hour towards the woods and hills west of Shiloh church.
In less than four hours after the first shot was fired, and in every form except of cavalry engagement, from right to center and from center to left, from Wallace to McCook, and from McCook to Nelson, the conflict was in progress. There were no idlers in the battle of the 7th. Batteries on the crests of opposite hills bellowed and smoked. Skirmishers crawled from thicket to log, and from log to tree, warily picking out and grimly bringing down their victims. Long lines of men faced each other, and at the word of command fired straight before them into clouds of smoke and dust, impenetrable to the eye. Regiments advanced, delivered fire, and seemed to
* General Wallace's report.
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THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
sink into the earth, while an answering fire skimmed over them: Pity and fear were alike unknown, except in the dread moment, when change of front, or the formation of a new line of bat- tle, or the fixing of bayonets for a charge caused delay in the midst of thousands of flying bullets. In such a pause fear for a moment has birth, the pack of cards is flung hastily to the ground, the little Testament in the side-pocket, the last letter from home, the daguerreotype of some dear face, is pressed close, while a furtive tear steals from many an eye, and an unuttered prayer rises from many a heart.
" Trail arms! Double-quick! March!"
They march. Scores drop killed or wounded. On they go. Thick and thicker fall the bullets. "Charge bayonets!" The muskets are raised. A long line of bright steel glitters. On they go. Tramp! Tramp! Awful and firm! Tramp! Tramp! Steady as fate! They rush upon a battery. The artillerists, the infantry support stand until they catch the gleam of the glaring eye, of the white face, until they note the dilated nostril and the sharp eye-teeth, then they run. Very rarely they stand, then they fire close, they taunt, they jeer, they curse, they sweep off and on, up and down, they dash madly together. War is noble and fiendish, and in its turmoil men are devils and angels.
When General Nelson had advanced a mile with little opposition, two Rebel batteries threatened to demolish him. His first brigade was forced to use all its efforts to protect his flank, while his third bent its energies to the capture of the battery in its front. With blood and sweat the guns were won, but scarcely won when lost again. A wild storm of. musketry raged round them; and a fearful cross-fire from another battery swept over the assailants, the Ninth Indiana, the Kentucky and Ohio regiments. The woods were one- sheet of flame.
Nelson had entered the field without artillery, as, owing to. want of transportation, the three batteries belonging to his division were left at Savannah. General Buell sent him Mendenhall's, from Crittenden's division, and afterwards, before it reached McCook's division to which it belonged, he ordered Terrill's battery to his aid. Both batteries put on
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THE ROCK SMITTEN.
their full power. Their fire was terrific; Terrill's guns espe- cially were effective, wherever they turned, silence followed on the part of the enemy. Yet in a little time from one of those powerful guns every man was gone but Captain Terrill and a corporal.
General Nelson was in his element. He rode along the embattled line and gave it the keenest scrutiny. It bore his searching eye as it bore the enemy's missiles, unflinching. Colonel Ammon's brigade, at one time forced to stand under a fire which it could not return, smiled to see its commander seat himself on a pile of corn, which happened to be in front, and composedly husk some ears of corn for his horse. The Thirty- Sixth Indiana cheerily responded, while Colonel Grose rode slowly and talked cheerily in its front. The Ninth Indiana, saluted with "Buena Vista!" "Buena Vista!" as it made a gallant assault on a battery, shouted "Donelson!" captured the battery and dragged it off.
So bravely did the Ninth bear itself that the granite-hearted General could not wait until the battle-storm had lulled to give it words of commendation. Deep down in the soul of that pitiless man was a spring of genuine humanity, which heaved up under the sound of artillery or at the sight of gen- erous courage.
While Nelson captured the second and third Confederate batteries, Crittenden attacked the enemy in front and took possession of his fourth battery. But Crittenden met with fierce resistance, and his advance was slow. At the same time Rousseau, McCook's left, fought his way through the open ground in his front, in order to relieve the Sixth Indiana, which, in its first position, was exposed to the enemy's artil- lery, and formed a new line on a crest which was partially sheltered by woods. Here Kirk's brigade, which, on its arrival, had been placed in the rear of Rousseau, moved to the front and continued the line towards the right.
Rousseau and Kirk protected the road to the landing, which the enemy, at this point Kentuckians, who were almost brave enough to atone for their disloyalty, if one virtue can atone for the lack of another, was resolved to gain. The Sixth, obliged to hold its position next to Crittenden, was exposed
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THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
to heavy cannonading on the left and front, but stood at its post until ordered forward to protect a battery, which was advanced beyond Rousseau's center. Here it also held its ground, twice beat back a much larger force, and twice brought down the Rebel flag.
A weakness in the Confederate resistance became gradually apparent. At the close of every engagement the Federal line was farther on. Rousseau at last ascended to McCler- nand's camp. There it was that Sherman first saw Buell's army. Looking off to his left he saw Rousseau and Kirk and Gibson marching in unbroken array through the enemy's fire towards the enemy's front. His eye rested with generous satisfaction on the soldierly movements of the fresh troops. Willich, with his regiment in double column, two companies deployed in advance as skirmishers, filed through Kirk's brigade, and advanced towards Crittenden's right, which the Confederates were threatening from the oak grove near the church. With as much trepidation as he could feel, Sher- man watched the Germans enter and disappear among the woods and thickets, behind which were massed the Confed- erate reserves. In twenty minutes he saw them return, bear- ing the marks of a severe struggle. It was not the enemy which forced the Germans back. When they entered the wood the foe fired on their front, and they did not falter, but their own comrades, by some strange mistake, poured hot volleys on their rear, on their right and on their left. Such a fire the oldest troops will not stand, and the Thirty-Second retreated, compelling Kirk, who had just advanced to Rousseau's po- sition, in order that Rousseau might replenish his ammuni- tion, also to fall back.
There was no disorder in Kirk's regiments; they had just cheered Rousseau's retiring column, and shouted a proud response to the General as he cried, " Colonel Kirk, the fourth brigade will never forget the noble manner in which you have stood by us this day. My ammunition's gone, but when you need me I will stand by you with the cold steel!" and they now closed up after the passage of Willich's men, presenting again an unbroken front, crossed a field and entered the dan- gerous wood.
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TWO O'CLOCK.
Almost at the same moment the commander of the Illinois regiment was killed, and Colonel Bass, who had before been struck by a ball and injured, was again wounded, this time mortally. The loss of their commanding officers staggered the two regiments. Colonel Kirk galloped in their front, and shouted, "Forward!" The color-bearers advanced with the colors and planted them near the Colonel. The men rallied, answered with a shout, and with a rapid advance. At the word of command they threw themselves on the ground until the enemy was almost on them, then sprang up and sent a volley home. All of McCook's division was soon in the dreaded wood. Colonel Gibson's brigade, on the left of Kirk, the Thirty-Ninth Indiana connecting itself with the Thirtieth, which was on Kirk's right, Colonel Willich, having reformed his regiment, marched back towards the enemy. In the midst of a fearful fire which, reaped the ground almost like a sickle, his men again became slightly unsteady. The Colonel, as cool in the fiery battle as on the secure parade ground, stopped their firing and drilled them in the manual of arms until they could point their rifles with steady and deliberate hands. Mc Clernand's and Hurlburt's Illinois men had kept together in the struggle and in the advance. To a charge of the Thirty-First and Forty-Fourth Indiana and the Seventeenth and Twenty-Fifth Kentucky Sherman owed the retreat of the enemy before his left, and these untiring regiments were still pressing on. The division of General Wood now arrived at the landing, and the Fifteenth, Fortieth and Fifty-Seventh, Colonel Wagner's brigade, marched up, and formed in line of battle; the other brigades followed, but were not able to reach the ground in time to take part. Grant's cool eye examined the situation, and measured the strength and the spirit of the combatants. The wings of the enemy were pushed back on his center, and his case was desperate, but it was not yet lost. He was not yet beaten. With his mind made up to retreat, he was watching to give a fierce parting blow and escape triumphant in defeat.
Suddenly the Union Commander-in-Chief ordered up Veatch's reserve to make a charge. Veatch formed his reg- iments into a column of battalion, dashed forward through
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THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
the deserted camps, and through Buell's army. Buell recalled him; his task was done. The enemy was so weak that the demonstration snatched from him his last hope of assaulting our broken lines.
Nothing is now left him but ruin and retreat. On one side come the fiery troops of Wallace, on the other the stout hearts of Nelson and of Crittenden, while up from the center, strug- gling and fighting through the woods, press McCook's gallant soldiers, and the haggard warriors of McClernand, Hurlburt and Sherman. At last the Rebels run. Over the hills and through the woods, far back to the hospital, to the surgeon's bluff, and to the river, ring the shouts of victory."
" Which side is cheering?" asked Major Arn, of the Thirty- First, opening his dying eyes. "Our side," was the reply. " Then I am willing to die," he said. While the glad shouts reverberated, many a brave soul passed away, leaving on dead lips a smile of triumph.
The enemy did not retire in confusion, but the pursuit was short, the soldiers after two days' hard fighting being too much fatigued for further effort. Colonel Wagner's brigade, which was fresh, followed a mile, when it was ordered back. General Wallace on another road kept up the pursuit for a mile and a half. Night closed in cloudy and rainy.
Victory is scarcely less terible than defeat. Tuesday's sun could not shine on the torn and defaced field of Shiloh. Sullen and dripping skies held above it an appropriate gloom.
The official report of the battle of Shiloh contains no statement of the forces engaged, but regimental, brigade and division reports show a strength of about thirty thousand in Grant's army, and fifty thousand in Beauregard's on Sunday. The reinforcements received by Grant on Sunday night and Monday morning were probably equal in number to the whole force engaged in the first day's battle. The Federal loss was one thousand six hundred and fourteen killed, seven thousand seven hundred and twenty-one wounded, and three thousand nine hundred and sixty-three taken prisoners. Total, thir- teen thousand two hundred and ninety-eight.
The Confederate loss was one thousand seven hundred and twenty-eight killed, eight thousand and twelve wounded, and
383
"THEY DIED FOR YOU AND ME."
nine hundred and fifty-nine missing. Total, ten thousand six hundred and ninety-nine.
The total of the Indiana killed, wounded and missing was one thousand two hundred and seventy-seven, distributed as follows:
Twenty-Fifth regiment-Twenty-three killed, one hundred and thirteen wounded, and thirteen missing-total, one hun- dred'and forty-nine.
Thirty-First regiment-Twenty-two killed, one hundred- and ten wounded, and ten missing-total, one hundred and forty-two.
Forty-Fourth regiment-Thirty-three killed, one hundred and seventy-seven wounded-total, two hundred and ten.
Thirty-Sixth regiment-Eight killed, thirty-seven wounded, and two missing-total, forty-seven.
Sixth regiment-Four killed and thirty-seven wounded- total, forty-one.
Eleventh regiment-Eleven killed, fifty wounded, and one missing-total, sixty-two.
Twenty-Third regiment-Six killed, forty-two wounded, and three missing-total, fifty-one.
Twenty-Fourth regiment-Five killed, forty-three wounded, and one missing-total, forty-nine.
Twenty-Ninth regiment-Four killed and sixty-five wound- ed-total, sixty-nine.
Thirtieth regiment-Twenty-five killed and one hundred and twelve wounded-total, one hundred and thirty-seven.
Thirty-Second regiment-Fourteen killed and eighty-four wounded-total, ninety-eight.
Thirty-Ninth regiment -- Two killed and thirty-four wounded -total, thirty-six.
Ninth regiment-Twenty killed, one hundred and forty- seven wounded, and four missing-total, one hundred and seventy-one.
Fifty-Seventh regiment-Four wounded-total, four.
Thompson's battery-one killed and five wounded -- total, six. Behr's battery-one killed and four wounded-total, five.
Klein's company of the Third cavalry, having advanced with Nelson's division, and a small number of the Second
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THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
cavalry was on the field of Shiloh during the battle of the 7th, but not engaged, as the formation of the ground is such that horses could not be used to advantage.
The whole number of killed was one hundred and seventy- nine, wounded, one thousand and sixty-four, and missing thirty-four. Total loss, one thousand two hundred and sev- enty-seven.
It is a black list. When we at home heard of the battle - of Shiloh, and that our national loss was ten thousand, such was the first tidings, our hearts seemed to stand still with horror. In the majority of the battles which had as yet taken place, the casualties, as they were called, had been numbered by the score, or by the hundred, now at one fell swoop thous- ands were gone.
All channels of benevolence, almost all channels of action, were turned towards that field. The best physicians in the State offered their services, their patients willingly consenting to their absence. Governor Morton chartered several steam- boats and sent them to Pittsburg Landing, with surgeons and nurses and every comfort and luxury which money could procure and which love could devise.
During the night of the 6th, the transports which came up the river with Buell's fresh soldiers, went back laden with Grant's disabled men. The work of removal commenced then continued until every house in Savannah was a hospital, and the streets and wharves were covered with the wounded. Pale and patient they lay. Now and then a voice murmured " Water!" and the new-comers of Buell's army, while waiting for their turn to go up to the battle, knelt and held their can- teens to the lips of the sufferers. None but they who passed through the ordeal of Sunday night and Monday can conceive the strength of will it required to subject horror and pity and fear to the stern demands of duty.
An officer who visited the boats Tuesday wrote: "I went through the bloody work of Sunday and Monday with calm- ness, and without much feeling, but when I went down to-day and saw our noble officers and men wounded, on the boats, I could not keep back the tears."
Notwithstanding that so many were carried away it was
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THE FIELD AFTER THE BATTLE.
long before the number on the ground seemed to decrease. Some of the wounded found the shelter of tents, but others lay in the open air, without surgeon, or attendant or a mouth- ful to eat until Wednesday morning. And still later, nearly a week after the battle, many lay about in tents, on straw, with no nourishment, exposed to the weather.
They were inexpressibly thankful when laid on soft beds, between clean sheets, stimulated by nourishing diet, and soothed by cheerful and encouraging words. Forgetting all their pains they sweetly slept.
The rebels, while they had possession of the field, were not guilty of the cruelty which disgraced Pea Ridge. Many of our dead who lay within their lines during the night were robbed, but their bodies had in no instance been insulted. The robberies, probably, were as often committed by the country people of the region, who, regardless of storm and darkness, prowled among the dead like wolves, as by the sol- diers. General Wallace was found where he fell, unconscious. but still breathing. A kind hand had placed a folded blanket under his head and had spread another over him.
The torn and defaced field also bore testimony to the severity of the struggle. Where the missiles from the boats had fallen, the trees were not only broken but burned. There were sad evidences that the wounded who lay on this part of the ground had suffered from burning bushes and logs. Some, it may be, were smothered or scorched to death before the rain fell and extinguished the fire.
The Twenty-Ninth Indiana had fought two hours where three regiments, one after another, had been driven back. Hardly a tree on that spot had not from fifteen to twenty bullets in it, and every twig, every bush and every stem was cut off. Beside a little rill stands a young oak, fourteen inches in diameter, which was probably used as a cover by a Rebel sharp-shooter. Within a space of six feet upon its trunk were ninety bullet holes. A few feet from it is a little hickory sapling, about three inches through, in which were eighteen balls within a length of three feet. Near the extreme right the bushes looked as if a hurricane carrying a scythe had passed over them. Scores of trees had twenty, thirty and
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THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
forty bullet marks on them from the root to a line as high as the head. It looked as if every inch of the space had been covered by a leaden cloud, which cut and crushed as it passed .*
Many a story was related of courage and fortitude. Gen- eral Wallace told that while he was pursuing the Rebels he came to a man, shot through both knees, lying by a tree. He gave the General an imploring look. A soldier asked, " Shall I carry him to the rear?" The General answered, "No, not till the battle is over." The wounded man said, "That's right, General." He was dead when the pursuers came back.
As Wallace passed on he saw a soldier going back to a wounded man. He asked him what he wanted. "I'm out of cartridges," answered the soldier. The wounded man rolled over, took off his cartridge-box, handed it to the other, and said, "Now kill somebody with them."
Johnny Robinson, a son of the Lieutenant-Colonel of the Eleventh regiment, was a drummer boy in the regiment, but on Monday he dropped liis drum, obtained a gun and a cartridge-box from a wounded comrade, and fought all day with the boldest. At one time, while skirmishing, he crept forty or fifty yards ahead of the whole line, and, resting his rifle on a log, deliberately fired ten or twelve shots at the Rebels before he would hear the order to come back.
A wounded man, who lay on the ground through Sunday night told how he heard a voice not far from him sing low and softly,
" There shall I bathe my weary soul In seas of heavenly rest, And not a wave of trouble roll Across my peaceful breast."
The Rev. John D. Rogers, of the Twenty-Third, was unwearied in his attentions to the wounded and to the dead, burying the latter with that tender reverence which is due to the temple of man's spirit, even when deserted and shattered.
The Rev. Mr. Fischer, of the Thirty-Second, performed not only his duties as Chaplain, but showed himself a skilful
* Berry Sulgrove, in Indianapolis Journal.
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BEAUREGARD'S REPORT.
surgeon in the effective service he rendered Dr. Jeanson, the surgeon of the regiment.
Dr. Martin and Dr. Rerick were with the Forty-Fourth at at all times during the fight, caring for the wounded. They were both struck with balls, but neither was injured.
With the exception of Pea Ridge, Shiloh was the first battle in which the Rebels showed a courage worthy of the American name. The long series of disgraceful surenders and retreats and defeats had almost destroyed the reputation of the South for bravery. April 6th and 7th they fought with a courge and endurance which shed a sort of mournful glory over their wicked cause.
Beauregard did not actually claim a victory, but he said in his report, "Despite the heavy casualties of the two eventful days of the 6th and 7th of April, this army is more confident of ultimate success than before its encounter with the enemy. Not only did the obstinate conflict for twelve hours on Sunday leave the Confederate army masters of the battle-field, and our adversaries beaten, but we left that field on the next day only after eight hours of incessant battle with a superior army of fresh troops, whom we had repulsed in every attack on our lines; so repulsed and crippled, indeed, as to leave it unable to take the field for the campaign for which it was collected and equipped at such enormous expense and with such profusion of all the appliances of war." He confessed that he was disappointed in not beating Grant back to his transports and the river, or capturing him in time to profit by the victory and remove to the rear all the stores and munitions before the arrival of Buell's army on the scene. The stores and munitions excited the cupidity of Beauregard, if we may judge by his repeated allusions to them. "The first day," he says, "we gained all the substantial fruits of a complete victory, such, indeed, as rarely have followed the most suc- cessful battles, for never was an army so well provided as that of our enemy." Again he speaks of the "rich and oppor- tune spoils of war scattered broadcast on the field;" and in closing he states "that most of our men who had inferior arms exchanged thern for the improved arms of the enemy.
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THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
Also most of the property, public and personal, in the camp from which the enemy was driven on Sunday-was-rendered useless or greatly damaged."*
Although Grant's loss was almost equal in killed and wounded, and was greater in captured, than Beauregard's, he retained the battle-field with "all the substantial fruits of a victory," and buried not only his own dead but Beauregard's.
Also, the second day was fought according to a masterly plan, and even on the first before nightfall the enemy had per- ceptibly recoiled. But Grant's claim to a victory was scarcely allowed. Impatient as was the nation, it was not willing to buy success at so costly a price, and could not accept without shame the fact that the army was surprised. The camp lying asleep in the enemy's country with defenceless front, even the outlying pickets, as sherman calls his division, roused from dreams by the Rebel shout! Denunciation was poured upon General Grant in no measured terms. He was accused of drunkenness, cowardice, sympathy with the rebel- lion and imbecility. Even the soldiers, who seldom fail to support a commander while they find in him anything to love or to honor, turned against him. They gave him the ignominous appellation of "Surprise Grant," and the people, impotent to inflict punishment, yet eager to express their sense of its desert, snatched up the nickname and bandied it about with a satisfaction which somewhat relieved their weight of mortification and grief.
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