USA > Pennsylvania > York County > Shiloh > The Seventy-seventh Pennsylvania at Shiloh. History of the regiment. The battle of Shiloh > Part 33
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For the instances of individual bravery and gallantry in the Fourth and Sixth brigades, where all were gallant, I refer you to the reports of General Rousseau and Colonel Gibson.
The bravery and steadiness of the officers and men under my command are worthy of all praise, considering the circumstances surrounding them. The day before the battle they marched 22 miles; a portion of them stood all night in the streets of Savannah in a driving storm without sleep; all the way from Savannah the river bank was lined with fugitives in Federal uniform. At Pittsburg Landing the head of my column had to force its way through thousands of panic stricken and wounded men before it could engage the enemy. I take pleasure in calling your attention to Colonel Oliver and a portion of the Fifteenth Regiment Michigan Volunteers. When my division was marching into the field Colonel Oliver, before unknown to me, requested the privilege of serving with my command. His regiment was attached to General Rousseau's brigade, and during the day was under the hottest fire, where he, his officers and men, behaved .
with conspicuous gallantry.
To the members of my staff, etc. * *
* *
My casualties during the conflict were 93 killed, 803 wounded and 9 missing. The small number of the latter indicates the manner in which the division was held in hand. I herewith inclose a tabular statement of the killed, wounded and missing in each brigade .*
I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant.
A. McD. McCOOK. Brigadier General, Commanding Second Division. Capt. J. B. Fry,
Assistant Adjutant General, Chief of Staff.
*See revised statement Rebellion Records.
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Screnty-seventh Pennsylvania Regiment.
REPORTS OF GENERAL G. T. BEAUREGARD, C. S. ARMY, COM- MANDING ARMY OF THE MISSISSIPPI.
Battlefield of Shiloh, April 6, 1862.
We this morning attacked the enemy in strong position in front of l'ittsburg, and after a severe battle of ten hours, thanks to the Almighty, gained a complete victory, driving the enemy from every position. Loss on both sides heavy, including our Commander-in-Chief, General A. S. Johnston, who fell gallantly leading his troops into the thickest of the light.
G. T. BEAUREGARD, General, Commanding.
General S. Cooper, Asistant Adjutant General.
Headquarters Army of the Mississippi, Corinth, Miss., April 11, 1862.
General: On the 2nd ultimo, having ascertained conclusively, from the movements of the enemy on the Tennessee river and from reliable sources of information, that his aim would be to cut off. my communications in West Tennessee with the Eastern and Southern States, by operating from the Tennessee river, between Crump's Landing and Eastport, as a base, I determined to foil his designs by concentrating all my available force at and around Corinth.
Meanwhile, having called on the Governors of the States of Tennessee. Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana to furnish additional troops, some of them (chiefly regiments from Louisiana), soon reached this vicinity, and with two divisions of General Polk's command from Columbus, and a fine · corps of troops from Mobile and Pensacola, under Major General Bragg, constituted the Army of the Mississippi. At the same time General John- ston, being at Murfreesborongh, on a march to form a junction of his forces with mine, was called on to send at least a brigade by railroad, so that we might fall on and crush the enemy should he attempt an advance . from under his gunboats.
The call on General Johnston. was promptly complied with. His entire force was also hastened in this direction, and by April 1st our united forces were concentrated along the Mobile and Ohio Railroad from Bethel to Corinth and on the Memphis and Charleston Railroad from Inka to Corinth.
It was then determined to assume the offensive, and strike a sudden blow at the enemy. in position under General Grant on the west bank of the Tennessee, at Pittsburg, and in the direction of Savannah, before he was re-inforced by the army under General Buell, then known to be
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The Battle of Shiloh.
advancing for that purpose by rapid marches from Nashville via Columbia. About the same time General Johnston was advised that such an operation conformned to the expectations of the President.
By a rapid and vigorous attack on General Grant it was expected he would be beaten back into his transports and the river, or captured, iu time to enable us to profit by the victory, and remove to the rear all the stores aud munitions that would fall into our hands in such an event before the arrival of General Buell's army on the scene. It was never contemplated, however, to retain the position thus gained and abandon Corinth, the strategic point of the campaign.
Want of general othicers needful for the proper organization of divisions and brigades of an army brought thus suddenly together and other difficul- ties in the way of an effective organization delayed the movement until the night of the 2nd. instant, when it was heard from a reliable quarter that the junction of the enemy's armies was near at hand. It was then, at a late hour, determined that the attack should be attempted at once, incomplete and imperfect as were our preparations for such a grave and momentous advance. Accordingly, that night at 1 A. M. the preliminary orders to the commanders of corps were issued for the movement.
On the following morning the detailed orders of movement were issued and the movement, after some delay, commenced, the troops being in admirable spirits. It was expected we should be able to reach the enemy's lines in time to attack him early on the 5th instant. The men, however, for the most part, were used to marching, and the roads, narrow and traversing a densely-wooded country, became almost impassable after a severe rain storm on the night of the 4th, which drenched the troops in bivouac; hence our forces did not reach the intersection of the roads from Pittsburg and Hamburg, in the immediate vicinity of the enemy, until late Saturday afternoon.
It was then decided that the attack should be made on the next morning, 'at the earliest hour practicable, in accordance with . the orders of the movement; that is, in three lines of battle, the first and second extending from Owl creek, on the left, to Liek creek, on the right. a distance of about three miles, supported by the third and the reserve. The first line, under Major General Hardee, was constituted of his corps, augmented on his right by Gladden's brigade, of Major General Bragg's corps, de- ployed in line of battle, with their respective artillery following immediately by the main road to Pittsburg and the cavalry in rear of the wings. The second line, composed of the other troops of Bragg's corps, followed the first at a distance of five hundred yards in the same order as the first. The army corps under General Polk followed the second line, at a distance of about eight hundred yards. 'in lines of brigades deployed, with their batteries in rear of each brigade, moving by the Pittsburg road, the left wing supported by cavalry.
The reserve, under Brigadier General Breckinridge, followed closely the third line in the same order, its right wing supported by cavalry. These two corps constituted the reserve. and were to support the front lines of battle, by being deployed, when required, on the right and left of
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Seventy-seventh Pennsylvania Regiment.
the Pittsburg road, or otherwise act according to the exigencies of the battle.
At 5 A. M. on the 6th instant, a reconnoitering party of the enemy having become engaged with our advance pickets, the commander of the forces gave orders to begin the movement and attack as had been deter- mined upon, except that Trabue's brigade, of Breckinridge's division, was detached and advanced to support the left of Bragg's corps and line of battle when menaced by the enemy, and the other two brigades were directed to advance by the road to Hamburg to support Bragg's right; and at the same time Maney's regiment, of Polk's corps, was advanced by the same road to re-inforce the regiment of cavalry and battery of four pieces already thrown forward to watch and guard Greer's, Tanner's and Bor- land's Fords, on Lick creek.
At 5.30 A. M. our lines and columns were in motion, all animated, evidently by a promising spirit. The front line was engaged at once, but advanced steadily, followed in due order with equal resolution and steadi- ness, by the other lines, which were brought successively into action with rare skill, judgment, and gallantry by the several corps commanders as the enemy made a stand, with his masses rallied for the struggle for his encampments.
Like an Alpine avalanche our troops moved forward, despite the deter- mined resistance of the enemy, until after 6 P. M., when we were in possession of all his encampments between Owl and Lick creeks but one; nearly all of his field artillery; about thirty flags, colors and standards; over 3,000 prisoners, including a division commander (General Prentiss). and several brigade commanders; thousands of small arms; an immense supply of subsistence, forage, and muntitions of war, and a large amount of means of transportation-all the substantial fruits of a complete victory, such indeed as rarely have followed the most successful battles; for never was an army so well provided as that of our enemy.
The remnant of his army had been driven in utter disorder to the imme- diate vicinity of Pittsburg, under the shelter of the heavy guns of his iron-clad gunboats, and we remained undisputed masters of his well selected, admirably provided cantonments, after over twelve hours of obsti- nate conflict with his forces, who had been beaten from thence, and the con- tiguous covert, but only by a sustained onset of all the men we could bring into action.
Our loss was heavy. Our Commander-in-Chief, General A. S. Johnston. fell mortally wounded, and died on the field at 2.30 P. M., after having shown the highest qualities of the commander and a personal intrepidity that inspired all around him and gave resistless impulse to his columns at critical moments.
The chief command then devolved upon me, though at the time I was greatly prostrated and suffering from the prolonged sickness with which I had been afflicted since early in February. The responsibility was one which in my physical condition, I would gladly have avoided, though cast upon me when our forces were successfully pushing the enemy back upon the Tennessee river, and though supported on the immediate field by such
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The Battle of Shiloh.
corps commanders as Major Generals Polk, Bragg and Hardee, and Brig- adier General Breckinridge, commanding the reserve.
It was after 6 P. M., as before said, when the enemy's last position was carried, and his forces finally broke and sought refuge behind a commanding eminence covering Pittsburg Landing, not more than half a mile distant, and under the guns of the gunboats, which opened on our eager columns a fierce and annoying fire with shot and shell of the heaviest description.
Darkness was close at hand; officers and men were exhausted by a combat of over twelve hours without food, and jaded by the march of the preceding day through mud and water. It was, therefore, impossible to collect the rich and opportune spoils of war scattered broadcast on the field left in our possession, and impracticable to make any effective dispo- sition for their removal to the rear.
I accordingly established my headquarters at the Church of Shiloh, in the enemy's encampments, with Major General Bragg, and directed our troops to sleep on their arms in such positions in advance and rear as corps commanders should determine, hoping, from news received by a special dispatch, that delays had been encountered by General Buell in his march from Columbia, and that his main force, therefore, could not reach the field of battle in time to save General Grant's shattered fugitive forces from capture or destruction on the following day.
During the night the rain fell in torrents, adding to the discomforts and harassed condition of the men. The enemy, moreover, had broken their rest by a discharge at measured intervals. of heavy shells thrown from the gunboats; therefore on the following morning the troops under. my . command were not in a condition to cope with an equal force of fresh troops, armed and equipped like our adversary, in the immediate possession of his depots and sheltered by such an auxiliary as the enemy's gunboats.
About 6 o'clock on the morning of April 7, however, a hot fire of mus- ketry and artillery, opened from the enemy's quarter on our advanced lines, assured me of the junction of his forces, and soon the battle raged with a fury which satisfied me I was attacked by a largely superior force. But from the outset our troops, notwithstanding their fatigue and losses from the battle of the day before, exhibited the most cheering, veteran-like steadiness. On the right and centre the enemy was repulsed in every attempt he made with his heavy colunms in that quarter of the field. On the left, however, and nearest to the point of arrival of his re-inforcements, . he drove forward line after line of his fresh troops, which were met with a resolution and courage of which our country may be proudly hopeful. Again and again our troops were brought to the charge, invariably to win the position in issue; invariably to drive back the foe .* But hour by hour. thus opposed to an enemy constantly re-enforced, our ranks were perceptibly thinned under the unceasing, withering fire of the enemy, and by 12 M. eighteen hours of hard fighting had sensibly exhausted a large number.
Officers of my staff were immediately dispatched with the necessary
"From the opening of the battle on the second day. the confederates were steadily and continuously driven back until the close of the conflict.
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Seventy-seventh Pennsylvania Regiment.
orders to make the best dispositions for a deliberate orderly withdrawal from the field, and to collect and post a reserve to meet the enemy, should he attempt to push after us.
About 2 P. M. the lines in advance, which had repulsed the enemy in their last fierce assault on our left and center, received the orders to retire. This was done with uncommon steadiness and the enemy made no attempt to follow.
The line of troops established to cover this movement had been disposed on a favorable ridge commanding the ground of Shiloh Church. From this position our artillery played upon the woods beyond for a while, but upon no visible enemy and without reply. Soon satisfied that no serious pursuit would be attempted this last line was withdrawn, and never did troops leave a battlefield in better order; even the stragglers fell into the ranks and marched off with those who had stood more steadily by their colors. (For the stragglers to have done otherwise would have been certain capture.) .
A second strong position was taken up about a mile in rear, where the approach of the enemy was awaited for nearly an hour, but no effort to follow was made, and only a small detachment of horsemen could be seen at a distance from this last position, warily observing our movements. Arranging through my staff officers for the completion of the movements thus begun, Brigadier General Breckinridge was left with his command as a rear guard to hold the ground we had occupied the night preceding the first battle, just in front of the intersection of the Pittsburg and Hamburg roads, about four miles from the former place, while the rest of the army passed to the rear in excellent order.
On the following. day General Breckinridge fell back about three miles to Mickey's, which. position we continued to hold, with our cavalry thrown considerably forward in immediate proximity to the battlefield.
Unfortunately, toward night of the 7th instant, it began to rain heavily. This continued throughout the night; the roads became almost impassable in many places, and much hardship and suffering ensued before all the regiments reached their encampments (at Corinth), but despite the heavy casualties of the two eventful days of April 6 and 7, this army is more confident of ultimate success than before its encounter with the enemy. To Major Generals Polk, Bragg and Hardee, commanding corps, and to Brigadier General. Breckinridge, commanding the reserve, the country is greatly indebted for the zeal, intelligence and energy with which all orders were executed: for the foresight and military ability they displayed in the absence of instructions in the many exigencies of the battle on a field so densely wooded and broken, and for their fearless deportment as ' they repeatedly led their commands personally to the onset upon their powerful adversary. It was under these circumstances that General Bragg had two horses shot under him; that Major General Hardee was slightly wounded, his coat rent by balls and his horse disabled. and that Brigadier General Breekinridge was twice struck by spent balls. To give more in detail the operations of the two days' battles resulting from the movement on Pittsburg than now attempted must have delayed the report
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The Battle of Shiloh.
for weeks and interfered materially with the important duties of my posi- tion. But I may be permitted to say that not only did the obstinate conflict for twelve hours on Sunday leave the Confederate army masters of the battlefield and our adversary beaten, but we left that field ou the next day after eight hours' 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 an enormous expense and with such profusion of all the appliances of war.
These successful results were not achieved, however, as before said, without severe loss-a loss not to be measured by the number of the slain or wounded, but by the high social and personal worth of so large a number of those who were killed or disabled, including the Commander-in-Chief of the forces, whose high qualities will be greatly missed in the momentous campaign impending.
I deeply regret to record also the death of the Honorable George W. Johnson, Provisional Governor of Kentucky, who went into action with the Kentucky troops, and continually inspired them by his words and example. Having his horse shot under him on Sunday, he entered the ranks of a Kentucky regiment on Monday and fell mortally wounded towards the close of the day. Not his State alone, but the whole Confed- eracy, has sustained a great loss in the death of this brave, upright and able man.
Another gallant and able soldier and captain was lost to the service of the country when Brigadier General Gladden, commanding the First brigade, Wither's division, Second Army Corps, died from a severe wound received on the 6th instant, after having been conspicuous to his whole corps and the army for courage and capacity.
Major General Cheatham, commanding First division, First corps, was slightly wounded and had three horses shot under him. Brigadier General Clark, commanding Second division, First corps, received a severe wound also on the first day, which will deprive the army of his valuable services for some time.
Brigadier General Hindman, engaged in the outset of the battle, was conspicuous for his cool courage, efficiently employed in leading his men ever in the thickest of the fray, until his horse was shot under him and he was, unfortunately, so severely injured by the fall that the army was deprived on the following day of his chivalrous example.
Brig. Gens. B. R. Johnson and Bowen, most meritorious officers, were also severely wounded in the first combat, but it is hoped will soon be able to return to duty with their brigades.
To mention the many field officers who died or were wounded while gallantly leading their commands into action and the many brilliant iistances of individual courage displayed by officers and men in the twenty hours of battle is impossible at this time, but their names will be duly made known to their countrymen.
(Here follows the usual favorable mention of officers.)
It remains to state that our loss on the two days, in killed outright was
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1,728; wounded, 8,012, and missing, 959; making an aggregate of casualties, 10,699.
This sad list tells in simple language of the stout fight made by our countrymen in front of the rude log chapel of Shiloh, especially when it it known that on Monday, from exhaustion and other causes, not 20,000 men on our side could be brought into action.
Of the losses of the enemy I have no exact knowledge. Their news- papers report it as very heavy. Unquestionably it was greater even in proportion than our own on both days, for it was apparent to all that their . dead left on the field outnumbered ours two to one. Their casualties, therefore, cannot have fallen many short of 20,000, in killed, wounded, prisoners and missing.
# #
I have the honor to be, General, your obedient servant,
G. T. BEAUREGARD, General Commanding. General S. Cooper, .
Adjutant and Inspector General C. S. Army, Richmond, Va.
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