The Guns of Shiloh: A Story of the Great Western Campaign

by Joseph A. Altsheler

  CHAPTER XVI. THE FIERCE FINISH OF SHILOH

  Dick, who had been lying under cover just behind the crest of one ofthe low ridges, suddenly heard the loud beating of his heart. He did notknow, for a moment or two, that the sound came so distinctly because themighty tumult which had been raging around him all day had ceased, asif by a concerted signal. Those blinding flashes of flame no longercame from the forest before him, the shot and shell quit their horriblescreaming, and the air was free from the unpleasant hiss of countlessbullets.

  He stretched himself a little and stood up. The lads all around himwere standing up, and were beginning to talk to each other in thehigh-pitched, shouting voices that they had been compelled to use allday long, not yet realizing to the full that the tumult of the battlehad ceased. The boy felt stiff and sore in every bone and muscle, and,although the cannon and rifles were silent, there was still a hollowroaring in his ears. His eyes were yet dim from the smoke, and his headfelt heavy and dull. He gazed vacantly at the forest in front of him,and wondered dimly why the Southern army was not still there, attacking,as it had attacked for so many hours.

  But the deep woods were silent and empty. Coils and streamers of smokefloated about among the trees, and suddenly a gray squirrel hopped outon a bough and began to chatter wildly. Dick, despite himself, laughed,but the laugh was hysterical. He could appreciate the feelings of thesquirrel, which probably had been imprisoned in a hollow of the tree allday long, listening to this tremendous battle, and squirrels werenot used to such battles. It was a trifle that made him laugh, buteverything was out of proportion now. Life did not go on in the usualway at all. The ordinary occupations were gone, and people spent most oftheir time trying to kill one another.

  He rubbed his hands across his eyes and cleared them of the smoke. Thebattle was certainly over for the day at least, and neither he norhis comrades had sufficient vitality yet to think of the morrow. Thetwilight was fast deepening into night. The last rosy glow of the sunfaded, and thick darkness enveloped the vast forest, in which twentythousand men had fallen, and in which most of them yet lay, the woundedwith the dead.

  There was presently a deep boom from the river, and a shell fired by oneof the gunboats curved far over their heads and dropped into the forest,where the Southern army was encamped. All through the night and atshort but regular intervals the gunboats maintained this warning fire,heartening the Union soldiers, and telling them at every discharge thathowever they might have to fight for the land, the water was alwaystheirs.

  Dick saw Colonel Winchester going among his men, and pulling himselftogether he saluted his chief.

  "Any orders, sir?" he said.

  "No, Dick, my boy, none for the present," replied the colonel, a littlesadly. "Half of my poor regiment is killed or wounded, and the restare so exhausted that they are barely able to move. But they foughtmagnificently, Dick! They had to, or be crushed! It is only here thatwe have withstood the rush of the Southern army, and it is probable thatwe, too, would have gone had not night come to our help."

  "Then we have been beaten?"

  "Yes, Dick, we have been beaten, and beaten badly. It was the surprisethat did it. How on earth we could have let the Southern army creep uponus and strike unaware I don't understand. But Dick, my boy, there willbe another battle tomorrow, and it may tell a different tale. Someprisoners whom we have taken say that Johnston has been killed, andBeauregard is no such leader as he."

  "Will the army of General Buell reach us tonight?"

  "Buell, himself, is here. He has been with Grant for some time, and allhis brigades are marching at the double quick. Lew Wallace arrivedless than half an hour ago with seven thousand men fresh and eager forbattle. Dick! Dick, my boy, we'll have forty thousand new troops on thefield at the next dawn, and before God we'll wipe out the disgrace oftoday! Listen to the big guns from the boats as they speak at intervals!Why, I can understand the very words they speak! They are saying to theSouthern army: 'Look out! Look out! We're coming in the morning, andit's we who'll attack now!'"

  Dick saw that Colonel Winchester himself was excited. The pupils of hiseyes were dilated, and a red spot glowed in either cheek. Like all theother officers he was stung by the surprise and defeat, and he couldbarely wait for the morning and revenge.

  Colonel Winchester walked away to a council that had been called, andDick turned to Pennington and Warner, who were not hurt, save for slightwounds. Warner had recovered his poise, and was soon as calm and dry asever.

  "Dick," he said, "we're some distance from where we started thismorning. There's nothing like being shoved along when you don't want togo. The next time they tell me there's nothing in a thicket I expect tosearch it and find a rebel army at least a hundred thousand strong rightin the middle of it."

  "How large do you suppose the Southern army was?" asked Pennington.

  "I had a number of looks at it," replied Warner, "and I should say fromthe way it acted that it numbered at least three million men. I knowthat at times not less than ten thousand were aiming their rifles at myown poor and unworthy person. What a waste of energy for so many men toshoot at me all at once. I wish the Johnnies would go away and let usalone!"

  The last words were high-pitched and excited. His habitual self-controlbroke down for a moment, and the tremendous excitement and nervoustension of the day found vent in his voice. But in a few seconds herecovered himself and looked rather ashamed.

  "Boys," he said, "I apologize."

  "You needn't," said Pennington. "There have been times today when I feltbrave as a lion, and lots of other times I was scared most to death.It would have helped me a lot then, if I could have opened my mouth andyelled at the top of my voice."

  Sergeant Daniel Whitley was leaning against a stump, and while he wascalmly lighting a pipe he regarded the three boys with a benevolentgaze.

  "None of you need be ashamed of bein' scared," he said. "I've been in alot of fights myself, though all of them were mere skirmishes when putalongside of this, an' I've been scared a heap today. I've been scaredfor myself, an' I've been scared for the regiment, an' I've been scaredfor the whole army, an' I've been scared on general principles, but herewe are, alive an' kickin', an' we ought to feel powerful thankful forthat."

  "We are," said Dick. Then he rubbed his head as if some sudden thoughthad occurred to him.

  "What is it, Dick?" asked Warner.

  "I've realized all at once that I'm tremendously hungry. TheConfederates broke up our breakfast. We never had time to think ofdinner, and now its nothing to eat."

  "Me, too," said Pennington. "If you were to hit me in the stomach I'dgive back a hollow sound like a drum. Why don't somebody ring the supperbell?"

  But fires were soon lighted along their whole front, and provisions werebrought up from the rear and from the steamers. The soldiers, feelingtheir strength returning, ate ravenously. They also talked much ofthe battle. Many of them were yet under the influence of hystericalexcitement. They told extraordinary stories of the things they had seenand done, and they believed all they told were true. They ate fiercely,at first almost like wolves, but after a while they resolved into theirtrue state as amiable young human beings and were ashamed of themselves.

  All the while Buell's army of the Ohio was passing over the river andjoining Grant's army of the Tennessee. Regiment after regiment andbrigade after brigade crossed. The guns that Nelson had been forced toleave behind were also brought up and were taken over with the otherbatteries. While the shattered remnants of the army of the Tennesseewere resting, the fresh army of the Ohio was marching by it in the latehours of the night in order to face the Southern foe in the morning.

  The Southern army itself lay deep in the woods from which it had drivenits enemy. Always the assailant through the day, its losses had beenimmense. Many thousands had fallen, and no new troops were coming totake their place. Continual reinforcements came to the North throughoutthe night, not a soldier came to the South. Beauregard, at dawn, wouldhave to face twice his
numbers, at least half of whom were fresh troops.

  Another conference was held by the Southern generals in the forest,but now the central figure, the great Johnston, was gone. The others,however, summoned their courage anew, and passed the whole nightarranging their forces, cheering the men, and preparing for the morn.Their scouts and skirmishers kept watch on the Northern camp, and theSoutherners believed that while they had whipped only one army the daybefore, they could whip two on the morrow.

  Dick and his friends meanwhile were lying on the earth, resting, but notable to sleep. The nerves, drawn so tightly by the day's work, were notyet relaxed wholly. A deep apathy seized them all. Dick, from a highpoint on which he lay, saw the dark surface of the Tennessee, and thelights on the puffing steamers as they crossed, bearing the Army of theOhio. His mind did not work actively now, but he felt that they weresaved. The deep river, although it was on their flank, seemed to flow asa barrier against the foe, and it was, in fact, a barrier more and more,as without its command the second Union army could never have come tothe relief of the first.

  Dick, after a while, saw Colonel Winchester, and other officers nearhim. They were talking of their losses. They gave the names of manygenerals and colonels who had been killed. Presently they moved away,and he fell into an uneasy sleep, or rather doze, from which he wasawakened after a while by a heavy rumbling sound of a distant cannonade.

  The boy sprang up, wondering why any one should wish to renew the battlein the middle of the night, and then he saw that it was no battle. Thesound was thunder rolling heavily on the southern horizon, and the nighthad become very dark. Vivid flashes of lightning cut the sky, and astrong wind rushed among the trees. Heavy drops of water struck him inthe face and then the rain swept down.

  Dick did not seek protection from the storm, nor did any of those nearhim. The cool drops were grateful to their faces after the heat andstrife of the day. Their pulses became stronger, and the blood flowedin a quickened torrent through their veins. They let it pour upon them,merely seeking to keep their ammunition dry.

  Ten thousand wounded were yet lying untouched in the forest, but therain was grateful to them, too. When they could they turned theirfevered faces up to it that it might beat upon them and bring gratefulcoolness.

  Deep in the night a council like that of the Southern generals was heldin the Northern camp, also. Grant, his face an expressionless mask,presided, and said but little. Buell, Sherman, McClernand, Nelson,Wallace and others, were there, and Buell and Sherman, like their chief,spoke little. The three men upon whom most rested were very taciturnthat night, but it is likely that extraordinary thoughts were passing inthe minds of every one of the three.

  Grant, after a day in which any one of a dozen chances would havewrecked him, must have concluded that in very deed and truth he was thefavorite child of Fortune. When one is saved again and again from thevery verge he begins to believe that failure is impossible, and in thatvery belief lies the greatest guard against failure.

  It is said of Grant that in the night after his great defeat around thechurch of Shiloh, he was still confident, that he told his generalsthey would certainly win on the morrow, and he reminded them that if theUnion army had suffered terribly, the Southern army must have sufferedalmost equally so, and would face them at dawn with numbers far lessthan their own. He had not displayed the greatest skill, but he hadshown the greatest moral courage, and now on the night between battlesit was that quality that was needed most.

  Dick, not having slept any the night before, and having passed through aday of fierce battle, was overcome after midnight, and sank into a sleepthat was mere lethargy. He awoke once before dawn and remembered, butvaguely, all that had happened. Yet he was conscious that there was muchmovement in the forest. He heard the tread of many feet, the sound ofcommands, the neigh of horses and the rumbling of cannon wheels. TheArmy of the Ohio was passing to the exposed flank of the Army of theTennessee and at dawn it would all be in line. He also caught flittingglimpses of the Tennessee, and of the steamers loaded with troops stillcrossing, and he heard the boom of the heavy cannon on the gunboatswhich still, at regular and short intervals, sent huge shells curvinginto the forest toward the camp of the Southern army. He also saw nearhim Warner and Pennington sound asleep on the ground, and then he sankback into his own lethargic slumber.

  He was awakened by the call of a trumpet, and, as he rose, he saw thewhole regiment or rather, what was left of it, rising with him. Itwas not yet dawn, and a light rain was falling, but smoldering firesdisclosed the ground for some distance, and also the river on which thegunboats and transports were now gathered in a fleet.

  Colonel Winchester beckoned to him.

  "All right this morning, Dick?" he said.

  "Yes, sir; I'm ready for my duty."

  "And you, too, Warner and Pennington?"

  "We are, sir," they replied together.

  "Then keep close beside me. I don't know when I may want you for amessage. Daybreak will be here in a half hour. The entire Army of theOhio, led by General Buell in person will be in position then or veryshortly afterward, and a new, and, we hope, a very different battle willbegin."

  Food and coffee were served to the men, and while the rain was stillfalling they formed in line and awaited the dawn. The desire to retrievetheir fortunes was as strong among the farmer lads as it was among theofficers who took care to spread among them the statement that Buell'sarmy alone was as numerous as the Southern force, and probably morenumerous since their enemy must have sustained terrible losses. Thusthey stood patiently, while the rain thinned and the sun at last showeda red edge through floating clouds.

  They waited yet a little while longer, and then the boom of a heavy gunin the forest told them that the enemy was advancing to begin the battleafresh. Again it was the Southern army that attacked, although it wasno surprise now. Yet Beauregard and his generals were still sanguineof completing the victory. Their scouts and skirmishers had failed todiscover that the entire army of Buell also was now in front of them.

  Bragg was gathering his division on the left to hurl it likea thunderbolt upon Grant's shattered brigades. Hardee and thebishop-general were in the center, and Breckinridge led the right. Butas they moved forward to attack the Union troops came out to meet them.Nelson had occupied the high ground between Lick and Owl Creeks, and hisand the Southern troops met in a fierce clash shortly after dawn.

  Beauregard, drawn by the firing at that point, and noticing the courageand tenacity with which the Northern troops held their ground, sendingin volley after volley, divined at once that these were not the beatentroops of the day before, but new men. This swarthy general, volatileand dramatic, nevertheless had great penetration. He understood on theinstant a fact that his soldiers did not comprehend until later. He knewthat the whole army of Buell was now before him.

  For the moment it was Beauregard and Buell who were the protagonists,instead of Grant and Johnston as on the day before. The Southern leadergathered all his forces and hurled them upon Nelson. Weary though theSouthern soldiers were, their attack was made with utmost fire andvigor. A long and furious combat ensued. A Southern division underCheatham rushed to the help of their fellows. Buell's forces were drivenin again and again, and only his heavy batteries enabled him to regainhis lost ground.

  Buell led splendid troops that he had trained long and rigidly, and theyhad not been in the conflict the day before. Fresh and with unbrokenranks, not a man wounded or missing, they had entered the battle andboth Grant and Buell, as well as their division commanders, expected aneasy victory where the Army of the Ohio stood.

  Buell, to his amazement, saw himself reduced to the defensive. He andGrant had reckoned that the decimated brigades of the South could notstand at all before him, but just as on the first day they came on withthe fierce rebel yell, hurling themselves upon superior numbers, takingthe cannon of their enemy, losing them, and retaking them and losingthem again, but never yielding.

  The great conflict increas
ed in violence. Buell, a man of iron courage,saw that his soldiers must fight to the uttermost, not for victory only,but even to ward off defeat. The dawn was now far advanced. The rain hadceased, and the sun again shot down sheaves of fiery rays upon a vastlow cloud of fire and smoke in which thousands of men met in desperatecombat.

  Nine o'clock came. It had been expected by Grant that Buell long beforethat time would have swept everything before him. But for three hoursBuell had been fighting to keep himself from being swept away. TheSouthern troops seemed animated by that extraordinary battle fever andabsolute contempt of death which distinguished them so often during thiswar. Buell's army was driven in on both flanks, and only the centerheld fast. It began to seem possible that the South, despite her reducedranks might yet defeat both Northern armies. Another battery dashed upto the relief of the men in blue. It was charged at once by the men ingray so fiercely that the gunners were glad to escape with theirguns, and once more the wild rebel yell of triumph swelled through thesouthern forest.

  Dick, standing with his comrades on one of the ridges that they haddefended so well, listened to the roar of conflict on the wing, everincreasing in volume, and watched the vast clouds of smoke gatheringover the forest. He could see from where he stood the flash of riflefire and the blaze of cannon, and both eye and ear told him that thebattle was not moving back upon the South.

  "It seems that we do not make headway, sir," he said to ColonelWinchester, who also stood by him, looking and listening.

  "Not that I can perceive," replied the colonel, "and yet with the rushof forty thousand fresh troops of ours upon the field I deemed victoryquick and easy. How the battle grows! How the South fights!"

  Colonel Winchester walked away presently and joined Sherman, who waseagerly watching the mighty conflict, into which he knew that his ownworn and shattered troops must sooner or later be drawn. He walked upand down in front of his lines, saying little but seeing everything. Histall form was seen by all his men. He, too, must have felt a singularthrill at that moment. He must have known that his star was rising. He,more than any other, with his valor, penetrating mind and decisionhad saved the Northern army from complete destruction the first day atShiloh. He had not been able to avert defeat, but he had prevented utterruin. His division alone had held together in the face of the Southernattack until night came.

  Sherman must have recalled, too, how his statement that the North wouldneed 200,000 troops in the west alone had been sneered at, and he hadbeen called mad. But he neither boasted nor predicted, continuing towatch intently the swelling battle.

  "I had enough fighting yesterday to last me a hundred years," saidWarner to Dick, "but it seems that I'm to have more today. If theJohnnies had any regard for the rules of war they'd have retreated longago."

  "We'll win yet," said Dick hopefully, "but I don't think we can achieveany big victory. Look, there's General Grant himself."

  Grant was passing along his whole line. While leaving the main battleto Buell he retained general command and watched everything. He, too,observed the failure of Buell's army to drive the enemy before them,and he must have felt a sinking of the heart, but he did not show it.Instead he spoke only of victory, when he made any comment at all, andsent the members of his staff to make new arrangements. He must bringinto action every gun and man he had or he would yet lose.

  It was now 10 o'clock and the new battle had lasted with the utmost furyand desperation for four hours. Dick, after General Grant rode on, feltas if a sudden thrill had run through the whole army. He saw men risingfrom the earth and tightening their belts. He saw gunners gatheringaround their guns and making ready with the ammunition. He knew theremains of Grant's army were about to march upon the enemy, helping theArmy of the Ohio to achieve the task that had proved so great.

  Sherman, McClernand and other generals now passed among their troops,cheering them, telling them that the time had come to win back what theyhad lost the day before, and that victory was sure. They called uponthem for another great effort, and a shout rolled along the line ofwilling soldiers.

  Sherman's whole division now raised itself up and rushed at the enemy,Dick and his comrades in the front of their own regiment. The wholeNorthern line was now engaged. Grant, true to his resolution, had hurledevery man and every gun upon his foe.

  The Southern generals felt the immense weight of the numbers that werenow driving down upon them. Their decimated ranks could not withstandthe charge of two armies. In the center where Buell's men, having stoodfast from the first, were now advancing, they were compelled to giveway and lost several guns. On the wings the heavy Northern brigades wereadvancing also, and the whole Southern line was pushed back. So muchinferior was the South in numbers that her enemy began to overlap her onthe flanks also.

  A tremendous shout of exultation swept through the Northern ranks, asthey felt themselves advancing. The promises of their generals werecoming true, and there is nothing sweeter than victory after defeat.Fortune, after frowning upon her so long, was now smiling upon theNorth. The exultant cheer swept through the ranks again, and back camethe defiant rebel yell.

  A young soldier often feels what is happening with as true instinct as ageneral. Dick now knew that the North would recover the field, and thatthe South, cut down fearfully, though having performed prodigies ofvalor, must fight to save herself. He felt that the resistance in frontof them was no longer invincible. He saw in the flash of the firing thatthe Southern ranks were thin, very thin, and he knew that there was nobreak in their own advance.

  Now the sanguine Northern generals planned the entire destruction of theSouthern army. There was only one road by which Beauregard could retreatto Corinth. A whole Northern division rushed in to block the way.Sherman, in his advance, came again to the ground around the littleMethodist chapel of Shiloh which he had defended so well the day before,and crowded his whole force upon the Southern line at that point. Oncemore the primitive church in the woods looked down upon one of the mostsanguinary conflicts of the whole war. If Sherman could break throughthe Southern line here Beauregard's whole army would be lost.

  But the Southern soldiers were capable of another and a mighty effort.Their generals saw the danger and acted with their usual promptness anddecision. They gathered together their shattered brigades and hurledthem like a thunderbolt upon the Union left and center. The shock wasterrific. Sherman, with all his staunchness and the valor of his men,was compelled to give way. McClernand, too, reeled back, others weredriven in also. Whole brigades and regiments were cut to pieces orthrown in confusion. The Southerners cut a wide gap in the Northernarmy, through which they rushed in triumph, holding the Corinth roadagainst every attack and making their rear secure.

  Sherman's division, after its momentary repulse, gathered itself anew,and, although knowing now that the Southern army could not be entrapped,drove again with all its might upon the positions around the church.They passed over the dead of the day before, and gathered increasingvigor, as they saw that the enemy was slowly drawing back.

  Grant reformed his line, which had been shattered by the last fiery andsuccessful attack of the South. Along the whole long line the trumpetssang the charge, and brigades and batteries advanced.

  But the end of Shiloh was at hand. Despite the prodigies of valorperformed by their men, the Southern generals saw that they could notlonger hold the field. The junction of Grant and Buell, after all,had proved too much for them. The bugles sounded the retreat, andreluctantly they gave up the ground which they had won with so muchcourage and daring. They retreated rather as victors than defeated men,presenting a bristling front to the enemy until their regiments werelost in the forest, and beating off every attempt of skirmishers orcavalry to molest them.

  It was the middle of the afternoon when the last shot was fired, and theSouthern army at its leisure resumed its march toward Corinth, protectedon the flanks by its cavalry, and carrying with it the assurance thatalthough not victorious over two armies it had been victorious over one,
and had struck the most stunning blow yet known in American history.

  When the last of the Southern regiments disappeared in the deep woods,Dick and many of those around him sank exhausted upon the ground. Evenhad they been ordered to follow they would have been incapable of it.Complete nervous collapse followed such days and nights as those throughwhich they had passed.

  Nor did Grant and Buell wish to pursue. Their armies had been tooterribly shaken to make another attack. Nearly fifteen thousand oftheir men had fallen and the dead and wounded still lay scattered widelythrough the woods. The South had lost almost as many. Nearly a third ofher army had been killed or wounded in the battle, and yet they retiredin good order, showing the desperate valor of these sons of hers.

  The double army which had saved itself, but which had yet been unable todestroy its enemy, slept that night in the recovered camp. The generalsdiscussed in subdued tones their narrow escape, and the soldiers, whonow understood very well what had happened, talked of it in the sameway.

  "We knew that it was going to be a big war," said Dick, "but it's goingto be far bigger than we thought."

  "And we won't make that easy parade down to the Gulf," said Warner. "I'mthinking that a lot of lions are in the path."

  "But we'll win!" said Dick. "In the end we'll surely win!"

  Then after dreaming a little with his eyes open he fell asleep,gathering new strength for mighty campaigns yet to come.

  Appendix: Transcription notes:

  This etext was transcribed from a volume of the 22nd printing

  The following modifications were applied while transcribing the printedbook to e-text:

  chapter 2 - Page 40, para 6, changed comma to period

  chapter 3 - Page 59, para 3, fixed mis-printed quotation mark

  chapter 4 - Page 73, para 6, fixed typo ("thy") - Page 74, para 1, add missing end-quote

  chapter 5 - Page 95, para 3, add missing end-quote - Page 102, para 5, add missing comma

  chapter 6 - Page 118, para 3, fixed typo ("lenghening") - Page 119, para 6, fixed typo ("untils") - Page 120, para 3, fixed typo ("alrming")

  chapter 7 - Page 139, para 4, add missing begin-quote

  chapter 9 - Page 184, para 2, add missing begin-quote

  chapter 10 - Page 197, para 7, fixed typo ("Your're")

  chapter 15 - Page 299, para 2, fixed typo ("genuis")

  chapter 16 - Page 331, para 2, fixed typo (changed "not" to "nor")

  Limitations imposed by converting to plain ASCII:

  - Throughout the printed book, in any quasi-mathematical passages which use the variables "x" and "y", those variable names are presented in italics. Italics are not available in plain ASCII.

  I did not modify:

  - The printed book sometimes uses the spelling "despatch", other times "dispatch". Also, both "intrenchments" and "entrenchments".

  - Chapter 12, page 245, "grewsome"

  - There are a number of instances where the use of the comma in the printed book seems to me inappropriate, mainly in terms of commas inserted where I would not insert them, and also sometimes commas lacking where I would provide them. However, I have adhered to the punctuation as printed (except for obvious printing errors, which are noted above).

  For example:

  The hills rolled far away southward, and under the horizon's rim.

  The three bade farewell to the young operator, then to almost all of Hubbard and proceeded in a trot for the pass.

  One day Major Hertford sent Dick, Warner, and Sergeant Whitley, ahead to scout.

  The two young aides carried away by success and the fire of battle, waved their swords continually and rushed at the enemy's lines.

  Duck River, which Buell was compelled to cross, was swollen like all the other streams of the region, by the great rains and was forty feet deep.

  - The author sometimes uses a technique whereby a paragraph introducing a quotation ends with a colon, with the quotation following as the next paragraph.