Shiloh and the Western Campaign of 1862

by Edward Cunningham

  The Fourth Tennessee averaged the loss of a man for every four yards of ground it advanced across, but the regiment did not turn back. Halting near McAllister’s position, the Tennesseans poured in a volley and charged. McAllister and many of his men were struck. Despite his injury, the game captain ordered his guns hitched up. So many horses had been hit by the Fourth’s musketry that there were only enough to hitch up three pieces. Battery D, First Illinois, less one gun and two men, made a hasty withdrawal as Neely’s regiment swarmed into their position, capturing two gunners.54

  As the Fourth Tennessee captured the shiny 24-pounder, Shaver and his brigade drove Hare’s three regiments from their position. After helping crack Peabody’s brigade, Shaver was ordered to halt and reform his command, and upon per forming this function, Hindman ordered him to “make an oblique change of front to the left,” the idea of attacking a Federal encampment there. Before completing this movement, however, Shaver was ordered to make a flank movement, cross the Review Field, and storm McClernand’s left.55

  Shaver’s regiments moved across Review Field, running into only light fire. By the time they reached within eighty or a hundred yards of Hare’s position, the Fourth Tennessee had chased McAllister’s gunners away and Wood’s men were driving Marsh’s brigade back. Realizing they were outflanked, Hare’s brigade began to dissolve. Shaver’s men raked the Eighth Illinois position with musketry, wounding the commanding officer, Captain James Ashmore. Captain William Harvey, Company K, assumed command but he was killed almost instantly, and the regiment headed for the rear. The Thirteenth Iowa fired one volley before Colonel Crocker gave the order to pull back.56

  The collapse of Veatch’s brigade spelled the end of the Purdy Road line, and by about 11:20 a.m. the Confederates were in complete possession of the position. McClernand ordered his regiments to regroup about two hundred yards north of the crossroads. Giving the order, however, was much easier than seeing it executed.57 The Federals were badly scattered and brigade organization was completely disrupted. Most of the regimental commanders simply fell back to where they could find a decent spot to make a stand. Sherman and McClernand no longer had a fairly continuous formation. In stead, they found themselves with a score of confused regiments strung out along three-quarters of a mile of un even terrain.

  The only saving grace of the situation was that the Confederates were just as confused. Wood was by this time out of the fight, while Preston Smith was just beginning to round up his scattered units. Russell’s command was also badly scattered, and many of his men were in need of cartridges. Only Anderson’s battered brigade possessed any kind of cohesive aggressiveness. Despite the best efforts of many officers on both sides, along most of this area the fighting simply degenerated into a prolonged exchange of heavy musket and cannon fire.

  On McClernand’s left, Colonel Crocker managed to collect most of his regiment and part of the Eighth and Eighteenth Illinois, and they engaged opposing Confederate infantry in a sharp fire fight.58

  Captain James Timony’s Battery D, Second Illinois, came up and McClernand ordered in into position along the road. Timony’s men opened fire on Anderson’s slowly advancing Texans and Louisianans. Lieutenant DePetz had another near encounter with death. The lieutenant later wrote his wife, telling her that “two shots sounded and one of them went through my trousers leg and fell in my boot, the other cut away my watch-chain, and went through my coat without hurting me in the slightest.”59

  Confederate musketry was very heavy, and Battery D’s few infantry supports quickly melted away. Confederate artillery, probably some of Irving Hogdson’s gunners, shelled the Illinois battery. An exploding projectile knocked Captain Timony senseless, while gunners and horses dropped all around. Lieutenant T. D. Tozer was killed while helping work his gun, and at least four enlisted men lost their lives, besides many that were wounded under the heavy Confederate fire. Lieutenant J. D. Whitall took command of Timony’s Battery and managed to withdraw two of the battery’s pieces and some other equipment, but the Ninth Texas seized four of the ponderous iron tubes.60

  After the loss of Timony’s guns, McClernand ordered another withdrawal, his various regiments establishing a jagged line along the southern end of the Jones Field. After this last withdrawal,61 offensive activities on this portion of the front temporarily halted. Sherman and McClernand re organized their commands and pre pared for a counterattack.

  Shortly after the battle began, General W. H. L. Wallace formed his Second Division up in preparation for a move to the front, wherever that might be. But before moving out Wallace ordered Colonel Crafts Wright to take his regiment, the Thirteenth Missouri Infantry of McArthur’s brigade, and report to General Sherman over at or near the Purdy Road.62 Wallace then sent B.S. Compton’s Fourteenth Missouri and Colonel Thomas Morton’s Eighty-first Ohio over to guard the Snake Creek Bridge, on the road leading to Crump’s Landing.63 Wallace directed General McArthur to take the two remaining regiments of his brigade, plus Battery A, First Illinois, and move south along the Hamburg Road to support Colonel Stuart.64 With his two remaining brigades, Wallace started out on the fatal two mile march to the battle front, not knowing that his lovely wife, Ann, was on the steamer Minnehaha, already tied up at the Landing.65

  Arriving at the Duncan Field, in a gap between Hurlbut’s position in the Peach Orchard and McClernand’s near the Purdy Road,66 Wallace immediately moved his First Brigade, commanded by Colonel James Tuttle, into position along an old road behind the Duncan Field. From left to right Tuttle’s line consisted of the Fourteenth Iowa, Colonel William T. Shaw, Twelfth Iowa, Colonel Joseph Woods, Seventh Iowa, Lieutenant Colonel James C. Parrott, and Second Iowa, Lieutenant Colonel James Baker. Wallace brought up his Third Brigade, led by Colonel T. W. Sweeny, with the Fifty-eighth and Seventh Illinois, Colonels William Lynch and Major Richard Rowett respectively commanding, moving for ward to take up the position on Tuttle’s right and on McClernand’s extreme left. The Fifieth Illinois was soon ordered to move to McArthur’s support, while the Eighth Iowa and Fifty-seventh Illinois were held in divisional reserve.67

  Tuttle’s First Brigade was one of the finest in Grant’s army. The Second Iowa had served with honor in Missouri throughout most of 1861, but had failed to see action. Its first colonel, Samuel R. Curtis, had been promoted to major general, and on March 7 and 8 defeated General Earl Van Dorn’s army in a difficult combat at Pea Ridge, Arkansas. Even as the Second took its position in line on the morning of April 6, Van Dorn’s army was hurrying toward Corinth. The Second Iowa’s second colonel, James Tuttle, had performed with distinction at Fort Donelson, leading the Second in a determined charge on the Confederate works. Tuttle was now brigade commander and in line for a brigadier generalship. All four regiments had fought at Fort Donelson, and the Seventh had been engaged at Belmont, Missouri, the previous November.68

  Tuttle’s brigade established its position along a landmark that has since become synonymous with Shiloh—the Sunken Road. The road was a simple wagon track running from the Corinth-Pittsburg Landing Road eastward to the Hamburg-Savannah Road. It ran across the three principal roads to Pittsburg Landing; thus it was an unforeseen barrier to the Confederate plan to drive a wedge between the Federal left and the Landing. Union and Confederate officers alike were strongly impressed by the inherent strength of General Wallace’s and General Prentiss’ positions, but to their eyes that strength lay in the thick underbrush on the left and the clear field of fire provided by Duncan’s Field on the right. Only one “Official Report” cites the position, Cheatham’s, referring to it merely as “an abandoned road.”69

  General Don Carlos Buell later said that “it was equally formidable against attack from both directions,” adding that the position consisted of “a wood in the center with a thick undergrowth, flanked on either side by open fields, and with open but sheltering woods infront and rear.”70 The Southerners referred to the whole position, road and all, simply as the “Hornet’s Nest.” Confederate Private
Thomas Chinn Robertson, Fourth Louisiana, who took part in several at tacks on the Hornet’s Nest, described it as “an old road, which by frequent travel had be come worn about three feet deep.” Robertson also said the road ran across a hill which “was covered with the thickest undergrowth of blackjack I ever saw.”71

  The ground in front of Prentiss’ position was covered with many hickory and oak trees that had not yet leaved. The Federals could see to shoot through the trees, but the timber acted as a screen for their own position. To Private Charles Morton, Twenty-fifth Missouri, the Sunken Road was a position “about fifteen inches or more deep, affording excellent cover and good rest while firing.”72 Private Leander Stillwell, Sixty-first Illinois, spoke of the position as an “old, grass-grown country road that ran through thick woods. The wheels of wagons, running for many years right in the same ruts, had cut through the turf, so that the surface of the road was somewhat lower than the adjacent ground.” Stillwell added that “this afforded a slight natural breastwork, which was substantial protection.”73 Captain Andrew Hickenlooper, Fifth Ohio Battery, remembered the Sunken Road as a “roadway…cut for some distance through a low hill.” The road was washed out, forming “a protecting parapet only a few inches in height but enough partially to protect the infantry, with its front covered by an almost impenetrable growth.”74

  General Lew Wallace remembered the Sunken Road as “an abandoned road washed out by rains to a depth of twenty or thirty inches, and screened by a thicket.”75 Whether or not the Sunken Road, or the Hornet’s Nest, was a massive trench or just a slightly washed out road bed, it still provided a good logical position for the Union army to rally.

  By around 9:30, Tuttle’s men began taking their position along the road. A Confederate battery opened fire on the Second Iowa, killing and mangling Union men with exploding shells. One member of Company C had his foot crushed so badly by a shell fragment the doctors were later forced to amputate it. The men were ordered to lie down in the roadbed to get some cover from the fire, but casualties still mounted. Captain Bob Littler was struck as he hugged the earth, a jagged slice of iron tearing his arm off from the shoulder, except for a tiny piece of muscle. Crazed with pain, Littler jumped to his feet screaming, “Here, boys! here!” before mercifully fainting. Terrified by the exploding shells, a trembling rabbit ran up and snuggled alongside a soldier.76 Occasionally Tuttle’s and Sweeny’s men exchanged shots with distant Confederate skirmishers, but for the most part of an hour the position remained comparatively quiet, except for the artillery fire.

  In the attack on Hare’s brigade position, Shaver’s right wing regiment, Colonel Marmaduke’s Third Confederate, was exposed to heavy rifle fire from Wallace’s men. Shaver immediately sent word to General Bragg that strong Federal forces were massing to the right and in front of his command. General Bragg ordered Captain Charles Swett’s Battery to move over and support Shaver. Confederate sharpshooters also joined in the fight.77 Swett and his men fought their way over the extremely rough terrain until they reached the Third Confederate’s position. Colonel Marmaduke was standing there, waiting, and he told the battery commander, “Swett, these fellows are in that piece of woods on our front, let’s go for them.” Captain Swett replied, “Alright, I’m with you.” Marmaduke’s men advanced to ward Wallace skirmishers, while Swett’s 6-pounders and 12-pound howitzers covered the advance.78

  General Hindman rode over to investigate and ran into the line of fire of a Federal battery. A cannon ball, probably from one of Hickenlooper’s remaining smooth-bores, killed General Hindman’s mount, and that officer was badly bruised by his fall to the ground.79

  Shaver’s men were exhausted and they were low on ammunition. After Hindman was disabled, Shaver withdrew to regroup. Stewart, with his Fourth Tennessee and fragments of the Sixteenth Alabama and Fifty-fifth Tennessee, also took part in this movement, although not closely engaged.80

  At this stage in the fighting, a new unit moved upon the scene, Cheatham’s Second Brigade commanded by Colonel William H. Stephens. Cheatham’s other brigade under Bushrod Johnson had previously been engaged on the Confederate left, but the general remained in reserve with the Second. As the brigade headed for the front, General A. S. Johnston detached the First Tennessee Battalion, Colonel George Maney, to unite with Colonel N. B. Forrest’s cavalry and Colonel D. H. Cummings’ Nineteenth Tennessee. These three units moved to the right to guard Greer Ford over Lick Creek.81

  General Johnston halted the First Tennessee and personally addressed them as they moved toward their new station. Informing Maney’s men that he had selected them for this post of honor, Johnston explained that if General Buell’s army arrived and crossed the Tennessee River at Hamburg, the Confederates would be in serious trouble. He directed the Tennesseans to hold their position no matter what the price might be. To wind up his speech, he asked the soldiers if they had been issued the required forty rounds. It was a solemn moment, and then one very serious private, Dave Adams, soberly drawled, “No, General, I ain’t got but thirty-eight.” General Johnston smiled and replied, “Very well, my friend, see your orderly sergeant and get your full number.”82

  The rest of the brigade executed a series of movements along the front, deploying to the left in support of General Bragg’s line; and then, by General Beauregard’s orders, deploying to the right, taking up a position in front but well away from the Hornet’s Nest.

  Shortly after 10:00 a.m., Captain Melancthon Smith opened fire on the Hornet’s Nest with his four Napoleons and two 6-pound smoothbores. The Mississippians suffered heavily from Wallace’s batteries, but they kept the contest up for an hour.83 Wallace’s Missouri gunners not only pounded Smith’s Mississippi Battery, but they raked the entire brigade as well. Cheatham ordered his men to lie on the ground, and the Federal gunners quickly shifted to a more lucrative target, Colonel A. J. Lindsay’s First Mississippi Cavalry, which was screening Cheatham’s rear.

  The Mississippians saw the first shots pass over their heads, but the Northern gunners lowered their sights. Projectiles dropped among the cavalry with increasing accuracy. One solid shot fell just short and richocheted toward Captain H. W. Foote. Sinking his spurs into his horse’s flanks, Foote narrowly got out of the way. The projectile struck Lieutenant E. T. Deupree’s stallion, killing him, and grazing the lieutenant’s thigh, breaking his saber in two. Several more horses were struck by cannon shot, including Lieutenant J. G. Deupree’s mount, Bremer. In the excitement of battle, the horse’s tail was raised high, and the shot “cut away about half of it, bone and-all, and ever afterwards he was known as ‘bob-tail Bremer.” With iron balls bouncing in all directions, Colonel Lindsay decided to countermarch the First Mississippi, and they took shelter in a nearby ravine.84

  About 11:20, General Breckinridge moved a force of infantry into position on Cheatham’s right, and opened with rifle fire on the opposing Federals. Moments later, Beauregard’s assistant adjutant general, Colonel Thomas Jordan, rode up and informed Cheatham that General Beauregard ordered him to attack Wallace’s position. Cheatham then personally led forward his Second Brigade, Colonel Charles Wickliffe’s Seventh Kentucky on the left, Colonel Henry Douglass’ Ninth Tennessee in the center, and Lieutenant Colonel Timothy P. Jones’ Sixth Tennessee on the right. With Smith’s Mississippi Battery providing covering fire, Cheatham, Stephens, and the three regiments double-quicked toward the Sunken Road.

  The Iowans hit the attacking forces heavily with musketry and artillery fire.85 Cheatham’s soldiers slowed down. Then they stopped altogether, many of the men taking cover behind trees and bushes to return the Federal fire. Many officers lost their lives here, including Major W. J. Welhorn, Seventh Kentucky, and Captains Joe B. Freeman and G. G. Person. Not all of the officers were as brave as these. One Sixth Tennessee officer named Fussell headed for cover behind a log, and he cringed there all through the fight.86

  The three Confederate regiments quickly fell back to the rear, minus many of their best men either kille
d or wounded. During this movement Colonel Stephens, who was already suffering from illness, was disabled by a bad fall from his horse. Within minutes he was forced to leave the field. Returning to his original position on the Hamburg Road, Cheatham moved to the right, where he was not seriously engaged again until that afternoon.87

  Chapter 11

  Hornet’s Nest

  BY NOON THE SITUATION on the Shiloh battlefield was thoroughly confused. Except for a few regiments, both armies were fully committed in the battle, yet neither side had scored a decisive blow. On the Union right, McClernand and Sherman busily collected their men, positioning them in a rough line in front of Hare’s brigade camp. Their job was made a little easier by the arrival of fresh troops, McDowell’s brigade and the Thirteenth Missouri, along with the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Iowa. After his long complicated journey from the brigade camp area, McDowell and his three regiments reached General McClernand’s right a little before noon, and the newly arrived regiments were soon busy fighting Confederate skirmishers.1

  Colonel Crafts J. Wright brought the Thirteenth Missouri of McArthur’s brigade to help Sherman, and he joined on that commander’s left.2 The Fifteenth and Sixteenth Iowa went in to reinforce McClernand by orders of General U. S. Grant.3 The six regiments quickly deployed, and by their presence helped stem further Confederate advancing for the time being.