11 Johnston, Life of Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston, 585.
12 William Preston, Memoranda, Death of A. S. Johnston, Mrs. Mason Barret Papers, Albert Sidney Johnston Collection, Howard-Tilton Memorial Library, Tulane University.
13 Johnston, Life of Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston, 584.
14 OR 10, pt. 1, 591, 573. In the Confederate order of battle, Hardee had command of the Third Corps, consisting of the First Brigade, General T. C. Hindman; Second Brigade, General P. R. Cleburne; and Third Brigade, General S. A. M. Wood. To cover the interval between his right and Lick Creek, General Johnston assigned to Hardee General A. H. Gladden’s First Brigade of Withers’ Second Division, Second Army Corps. OR 10, pt. 1, 532. Sometime immediately before the battle, Hardee decided to break up his corps into two temporary divisions. He continued in overall corps command, but exercised direct tactical control over only General Gladden’s and General Cleburne’s brigades. General Hindman was given charge of his own brigade, now led by Colonel Shaver, and that of General Wood, but he does not appear to have given any orders to the latter unit.
15 Jones, “The Battle of Shiloh,” 55-57.
16 Ibid.; OR 10, pt. 1, 278, 282, 283; William T. Shaw, “The Battle of Shiloh,” War Sketches and Incidents As Related By Companions of the Iowa Commandery: Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the Union States (Des Moines: 1893), 1: 189.
17 Ruff, “Civil War Experiences of A German Emigrant,” 296.
18 OR 10, pt. 1, 283.
19 Benjamin Prentiss, “Reunion of Federal Veterans at Shiloh,” Confederate Veteran 3 (February 1895): 104.
20 OR 10, pt. 1, 282, 283, 285; Jones, “The Battle of Shiloh,” 56, 57; Shaw, “The Battle of Shiloh,” 189. Doctors W. H. Gibbon and S. B. Davis amputated Moore’s leg late Sunday evening on board the steamer, Minnehaha. Belknap, 15th Regiment Iowa, 111. Probably the first Southerners to open fire on Moore belonged to the Seventh Arkansas, Shaver’s Brigade. Wood’ skirmish line also quickly became involved in this action, so the Federals were probably facing twenty-five or more companies. In his official report Moore claimed being attacked by General Daniel Ruggles, but that officer was in Bragg’s Corps. Moore actually ran into Hardee’s Third Corps. See Thomas J. Bryant, Who is Responsible for the Advance of the Army of the Tennessee Towards Corinth? (n.p.: n.p., 1885), 35; Samuel M. Howard, Illustrated Comprehensive History of the Great Battle of Shiloh (Kansas City: Franklin Hudson Publishing Company, 1921), 63.
21 Jones, “The Battle of Shiloh,” 54.
22 Ibid., 54, 55; OR 10, pt. 1, 284.
23 Morton, “A Boy at Shiloh, 60. A slightly different version has it that General Prentiss asked Colonel Peabody, “what do you mean by bringing on an engagement, when you know we are not ready?” to which Peabody replied, “I did not bring it on. It is coming without my assistance.” Campaigns of Kentucky and Tennessee, 59.
24 || See Smith, The Untold Story of Shiloh, 22-24, for a modern discussion of the surprise at Shiloh.
25 OR 10, pt. 1, 184; Edward Bouton, Events of the Civil War (Los Angeles: n.p., n.d.), 15, 16; Los Angeles Times, April 6, 1912.
26 Catton, Grant Moves South, 223. In his report of action, written twelve months after the event, Grant’s assistant adjutant general, John Rawlins, says Trembly reported hearing artillery fire. Bruce Catton also says Grant and his staff officers, seated at the breakfast table, heard sounds of cannon firing even before Trembly came in; yet the time could not have been more than 6:30 a.m., if that late. At that hour, the only fighting near Pittsburg Landing had been between comparatively small bodies of men armed with muskets. The evidence is that no field battery on either side got into action before 7:15 a.m. or 7:30. Just what did Trembly and the others hear? Presumably only musket fire, which the wind carried the nine miles to Savannah, and their imagination or memories changed into cannon fire. Colonel William Preston, on Albert Sidney Johnston’s staff, said there was heavy firing on Hardee’s left at 7:10 a.m., and cannon fire in woods northeast of Fraley’s Field at 7:15 a.m. Extract from Colonel William Preston’s Diary, April 6, 1862, in Miscellaneous Collections at Shiloh National Military Park. Captain W. Irving Hodgson, Fifth Company, Washington Artillery, reported his battery opened fire at 7:10 a.m. OR 10, pt. 1, 513. Lieutenant Colonel S. W. Ferguson, aide-de-camp to General Beauregard, reported hearing the first cannon shot of the day at 7:09 a.m. S. W. Ferguson to General Beauregard, April 9, 1862, in Miscellaneous Collections, Shiloh National Military Park. These trained observers were in error, or there was artillery firing from the general direction of General Sherman’s camp. Perhaps some of Sherman’s guns were being fired for purposes of signaling, or perhaps in the Third Brigade to alarm the men. Captain Samuel Barrett, of General Sherman’s Battery B, First Illinois, said that he went into action about 7:40 a.m. OR 10, pt. 1, 276. His other two batteries did not give a definite time, but it would not have been earlier than 7:30 a.m., and probably closer to 8:00 a.m. This situation partially illustrates the difficulty of assigning definite times to definite actions, even with reliable witnesses. || Daniel, Shiloh, 174, states Grant heard artillery around 7:00 a.m. before the orderly entered the room. Sword, Shiloh, 214, says Grant was first alerted by the orderly between 7:00 and 7:30 a.m. McDonough, Shiloh, 95, states Grant heard the guns at the breakfast table.
27 OR 52, pt. 1, 232.
28 Ibid., pt. 2, 95. The reference to finding a guide probably referred to the strong Unionist sentiment in Savannah. A number of Savannah citizens enlisted in the Forty-sixth Ohio Infantry when it was stationed at Savannah in March. T. J. Lindsey, Ohio At Shiloh (Cincinnati: 1903), 18. For evidences of Unionist sympathies in Savannah and Hardin County, see Lera Durbin, “Five Years of War, Manuscript History of Hardin County,” Miscellaneous Collections, Shiloh National Military Park; Adolph Engelmann to his wife, Mina, March 12, 1862, Adolph Engelmann Papers, Illinois State Historical Library.
29 Battles and Leaders, 1: 492.
30 OR 10, pt. 1, 184; Wallace, An Autobiography, 1: 461.
31 Royal Cortissoz, The Life of Whitelaw Reid, 2 vols. (New York: Scribners, 1921), 1: 85; Wallace, An Autobiography, 1: 462. || For Reid’s dispatches, see James G. Smart, ed., A Radical View: The “Agate” Dispatches of Whitelaw Reid, 1861-1865, 2 vols. (Memphis: Memphis State University Press, 1976).
32 OR 10, pt. 1, 278. || See Fuller, The Generalship of Ulysses S. Grant, 111-113, for a time line of Grant’s actions once he reached Pittsburg Landing.
33 Belknap, 15th Iowa, 289, 290; OR 10, pt. 1, 278, 286-288. Colonel Reid arrived with his regiment from Benton Barracks early that morning and knew Grant only by reputation. Ibid., 288.
34 M. F. Force, From Fort Henry to Corinth, (New York: Scribners, 1881), 131.
35 OR 10, pt. 1, 185.
36 Wallace, An Autobiography, 1: 463.
37 OR 10, pt. 1, 185. This entire controversy is discussed fully in Battles and Leaders, 1: 607-610. Rawlins’ version of the order has the practical merit of good sense. It is what Grant should have ordered, but in transmitting verbal orders onto paper, mistakes can happen; and in this case the mistake may have been caused by Baxter, who claimed he personally wrote the order out while Rawlins dictated it. Ibid., 607. It is possible Wallace simply got confused. His only pre-Civil War service had been as a first lieutenant in the Mexican War, and although he behaved commendably at Fort Donelson, he remained basically an amateur soldier, a civilian general. Whatever the truth in the matter, Grant eventually reconciled himself to Wallace’s tardiness. Grant, Memoirs, 182, 183. || See also Allen, “If He Had Less Rank,” 63-89, for a modern account of the Wallace march controversy. Daniel, Shiloh, 261, believes Grant never reconciled himself to Wallace’s late arrival.
38 Battles and Leaders, 1: 492.
39 OR 10, pt. 1, 95, 96.
40 New York Herald, May 3, 1862. Bruce Catton says the letter was reprinted from the Cincinnati Commercial, which had carried articles critical of Grant’s actions at Shiloh. Catton, Grant Moves South, 257.
41
William T. Sherman to John Sherman, April 22, 1862, in Rachel Sherman Thorndike, ed., The Sherman Letters: Correspondence Between General and Senator Sherman From 1837 to 1891 (New York: Scribners, 1894), 143, 145.
42 William T. Sherman to John Sherman, May 7, 1862, Ibid., 145, 146.
43 William T. Sherman to John Sherman, May 12, 1862, Ibid., 149.
44 Wallace, An Autobiography, 1: 482.
45 W. H. Chamberlain, History of the Eighty-first Regiment, Ohio Infantry Volunteers During the War of the Rebellion (Cincinnati: Gazette Printing House, 1865), 15.
46 John Ruckman to John Kinsel, April 12, 1862, Miscellaneous Collections, Shiloh National Military Park.
47 Payson Shumway Diary, April 6-7, 1862, Payson Z. Shumway Papers, Illinois State Historical Library.
48 Barber, Army Memoirs, 51.
49 John Cockerill, “A Boy at Shiloh,” Sketches of War History 1861-1865: Papers Prepared for the Commandery of the State of Ohio, Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States (Cincinnati: 1908), 6: 16.
50 Peter B. Dobbins to Robert Banta, February 6, 1864, Miscellaneous Collections, Shiloh National Military Park. See George W. Crosley, “Some Reminiscences of an Iowa Soldier,” Annals of Iowa 10 (July 1911): 125.
51 Stillwell, Common Soldier, 42; Thaddeus H. Capron, “War Diary of Thaddeus H. Capron 1861-1865,” Illinois State Historical Society Papers 12 (October 1919): 343.
52 William Harvey, Diary, April 18, 1862, Miscellaneous Collections, Shiloh National Military Park.
Chapter 8
1 John Duke, History of the Fifty-third Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry, During the War of the Rebellion (Portsmouth: The Blade Printing Company, 1900), 42; Campaigns in Kentucky and Tennessee, 138.
2 Duke, History of the Fifty-third Ohio, 42, 43.
3 Ibid.
4 || For a modern study of Patrick Cleburne, see Craig L. Symonds, Stonewall of the West: Patrick Cleburne and the Civil War (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1997).
5 OR 10, pt. 1, 80; T. B. Cox, “Sixth Mississippi Regiment at Shiloh,” Confederate Veteran 18 (November 1910): 509.
6 Duke, History of the Fifty-Third Ohio, 44; Fleming, “The Battle of Shiloh As A Private Saw It,” 141. Private Robert H. Fleming said Ball told him he yelled, “General, you are looking the wrong direction.” Ibid.
7 Ibid.; OR 10, pt. 1, 249. For some reason General Prentiss did not notify General Sherman of the state of the battle. Perhaps he was too busy, although he did warn the reserve division. Liddell Hart, Sherman, 127. || Dr. Cunningham’s original version claimed Sherman was unhurt. In fact, he was wounded in the hand by a buck shot, and most historians think it occurred here. We have slightly altered the text to reflect this interpretation. See Marszalek, Sherman, 178; Sword, Shiloh, 177; Daniel, Shiloh, 158.
8 OR 10, pt. 1, 581. The boggy area Cleburne referred to in his report was 250 or 300 yards to the south east of the Methodist-Episcopal Church. This was an extremely rainy month and the whole area was covered with a layer of mud. Actually the heavy briar patches and vines alone, at this point, were probably as much of an obstruction as the soft ground. OR 10, pt. 1, 587, 496; Irving Buck, Cleburne and His Command (New York: The Neale Publishing Company, 1908), 37, 38.
9 Fleming, “The Battle of Shiloh As A Private Saw It,” 139, 140.
10 OR 10, pt. 1, 264.
11 Duke, Fifty-third Ohio, 46; OR 10, pt. 1, 273. Ezra Taylor, Fifth Division’s chief of artillery, incorrectly stated that Waterhouse’s two guns were on the left bank of Owl Creek. Actually their first firing position was in the woods along Shiloh Branch. The position enabled Waterhouse to effectively cover most of the Rhea Field. It was the highest point for several hundred yards, and the battery possessed a good, clear field to fire. A slightly different version has them at the Rhea House. Reed, Shiloh, 55. || The editors have discovered several instances of Shiloh Branch being referred to as Owl Creek. In fact, that seems to be the historic name often referenced in battle reports. See OR 10, pt. 1, 173, 273, 275-276. The creek was also referred to in other places as Oak Creek and Rhea Creek. See M. F. Force, From Fort Henry to Corinth (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1881), 127-128 and Don Carlos Buell, “Shiloh Reviewed,” Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, 4 vols. (New York: Century Company, 1884-1887), 1: 502-503.
12 OR 10, pt. 1, 581.
13 Duke, Fifty-third Ohio, 45; Ruff, “Civil War Experiences of A German Emigrant,” 296, 297. For a fuller description of this debacle, see Lieutenant Fulton’s report. OR 10, pt. 1, 264, 265. Colonel Appler was discharged from the United States Army on April 18, 1862. Official Roster of the Soldiers of the State of Ohio in the War of the Rebellion, 1861-1866, 8 vols. (Cincinnati: The Ohio Valley Press, 1888), 4: 675.
14 Duke, Fifty-third Ohio, 28; OR 10, pt. 1, 265. Jones’ determined action won him promotion to full colonel on April 18, 1862. Official Roster of the Soldiers of the State of Ohio, 4: 676.
15 Duke, Fifty-third Ohio, 48. The Fifty-third Ohio monument at Shiloh National Military Park says the “regiment formed here at 8 a.m…. but soon fell back across the ravine in the rear.” In defense of the Fifty-third Ohio, the unit was a new one, its organization completed that January, and once Colonel Appler was dismissed the regiment fought well in later actions.
16 OR 10, pt. 1, 266, 270; Bering and Montgomery, Forty-eighth Ohio, 20. In his official report General Cleburne said the Ohio answere protected by a “breastwork of logs and bales of hay.” OR 10, pt. 1, 581. Colonel Buckland’s position was just in front of Shiloh Church, along a ridge of ground running to the east, and then turning in a slightly more southerly direction about 275 yards from the road. There was, and still is, a ravine at the point where the ridge begins turning more south ward. The left of the Seventieth rested on the road by the Church, while the rest of the regiment and most of the Forty-eighth faced an unnamed field running about 200 yards down in front of the position. The rest of the Forty-eighth faced a wooded area running up the slope. The ravine was probably the dividing line between the Forty-eighth and Seventy-second. The latter’s position can be seen to day from Tennessee High way 22 during the fall and winter months.
17 Confederate Veteran 2 (November 1894): 337.
18 OR 10, pt. 1, 585.
19 D. A. B, 2: 42. || Dr. Cunningham’s original dissertation stated that Colonel Bateled his Second Tennessee across Rhea Field and hit the 48th Ohio. While conceivably correct, this interpretation provides a somewhat distorted feel to the action. An unnamed field which could have been a portion of Rhea Field did extend through a belt of fallen timber and across to the western side of the Corinth Road. Today, the fallen timber has regrown, making the portion described by Cunningham a separate field altogether from Rhea Field. Indeed, he referred to the field as unnamed in an earlier footnote. To save confusion, we have slightly altered the original text to reflect this ambiguity.
20 OR 10, pt. 1, 589; Rennolds, Henry County Commands, 32; Thomas Head, Campaigns and Battles of the Sixteenth Tennessee Regiment (Nashville: Cumberland Presbyterian Publishing House, 1885), 232, 233; T. H. Peebles to wife, April 19, 1862, Confederate Veteran 16 (June 1908): 281.
21 Ibid., Confederate Veteran 25 (March 1917): 222.
22 OR 10, pt. 1, 581. Possibly Captain Samuel E. Barrett’s Battery B, First Illinois Light Artillery, (four 6-pound smoothbores and two 12-pound howitzers) was also shelling in this attack. It went into action on Colonel Hildebrand’s right about this time. Ibid., 273, 139. Nispel’s Light Artillery Battery, belonging to General McClernand’s division, (two 6-pound smoothbores and two 12-pound howitzers) also went into action about this same time. Both batteries were veterans. Part of Nispel’s Battery served at Liberty, Missouri, September 17, 1861. Battery E, Nispel’s Battery, also was engaged at Fort Donelson. Battery B was engaged at Frederickstown, Missouri, October 21, 1861, and also at Belmont, Missouri, November 7, 1861.
23 J. A. Wheeler, “Cleburne’s Brigade at Shiloh,” Confederate Veteran 2 (January, 1894): 13.
24 Colonel Ross was on leave. His wife had just died, and he had not returned from leave. Adolph Engelmann to wife, April 17, 1862, Adolph Engelmann Papers, Illinois State Historical Library; OR 10, pt. 1, 115, 139.
25 Ibid.; Robert W. Campbell, “Brief History of the 17th Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry 1861-1864,” Transactions of the Illinois State Historical Society 2 (May 1914): 184-190; George O. Smith, “Brief History of the 17th Illinois Infantry,” unpublished manuscript, Illinois State Historical Library. || Dr. Cunningham is mistaken that the 17th Illinois, or any of Raith’s brigade, reached the 53rd Ohio camp. Lieutenant Colonel Enos P. Wood’s report mentions only that the 17th Illinois formed “behind the encampment of an Ohio regiment.” OR 10, pt. 1, 141. The Ohio regiment Wood mentioned was the 77th Ohio. The Shiloh Battlefield Commission placed the brigade’s monuments and tablets well north of Shiloh Branch, and the modern research has confirmed this placement. We have slightly altered the text to reflect this evidence. See Shiloh Battlefield Monuments # 53 and # 57, and Tablets #36 and # 41. See also Sword, Shiloh, 204; Daniel, Shiloh, 177-178.
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