Shiloh and the Western Campaign of 1862

by Edward Cunningham

  67 Thomas, Soldier Life; OR 10, pt. 1, 149, 151, 153, 162, 164, 165.

  68 Ibid., 7, 168, 111, 275.

  69 Ibid., 10, pt. 1, 438. || For more information on the historiography of the Sunken Road, see Smith, The Untold Story of Shiloh, 29-34.

  70 Battles and Leaders, 1: 50.

  71 Thomas Chinn Robertson to mother, April 9, 1862, Thomas Chinn Robertson Papers, Louisiana State University Archives. Robert son’s description is borne out by one Union source which mentioned “an old washed out road… three feet deep,” with a low ridge and a dense thicket to the left. Byers, Iowa In War Times, 129, 130. See also Mildred Throne, (ed.). “Erastus B. Times, History of Company D, the 12th Iowa Infantry, 1861-1866,” The Iowa Journal of History 56 (April 1958): 178. || Historians have long been puzzled by Robertson’s statement about the Sunken Road, which is the only contemporary ac count describing the road as “about three feet deep.” As Smith, The Untold Story of Shiloh, 34, makes plain, “Not one single report in the Official Records mentions the road as being sunken. Likewise, no soldiers’ letters ordiaries exist that refer to it as sunken. Many buffs quote a soldier, Thomas Chinn Robertson, of the 4th Louisiana in Gibson’s Brigade as describing the road as three feet deep. Inreality, that soldier was in no position to see the road. Gibson’s Brigade never reached the Sunken Road and fell back in confusion. Robertson described a tangle of undergrowth, which precluded sight, and even remarked that corps commander Braxton Bragg stated that he would lead them to where they could see the enemy. The unit there after moved forward to the right, thus never allowing the quoted soldier to view how deep the road actually was. In all likelihood, the unclear Louisianan was describing the Eastern Corinth Road or possibly even the main Corinth Road, both of which were heavily traveled thoroughfares and thus would have been eroded. Federal regiments, at times during the battle, aligned on both roads.” Smith concludes by writing, “Robertson[also claimed]… that twenty-seven Federal regiments defended the position he had attacked.” Ibid., 178.

  72 Morton, “A Boy at Shiloh,” 62.

  73 Stillwell, Common Soldier, 64. Colonel Tuttle cited the “old sunken road” in a speech after the war. James M. Tuttle, “Brigade Report,” First Reunion of Iowa’s Hornet’s Nest Brigade Held at Des Moines, Iowa, Wednesday and Thursday, October 12 and 13, l887 (Oskaloosa: n.p., 1887), 12.

  74 Hickenlooper, “The Battle of Shiloh,” 417, 418.

  75 Wallace, An Autobiography, 481.

  76 Bell, Tramps and Triumphs, 16, 17.

  77 OR 10, pt. 1, 574.

  78 Charles Swett, “Shiloh,” Miscellaneous Collection, Shiloh National Military Park.

  79 D. C. Govan to the Honorable Shiloh Park Commission, April 14, 1900, Miscellaneous Collection, Shiloh National Military Park; OR 10, pt. 1, 574.

  80 Ibid., 574, 428; Reed, Shiloh, 70. || Although technically correct, Dr. Cunningham does not give ample credit to this operation. Around 11:30 a.m. Stewart, who took over Shaver’s Brigade, made the largest at tack of the day (3, 600 men) on the Hornet’s Nest with that brigade, the 4th Tennessee, and the 16th Alabama and 55th Tennessee of Wood’s Brigade, which Cunningham describes. Also joining this ad vance were portions of Cleburne’s Brigade (the 6th Mississippi and 23rd Tennessee). This advance, which stretched from the Corinth Road to the Eastern Corinth Road, was perhaps the only significant assault to move directly through Duncan Field. Because of the geographical nature of the assault area, the advance petered out quickly, with Shaver reporting his brigade out of ammunition and headed for the rear. The remainder of the participants withdrew as well. The at tack probably did not penetrate more than one-third of the way into Duncan Field. See Smith, The Un told Story of Shiloh, 47.

  81 Ibid., 454; William Preston, Diary, April 6, 1862, Miscellaneous Collection, Shiloh National Military Park.

  82 A. S. Horsley, “Reminiscences of Shiloh,” Confederate Veteran 2 (August 1894): 234.

  83 OR 10, pt. 1, 438.

  84 J. G. Deupree, “The Noxubee Squadron of the First Mississippi Cavalry,” 31, 32.

  85 OR 10, pt. 1, 438, 151. The Seventh Kentucky had already been under long range artillery fire. About 9:00 a.m., an exploding shell wounded Captain J. G. Pirtle, Company A. George, History of the 3d, 7th, 8th, and 12th Kentucky, C. S. A., 29.

  86 John Johnston, “Personal Reminiscences of the Civil War,” John Johnston Papers, Tennessee Department of Archives and History.

  87 OR 10, pt. 1, 453, 438.

  Chapter 11

  1 Hart, Fortieth Illinois Infantry, 88.

  2 OR 10, pt. 1, 159.

  3 Ibid., 160.

  4 McElroy, Undying Procession, 38.

  5 Throne, Cyrus Boyd Diary, 24, 29.

  6 Ibid., 29. The assistant regimental surgeon later remarked that Lieutenant Colonel Dewey was on the sick.

  7 Day, “The Fifteenth Iowa at Shiloh,” 182.

  8 Ibid.

  9 Belknap, 15th Regiment Iowa, 15; Day, “The Fifteenth Iowa at Shiloh,” 182, 183. Later in the war Reid supported the recruiting of Negro troops. When some of his soldiers protested, he explained, “Remember that every colored soldier who stops a rebel bullet saves a white man’s life.” Belknap, 15th Regiment Iowa, 15.

  10 Throne, Cyrus Boyd Diary, 30; OR 10, pt. 1, 288.

  11 Ibid., 117, 137, 133, 134; Douglas Hapeman, Diary, April 6, 1862, Douglas Hapeman Papers, Illinois State Historical Library; OR 10, pt. 1, 159, 271; Crummer, With Grant at Fort Donelson, 63. The two newly arrived Iowa regiments probably did not take part in this counterattack and probably more than Philip’s detachment of Sherman’s division participated.

  12 OR 10, pt. 1, 447; Reed, Shiloh, 84.

  13 OR 52, pt. 1, 29. Byrne’s Battery was referred to as the Kentucky and Mississippi Battery. Byrne was a native Kentuckian, but resided in Washington County, Mississippi, in 1861. At Greenville, Mississippi, in the summer, he organized a battery which included both Mississippians and expatriate Kentuckians. Thompson, History of the Orphan Brigade, 857-859. In some accounts Byrne’s name is spelled Burns. L. D. Young, Reminiscences of A Soldier of the Orphan Brigade (Paris: n.p., n.d.), 32. Crews’ Tennessee Battalion was one of those strange hybrid units that frequently showed up in the Confederate army, especially in the early days of the Civil War. It was apparently organized at Savannah, Tennessee, in February 1862, and consisted of six companies. The unit lacked equipment, training, and weapons. Tennesseans in the Civil War, 1: 163; ORN 22, 573.

  14 OR 10, pt. 1, 614, 615.

  15 Ibid., 614, 615, 255, 159.

  16 Young, Soldier of the Orphan Brigade, 27.

  17 Hart, Fortieth Illinois Infantry, 88.

  18 OR 10, pt. 1, 159.

  19 Byers, Iowa In War Times, 139; Wright, Sixth Iowa, 84.

  20 Kirwan, Johnny Green, 26.

  21 Ibid., 27.

  22 OR 10, pt. 1, 417, 585.

  23 Ibid., 117, 137, 134. The whole action cost Cobb’s Battery twelve men killed and twenty-nine wounded. Sixty-eight animals were killed and ten others wounded. Ibid., 621; Bearss, “Project 17,” 46, 47. According to T. J. Lindsey, Cobb lost seventy-nine of his eighty-four battery horses killed. Lindsey, Ohio at Shiloh, 48.

  24 OR 10, pt. 1, 116.

  25 Ibid., 615.

  26 Young, Soldier of the Orphan Brigade, 30.

  27 Byers, Iowa in War Times, 139.

  28 OR 10, pt. 1, 117.

  29 Throne, Cyrus Boyd Diary, 32, 33.

  30 OR 10, pt. 1, 480.

  31 Thomas Chinn Robertson to mother, April 9, 1862, Thomas C. Robertson Papers, Louisiana State University Archives.

  32 Hickenlooper, “The Battle of Shiloh,” 420.

  33 Thomas Chinn Robertson to mother, April 9, 1862, Thomas C. Robertson Papers, Louisiana State University Archives. Dubroca escaped in jury on this occasion, but he was later captured in the war at Bardstown, Kentucky. He was exchanged at Vicksburg, Mississippi, November 29, 1862. He returned to his regiment, later be coming lieutenant colonel and he led his regiment
in Tennessee and Georgia. Booth, Louisiana Records, 2: 690.

  34 Thomas Chinn Robertson to mother, April 9, 1862, Thomas C. Robertson Papers, Louisiana State University Archives.

  35 Booth, Louisiana Records, 3: 780.

  36 OR 10, pt. 1, 489; Booth, Louisiana Records, 3: 103; Taylor, Reluctant Rebel, 83, 84. As young Robert Patrick told the story, McArthy was drunk. He began beating Private Thomas Shipwith, Company A, and Pennington, then a major, tried to arrest the lieutenant, who refused to be arrested. In stead, he knocked Pennington down, and proceeded to pound the major’s head in an open fire place. Apparently no action was taken against the lieutenant, who later was mortally wounded near Atlanta, August 9, 1864. Taylor, Reluctant Rebel, 83, 84; Booth, Louisiana Records, 3: 1136. Pennington survived the beating and was elected lieutenant colonel, and he led the Fourth Louisiana in a number of actions in Georgia and Tennessee. He was captured at the Battle of Nashville, but survived the war. Ibid., 103. This incident clearly illustrates the rather informal Confederate discipline.

  37 Richardson, “War As I Saw It,” 99; OR 10, pt. 1, 491.

  38 Ibid., 492, 493.

  39 Howard, Illustrated Comprehensive History of the Great Battle of Shiloh, 79; OR 10, pt. 1, 488.

  40 OR 10, pt. 1, 284.

  41 Hoburt, The Truth About Shiloh, 12; Morton, “A Boy at Shiloh,” 63.

  42 Stillwell, Common Soldier, 59.

  43 Richardson, “War As I Saw It,” 100.

  44 OR 10, pt. 1, 493.

  45 Ibid., 491, 493.

  46 Ibid., 484; Reed, Shiloh, 77; Richardson, “War As I Saw It,” 101; Thomas Chinn Robertson to mother, April 9, 1862, Thomas C. Robertson Papers, Louisiana State University Archives. D. W. Reed said the brigade attacked four times. Apparently he was basing this on Gibson’s report of the action. OR 10, pt. 1, 480. It seems however, from all sources this writer has perused, that only three attacks took place, the last occurred about 2:00 p.m. || Daniel, Shiloh, 213, argues that Gibson made four assaults; Sword, Shiloh, 288-289, and McDonough, Shiloh, 149, both argue that three attacks were made.

  47 Booth, Louisiana Records, 3: 1081; Richardson, “War As I Saw It,” 101.

  48 Booth, Louisiana Records, 3: 1081.

  49 OR 10, pt. 1, 162, 163; Reed, Shiloh, 71; OR 10, pt. 1, 582.

  50 Ibid., 574.

  51 Ibid., 578. Colonel William Shaw of the Fourteenth Iowa said he thought he saw Colonel Dean fall. After the attack was over, Captain Warren C. Jones, later a lieutenant colonel, went out and spoke to the dying officer. Jones turned the mortally wounded man on his back, placed a pocket handkerchief over his face, and crossed his hands. William Shaw to D. W. Reed, April 16, 1896, Miscellaneous Collection, Shiloh National Military Park.

  52 OR 10, pt. 1, 574, 576, 578.

  53 John Renick, The 44th Indiana Volunteer Infantry (LaGrange: Published by Author, 1880), 231.

  54 Ninth Reunion of Iowa’s Hornet’s Nest Brigade Held at Pittsburg Landing, April 6 and 1, 1912 (Des Moines: Bisland Brothers, Printers, 1912), 13.

  55 Samuel A. Moore, “Ten Minutes With The Old Boys,” Third Reunion-Iowa Hornet’s Nest Brigade, Held at Newton, Iowa, August 21 and 22, 1895 (Newton: Record Print, 1895), 28.

  56 George Mills (ed.), “The Sharp Family Civil War Letters,” The Annals of Iowa 24 (January 1959): 492; Adolph Engelmann to wife, April 17, 1862, Engelmann Papers, Illinois State Library and Archives; Henry Bellamy to parents, n.d., 1862, Henry Bellamy Papers, Michigan Historical Collection, University of Michigan.

  57 Force, From, Fort Henry to Corinth, 151, 152; Reed, Shiloh, 85, 87, 88 ; OR 10, pt. 1, 621; Booth, Louisiana Records, 1: 17, 163. The Watson Battery fought in the Battle of Belmont, where it lost two guns, two men killed, and eight wounded or missing. OR 3: 359, 360. The battery is listed as part of Bowen’s command as of November 23, 1861. Ibid., 7: 728, and as belonging to Cleburne’s Brigade on February 23, 1862. Ibid. See, R. R. Hutchinson, “Albert Sidney Johnston at Shiloh,” Confederate Veteran 6 (July 1898): 311.

  58 Kimbell, Battery A, 41; Reed, Shiloh, 49, 50.

  59 OR 10, pt. 1, 245, 247; Force, From Fort Henry to Corinth, 152.

  60 Hutchinson, “Albert Sidney Johnston at Shiloh,” 311.

  61 Ibid., 312.

  62 OR 10, pt. 1, 155, 157; Kimbell, Battery A, 41.

  63 Ibid.

  64 OR 10, pt. 1, 313, 214, 245; W. B. Pippen, “Concerning the Battle of Shiloh,” Confederate Veteran 16 (July 1908): 344. || In Dr. Cunningham’s original text was an interesting paragraph that completely up set the timing of events in the Peach Orchard. In it, he declared that Pugh retired after McArthur’s withdrawal uncovered his flank. Pugh, wrote Cunningham, fell back to the north side of the Peach Orchard. Cunningham also confused the cabins in the area, saying one Illinois regiment took position behind the Sarah Bell cabin. Bell’s cabin sat on the south side of the field (south of the Peach Orchard). He probably meant the William Manse George cabin (George was Bell’s son-in-law). At any rate, the larger picture was thrown off the established time line by this paragraph. Cunningham placed the attack that Johnston spurred forward and in which he was mortally wounded as moving toward the Federal line north of the Peach Orchard. The monuments in the line south of the orchard reflect that Pugh remained there until around 2:00 p.m. be fore falling back as a result of Johnston’s at tack. See Shiloh Battlefield Commission Monuments #56, 58, and 61.

  65 William Preston Diary, April 6, 1862, Miscellaneous Collection, Shiloh National Military Park.

  66 A. H. Mecklin Diary, April 6, 1862, Mississippi Department of Archives and History.

  67 Doak “Memoirs,” Confederate Collection, Tennessee Department of Archives and History; Bearss, “Project 17”; Edwin Bearss, “Painting Number 3, Shiloh National Military Park, #1, Background to Event Depicted-The Fight for the Peach Orchard,” Miscellaneous Collection, Shiloh National Military Park; W. J. McMurray, History of the Twentieth Tennessee(Nashville: The Publication Committee, 1904), 126; Johnston, Life of Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston, 610.

  68 Johnston, Life of Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston, 610.

  69 A. H. Mecklin Diary, April 6, 1862, Mississippi Department of Archives and History; Doak, “Memoirs,” Confederate Collection, Tennessee Department of Archives and History; McMurray, Twentieth Tennessee, 125, 126; W. J. Worsham, The Old Nineteenth Tennessee, C. S. A. (Knoxville: Press of Paragon Printing Company, 1865), 39.

  70 A. H. Mecklin Diary, April 6, 1862, Mississippi Department of Archives and History.

  71 OR 10, pt. 1, 245, 247.

  72 Thompson, Recollections With the Third Iowa Regiment, 219. The blinding effect of the black powder smoke was a common phenomenon on the battlefield. Payson Shumway to wife, April 13, 1862, Payson Z. Shumway Papers, Illinois State Historical Library. See A. H. Mecklin Diary, April 6, 1862, Mississippi Department of Archives and History.

  73 OR 10, pt. 1, 212, 213, 215.

  74 Force, From Fort Henry to Corinth, 152; Johnston, Life of Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston, 610.

  75 Ibid., 610, 611.

  76 Force, From Fort Henry to Corinth, 152, 153; OR 10, pt. 1, 212, 215, 217, 218; Johnston, Life of Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston, 611, 612; Walter Shotwell, Civil War in America 2 vols. (New York: Longmans, Green and Company, 1923), 1: 211.

  77 Thompson, Recollections With the Third Iowa Regiment, 219, 220; A. H. Mecklin Diary, April 6, 1862, Mississippi Department of Archives and History.

  78 Tennesseans in the Civil War, 1: 172.

  79 A. S. Horsley, “Reminiscences of Shiloh,” Confederate Veteran 2 (August 1894): 454.

  80 Watkins, Co Aytch, 41.

  81 Thomas T. Harrison, “Shiloh,” Thomas T. Harrison Papers, University of Tennessee Library.

  82 OR 10, pt. 1, 537; Warner, Generals in Gray, 1.

  83 OR 10, pt. 1, 538, 542.

  84 OR 10, pt. 1, 538, 542.

  85 Ibid., 455.

  86 Ibid., 439, 455; Hardy Murfree to James Murfree, May 12, 1862, James Murfree Papers, University of Tennesse
e Library.

  87 Watkins, Co Aytch, 42.

  88 OR 10, pt. 1, 213, 219, 249.

  89 A. H. Mecklin Diary, April 6, 1862, Mississippi Department of Archives and History.

  90 John Parish (ed.), “A Few Martial Memoirs,” The Palimpest 1 (October 1920): 121.

  91 Kimbell, Battery A, 45. The author wrote that the gun crew fired at some mounted officers, and that later the gunners learned that Johnston was hit by their fire. Ibid.

  92 || For an in-depth examination of Johnston’s wound and the circumstances surrounding it, see Sword, Shiloh, 461-471.

  93 Johnston, Life of Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston, 615.

  94 R. R. Hutchinson, “Albert Sidney Johnston at Shiloh,” Confederate Veteran 6 (July 1898): 313; Johnston, Life of Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston, 613-615; George Withe Baylor, “With Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston at Shiloh,” Confederate Veteran 5 (December 1897): 611; Roland, Albert Sidney Johnston, 336.

  95 Johnston, Life of Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston, 614.

  96 Ibid., 614, 615; George Withe Baylor, “With Gen. Johnston at Shiloh,” Confederate Veteran 5 (December 1897): 611. For slightly different versions of General A. S. Johnston’s death, see Confederate Veteran 17 (May 1909): 219, and 16 (December 1908): 629. William Preston Diary, April 6, 1862, Miscellaneous Collection, Shiloh National Military Park.

  97 New Orleans Daily Picayune, April 11, 1862; J. S. Byers to William Preston Johnston, June 13, 1862, Mrs. Mason Barret Papers, Howard-Tilton Memorial Library, Tulane University; Battles and Leaders, 1: 590; William Preston Diary, April 6, 1862, Miscellaneous Collection, Shiloh National Military Park. Colonel Preston said he “wrote a note to Gen. Beauregard, informing him that he [Johnston] had fallen at the moment of victory, after routing the enemy at every point, and that the completion of the victory would devolve on him.” Ibid. John Broome maintained that he carried word to Beauregard of the death of Johnston. John Broome, “How General Albert Sidney Johnston Died,” Confederate Veteran 16 (December 1908): 629.

  Chapter 12

  1 It was only after the army was safe at Corinth, three days after the battle, that Beauregard formally announced the news of Johnston’s death, al though by that time everyone on both sides knew it. Beauregard’s message read as follows: