2 “Editorial,” Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society 9 (July 1916): 221, 222; Annals the War, 678; Willard Webb (ed.), Crucial Moments of the Civil War (New York: Bonanza Books, 1961), 59; Bouton, Events of the Civil War, 27, 28; OR 52, 24. Silfversparre was a former lieutenant in the Swedish Army. Arriving in America in 1861, he briefly served with Fremont in Missouri before organizing his battery. More than half of his personnel were Swedish Americans. An unpopular officer, because of strict disciplinary practices, Silfversparre resigned a few months after the battle. Nels Hokanson, Sweedish Immigrants in Lincoln’s Time 2nd. Ed. (New York: Harper, 1942), 72, 113, 114; Ella Lonn, Foreigners in the Union Army and Navy (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1951), 135, 136, 285.
3 Edwin Hanna ford, The Story of A Regiment: A History of the Campaigns and Associations in the Field, of the Sixth Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry (Cincinnati: Published by Author, 1868), 257; Reed, Shiloh, 59; OR 10, pt. 1, 337.
4 OR 10, pt. 1, 204.
5 Bouton, Events of the Civil War, 23, 24. Accounts vary as to just how many guns Webster positioned along the bluff. Grant merely said twenty or more. Grant, Memoirs, 179. One of General Grant’s earliest and most able biographers said there were “sixty field-pieces and siege guns at the position. Richard son, Personal History of Ulysses S. Grant, 244, 247. See Eisenschiml, The Story of Shiloh, 41. Private Cyrus Boyd, who was an eye witness, said there were about “40 pieces.” Throne, Cyrus Boyd Diary, 34. The largest estimate of the number of guns was one hundred pieces. Conger, The Rise of U. S. Grant, 258. Colonel Thomas Jordan of the Confederate army believed there were at least fifty guns in the Federal position. Jordan, “The Campaign and Battle of Shiloh,” 395. || Daniel, Shiloh, 246, says 41 guns, while Sword, Shiloh, 356, vaguely relates there were “at least ten batteries.” McDonough, Shiloh, 162, says 62 guns. Oddly, Dr. Cunningham failed to mention the five siege guns of Battery B, 2nd Illinois Light Artillery, on which Webster studded the line. See Shiloh Battlefield Commission Monument #40.
6 Byers, Iowa in War Times, 139.
7 Belknap, 15th Regiment Iowa, 190.
8 E. D. Winston, Story of Pontotoc (Pontotoc: Pontotoc Progress Printing, 1931), 233; Deupree, “The Noxubee Squadron of the First Mississippi Cavalry,” 33, 34; OR 10, pt. 1, 460, 461, 246.
9 Duke, Morgan’s Cavalry, 148-150; Holland, Morgan and His Raiders, 92.
10 Kirkpatrick Scrapbook, Alabama Department of Archives and History.
11 Houston, “Shiloh Shadows,” 331.
12 John C. Moore, “Shiloh Is sues Again,” Confederate Veteran 10 (July 1902): 317.
13 John Hunt, “Reminiscences of Dr. John B. Hunt,” Miscellaneous Collection, Shiloh National Military Park.
14 J. B. Foster, “Mississippi Histories,” Confederate Veteran 10 (December 1902): 554.
15 || For a modern analysis of the navy’s role at at Shiloh, see Smith, The Untold Story of Shiloh, 53-66.
16 ORN 22, 763.
17 Ibid.; A. H. Mecklin, Diary, April 6, 1862, Mississippi Department of Archives and History.
18 OR 10, pt. 1, 533, 534.
19 B. B. Carruth, “Vivid Recollections of Shiloh,” Confederate Veteran 9 (April 1901): 166; ORN 22, 763.
20 William Mosier to D. W. Reed, December 11, 1912, Miscellaneous Collection, Shiloh National Military Park.
21 Rennolds, The Henry County Commands, 34. || For an interesting theory on the gunboats’ shelling of the battlefield, see Gary D. Joiner’s contribution to the History Channel television program Battlefield Detectives: Shiloh (2006). Dr. Joiner argues that the gunboats were able to shell the interior of the battlefield by ricocheting shells off the ridges surrounding Dill Branch ravine.
22 Jacob Ammen Diary, April 6, 1862, Illinois State Historical Library; Hannaford, The Story of A Regiment, 241; W. B. Hazen, A Narrative of Military Service (Boston: Ticknor and Company, 1885), 24.
23 Hannaford, The Story of A Regiment, 242.
24 Ibid., 243-246; Hazen, A Narrative of Military Service, 24.
25 Hanna ford, The Story of A Regiment, 246-248.
26 Jacob Ammen Diary, April 6, 1862, Illinois State Historical Library; William R. Hartpence, History of the 5lst Indiana Veteran Volunteer Infantry (Cincinnati: The Robert Clack Company, 1894), 36, 37.
27 Hartpence, History of the 5lst Indiana Veteran Volunteer Infantry, 36, 37.
28 Ibid.; Hazen, A Narrative of Military Service, 24; OR 10, pt. 1, 323.
29 Badeau, Military History of Ulysses S. Grant, 77.
30 Jacob Ammen Diary, April 6, 1862, Illinois State Historical Library.
31 Battles and Leaders, 1: 492, 493. See Richardson, Personal History of Ulysses S. Grant, 243, for details of how Grant’s scabbard was dented.
32 Grant, Memoirs, 178, 179; Battles and Leaders, 1: 492, 493. A rather fanciful story, primarily promulgated by Adam Badeau, appeared to the effect that Buell asked Grant, “What preparations have you made for retreating?” to which Grant replied, “I have not yet despaired of whip ping them, general.” Badeau, Military History, of Ulysses S. Grant, 82; OR 10, pt. 1, 186. A slightly different version said Grant did utter the aforementioned, to which Buell replied, “Of course; but in case of defeat?” Grant replied, “Well, we could make a bridge across the river with the boats and protect it with artillery. But if we do have to retreat, there won’t be many men left to cross.” Richardson, Personal History of Ulysses S. Grant, 244. In his Memoirs, General Grant alluded to Buell’s mentioning something about a line of retreat. Grant, Memoirs, 179. Buell flatly denied exchanging any such remarks with General Grant, saying the whole thing was “ridiculous and absurd.” Battles and Leaders, 1: 493.
33 Grant, Memoirs, 179; Battles and Leaders, 1: 493.
34 Hannaford, The Story of A Regiment, 256; Jacob Ammen Diary, April 6, 1862, Illinois State Historical Library. There is some question as to the exact time Nelson and his men began landing. Nelson’s volunteer aide-de-camp, Horace N. Fisher, said that he was on the first steamer, and he had landed at 5:20 p.m. Horace N. Fisher to D. W. Reed, March 27, 1905, Miscellaneous Collection, Shiloh National Military Park. || Sword, Shiloh, 362, says 5:20 p.m. Daniel, Shiloh, 246, 249, does not state, only saying between 5:00 and 6:00 p.m. McDonough, Shiloh, 178, says “about 5 p.m.”
35 Richardson, Personal History of Ulysses S. Grant, 247; Richardson, The Secret Service The Field, The Dungeon and the Escape, 241.
36 Hannaford, The Story of A Regiment, 256; Jacob Ammen Diary, April 6, 1862, Illinois State Historical Library; Horace N. Fisher to D. W. Reed, April 12, 1905, Miscellaneous Collection, Shiloh National Military Park.
37 Ambrose Bierce, The Collected Works of Ambrose Bierce (New York: 1909), 1: 245; Mrs. W. H. L. Wallace to her Aunt Mag, April 29, 1862, Miscellaneous Collection, Shiloh National Military Park.
38 Devens, The Pictorial Book of Anecdotes, 240.
39 Hanna ford, The Story of A Regiment, 257. To Buell and his men, it seemed as though a large part of Grant’s army crowded around the Landing in a pusillanimous display of abject cowardice. The commander of the Army of the Ohio estimated the number as 15, 000. Battles and Leaders, 1: 494. Colonel Hazen, who arrived just before dark, estimated the number of stragglers as “twenty or thirty acres worth.” Hazen, A Narrative of Military Service, 25. With some embarrassment, Grant said that “there probably were as many as four or five thousand stragglers lying under cover of the bluff, panic stricken.” Grant, Memoirs, 178, 179. Actually Hazen and Buell were probably nearer right in their estimates, for the crowd at the bluff included not only panic-stricken stragglers from the combat units, but a large number of noncombat and miscellaneous personnel such assutlers, musicians, clerks, teamsters, etc. According to General Halleck, Grant’s army, including Lew Wallace’s division, numbered 53, 669, as of the end of March. OR 10, pt. 2, 84. Since his combat troops on early Sunday morning numbered less than 40, 000, this figure would indicate the presence of about 7, 000 or so auxiliary troops. Add to this the undoubted
thousands who did break and run for the bluff, plus what must have amounted to several thou sand more men who were disorganized in the withdrawal to Webster’s position and did not have sufficient time to reorganize be fore the arrival of Buell’s army, and the figure 15, 000 would seem to have a fair degree of accuracy. The eminent British historian J. F. C. Fuller stated that were about 11, 000 non combatant troops at Shiloh, and between 4, 000 and 5, 000 unwounded stragglers. Fuller, The General ship of Ulysses S. Grant, 105. || Daniel, Shiloh, 246, says “between 10, 000 and 15, 000”; Sword, Shiloh, 361, and McDonough, Shiloh, 178, mostly quote participants’ numbers.
40 Richardson, Personal History of Ulysses S. Grant, 247.
41 Byers, Iowa In War Times, 139; Kimbell, Battery A, 43-45.
42 Victor, Incidents and Anecdotes of the War, 359; Richardson, Personal History of Ulysses Grant, 247; Kimbell, Battery A, 44.
43 Victor, Incidents and Anecdotes of the War, 359. || Dr. Cunningham originally stated that the scout Carson was the famous Kit Carson. It was actually Irving Carson. See “The Dead of Companies A and B, Chicago Light Artillery,” Chicago Tribune, April 17, 1862. The name has been altered accordingly.
44 Duke, Fifty-third Ohio, 53, 54.
45 OR 10, pt. 1, 550; ORN 22, 786.
46 OR 10, pt. 1, 337; Hannaford, The Story of A Regiment, 258, 259; James R. Chalmers to R. H. Looney, April 3, 1895, Miscellaneous Collection, Shiloh National Military Park; Jacob Ammen Diary, April 6, 1862, Illinois State Historical Library; Roman, Beauregard, 1: 301; Micajah Wilkinson to brother, April 6, 1862, Micajah Wilkinson Papers, Louisiana State University Archives.
47 OR 10, pt. 1, 386, 387; N. Augustine to General. Beauregard, April 10, 1862, Miscellaneous Collection, Shiloh National Military Park; N. Augustine to General Beauregard, (Report) April 10, 1862, Louisiana Historical Association Collection, Howard-Tilton Memorial Library, Tulane University; Theodore Mandeville to Josephine Rozet, April 9, 1862, Theodore Mandeville Papers, Louisiana State University Archives. Mandeville said his regiment was being heavily shelled by the gun boats when ordered to with draw “about sundown.” Ibid. William Preston Johnston, son and biographer of the dead Confederate hero, commented that “complete victory was in his [Beauregard’s] grasp, and he threw it away.” Battles and Leaders, 1: 568. SeeKirwan, Johnny Green, 28; Richardson, “War As I Saw It,” 102.
48 General Prentiss gave the time of his surrender as 5:30 p.m. OR 10, pt. 1, 279. Colonel Thomas Jordan, of Beauregard’s staff, gave the time of the Union general’s surrender as between 5:30 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. Jordan, “The Campaign and Battle of Shiloh,” 395. || Most his torians have concluded Beauregard had no chance to break the last line. Sword, Shiloh, 449-452, seems to exonerate Beauregard; McDonough, Shiloh, 181, argues that Beauregard was justified in his actions; Daniel, Shiloh, 256, 249, believes the Confederates had no chance to break Grant’s last line, although he tempers this a bit by describing the line “far from impregnable.” See also Smith, The Untold Story of Shiloh, 31-32.
49 Shoup, “The Art of War,” 10; Crenshaw, “Diary of Captain Edward Crenshaw,” 269; Liddell Hart, Sherman, 129; Conger, The Rise of U. S. Grant, 259. At least some of the Southerners heard a rumor passing around the battlefield that Johnston was dead. It is possible that the news added to the general state of Confederate disorganization. Richardson, “War As I Saw It,” 102.
50 Mobile Evening News, April 14, 1862; The Charles ton Daily Courier, April 20, 1862; Shoup, “The Art of War,” 10; Richard Pugh to wife, April 8, 1862, Richard Pugh Papers, Louisiana State University Archives.
51 Mobile Evening News, April 14, 1862; OR 10, pt. 1, 387; Frank Peak, “A Southern Soldiers View of the War,” Frank Peak Papers, Louisiana State University Ar chives.
52 R. F. Learned to D. W. Reed, March 22, 1904, Miscellaneous Collection, Shiloh National Military Park.
53 Williams, Lincoln Finds A General, 3: 378, 379; Richardson, Personal History of Ulysses S. Grant, 247, 248; Badeau, Military History of Ulysses S. Grant, 84, 85; Grant, Memoirs, 180.
54 Comte de Paris, History of the Civil War, 1: 548.
55 George R. Lee, “Shiloh,” George Read Lee Papers, Illinois State Historical Library.
56 Hickenlooper, “The Battle of Shiloh,” 436; Payson Shumway, Diary, April 13, 1862; Payson Z. Shumway Papers, Illinois State Historical Library; Unidentified Union soldier to Emily Rice, April 11, 1862, Miscellaneous Collection, Shiloh National Military Park.
57 “John A. Joyce, A Checkered Life (Chicago: S. P. Pounds, 1883), 60-62; John Hunt, “Reminisces,” Miscellaneous Collection, Shiloh National Military Park; Alexis Cope, The Fifteenth Ohio Volunteers and Its Campaigns: War of 1861-65 (Columbus: Published by Author, 1916), 125; R. W. Johnson, A Soldier’s Reminiscences in Peace and War (Philadelphia: J. P. Lippincott, 1886), 189. || Sword, Shiloh, 370-371, 449-452, stresses that Buell’s arrival was a factor in maintaining the final position, emphasizing “the situation was grave” upon his arrival; McDonough, Shiloh, 179, argues that Buell made little difference in the fighting; Daniel, Shiloh, 249, seems to argue that Grant had the situation under control, but admitted his final line was “far from impregnable.” See also Smith, The Untold Story of Shiloh, 27-28.
Chapter 14
1 Eisenschiml, The Story of Shiloh, 75, 76; William Preston Diary, April 6, 1862, Miscellaneous Collection, Shiloh National Military Park.
2 Roland, Albert Sidney Johnston, 352, 353.
3 Thomas, Soldier Life.
4 Ibid.; Watkins, Co. Aytch, 50.
5 Ibid.
6 Eisenschiml, The Story of Shiloh, 57; Bacon Thrilling Adventures, 7; Jackson, “A Prisoner of War,” 24. For further details of the subsequent fate of the prisoners, see Mildred Throne, “Iowans in Southern Prisons, 1862,” Iowa Journal of History 54 (January 1956): 67-70.
7 New Orleans Daily Picayune, April 11, 1862; Mobile Evening News, April 14, 1862.
8 Battles and Leaders 1: 602.
9 Williams, P. G. T. Beauregard, 143. It has not been ascertained exactly when Beauregard received the Helm message. Jordan maintained that the dispatch arrived late in the afternoon and was only handed to Beauregard after 6:30 p.m. Battles and Leaders, 1: 602, 603. Beauregard reported that the message said Buell had been delayed and could not possibly reach Grant before Tuesday at the earliest. OR 10, pt. 1, 385. It is possible that there were two dispatches from Helm. See Williams, P. G. T. Beauregard, 143. If a dispatch reached the Creolelate in the afternoon, it might have helped reinforce his decision to break off the action.
10 Battles and Leaders, 1: 602.
11 Henry, First With The Most Forrest, 79; Wyeth, That Devil Forrest, 63; James R. Chalmers, “Forrest and His Campaigns,” Southern Historical Society Papers 7 (October 1879): 458. || Dr. Cunningham originally stated that Forrest infiltrated enemy lines him self, but this was not the case. See Sword, Shiloh, 381, and Daniel, Shiloh, 263. We have slightly altered the text to reflect this.
12 Thomas Jordan and Roger Pryor, The Campaigns of Lieut.-Gen. N. B. Forrest, and of Forrest’s Cavalry, 136, 137; Samuel Latta to wife, April 12, 1862, Confederate Collection, Tennessee State Library and Archives.
13 Shoup, “The Art of War,” 11; Hardy Murfree to James Murfree, May 12, 1862, James B. Murfree Papers, University of Tennessee Library; Frank Peak, “A Southern Soldier’s View of the Civil War,” 2, Frank Peak Papers, Louisiana State University Archives.
14 Phil Bond to brother, April 23, 1862, in Terry, “Record of the Alabama State Artillery,” 318.
15 “A Bible Twice Captured in Battle,” Iowa Historical Record 1 (July 1885): 132-134.
16 Sam Houston, Jr., “Shiloh Shadow,” 332; Theodore Mandeville to Josephine Rozet, April 9, 1862, Theodore Mandeville Papers, Louisiana State University Archives; Richardson, “War As I Saw It,” 103.
17 S. H. Dent to wife, April 9, 1862, Shiloh-Corinth Collection, Alabama Department of Archives and History; Duncan, Recollections, 61; Hardy Murfree to J. B. Murfree, May 12, 1862, James B. Murfree Pap
ers, University of Tennessee Library; Hugh Henry to parents, April 10, 1862, Shiloh-Corinth Collection, Alabama Department of Archives and History.
18 Abernethy Elisha Stockwell, 15; Frank Peak, “A Southern Soldier’s View of the Civil War,” Frank Peak Papers, Louisiana State University Archives; ORN 22: 764, 786.
19 Jordan and Pryor, The Campaigns of Lieut.-Gen. N. B. Forrest, and of Forrest Cavalry, 135.
20 Cesar Porta to J. B. Wilkinson, n.d., 1862, Louisiana Historical Association Collection, Howard-Tilton Memorial Library, Tulane University.
21 Sam Houston, Jr., “Shiloh Shadows,” 332.
22 Kirwan, Johnny Green, 28, 29.
23 Henry M. Doak, “Memoirs,” Confederate Collection, Tennessee State Library and Archives; Confederate Veteran 8 (May 1900): 211.
24 Sidney J. Romero: “Louisiana Clergy and the Confederate Army,” Louisiana History 2 (Summer 1961): 287-291.
25 Grant, Memoirs, 181.
26 Jordan and Thomas, “Reminiscences of an Ohio Volunteer,” 312; Barber, Army Memoirs 56; Cockerill, “A Boy at Shiloh,” 28, 29.
27 Throne, Cyrus Boyd Diary, 35.
28 Jordan and Thomas, “Reminiscences of an Ohio Volunteer,” 312. || Although Wallace made this claim in his autobiography, most historians do not agree. For more on Wallace’s march, see Allen, “If He Had Less Rank,” 63-89; Smith, The Un told Story of Shiloh, 25-27.
29 Reed, Shiloh, 51; OR 10, pt. 1, 169, 170, 175-190; W. T. Sherman to W. R. Rowley, July 15, 1881, W. R. Rowley Papers, Illinois State Historical Library; Lew Wallace to Henry Halleck, March 4, 1863, W. R. Rowley Papers, Illinois State Historical Library; Wallace, An Autobiography, 2: 503-603.
30 Edgar Hought on, “History of Company I, Fourteenth Wisconsin Infantry, from October 15, 1861 to October 9, 1865,” The Wisconsin Magazine of History 11 (September 1927): 27; OR 10, pt. 1, 371; Abernethy, Elisha Stockwell, 14; Unidentified Union soldier of the Thirty-fourth Illinois Infantry, “Shiloh,” Miscellaneous Papers, Illinois State Historical Library.
Shiloh and the Western Campaign of 1862 Page 45