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CHAP. L]

ARRIVAL OF BUELL.

299

ed by the Sixth Ohio, was the first to touch the enemy. The resistance it met with shows, however, that the action had really ended. Colonel Grose reported only one man killed in the firing, and one after he had got up two hundred yards in the rear of the battery; he had also one man wounded. Nelson completed the crossing of his division at 9 P.M. Crittenden's division came up Buell comes on the by boat from Savannah after that hour; McCook's at five the next morning, in the boats sent back by Crittenden. Lewis Wallace at last also arrived on the extreme right, where he had been expected for so many hours. These re-enforcements added to Grant's strength about 27,000 men.

field.

The morning of the 7th came in with a drizzling rain, and the Confederates showed no signs of advancing. Beauregard had ascertained that, from destruction, exhaustion, and fatigue, he could not bring 20,000 men into battle on his side. It was only now that he learned that Buell had come on the field. Lewis Wallace, who was on the national right, was in action soon after daylight. Renewal of the bat- Grant ordered him to press his attack on tle next morning. the Confederate left, which was commanded by Bragg. Accordingly, Wallace and McClernand moved forward and recovered the ground lost the day before, up to McClernand's original camp on the right of the Corinth Road. There they waited with Sherman, who sat patiently on his horse, under fire, until after 10 A.M., by which time Buell's troops were abreast of them.

into action.

Buell's forces constituted the centre and left of Grant's Buell's troops come new line. The divisions of Nelson and Crittenden only were ready at dawn. When they heard Wallace's guns on the extreme right they moved forward. Their artillery had not yet got up, but Buell sent them Mendenhall's and Terrill's, of the regular army. Nelson moved half a mile before touching

battle.

the Confederates. He pushed them for a while before him, but at length he was checked. There was then an artillery conflict for two hours, the Confederates eventThe second day's ually wavering. Crittenden was on Nelson's right; and when McCook got up, he went on the right of Crittenden, and Buell took command. Sherman's captured camp was at this time in the Confederate rear, and to that as an objective the national line advanced, though resisted with the utmost resolu tion.

Meantime Lewis Wallace was so pressing the Confederate left that Beauregard was constrained to re-enforce it from his right, notwithstanding that he had found that Grant, with Buell, was too strong for him on that wing. Nelson, having now less pressure upon him, be gan again to move forward, though not without severe fighting and alternations of success. On the other wing, Wallace and Sherman were steadily advancing toward Shiloh meeting-house against a furious fire.

McCook's division had also forced back the Confeder erate centre. In front of this division Beauregard made his last decided stand. He had given up all hope of forcing the national left. Sherman describes the musketry fire arising in these movements as the severest he ever heard. Wallace says, "Step by step, from tree to tree, position to position, the rebel lines went back, never stopping again-infantry, horses, artillery, all went back. The firing was grand and terrific. To and fro, now in my front, then in Sherman's, rode General Beauregard, inciting his troops, and fighting for his fading prestige of invincibility. Far along the lines to the left the contest was raging with equal obstinacy. As indicated by the sounds, the enemy were retiring every where. Cheer after cheer rang through the woods, and every man felt that the day was ours.'

Beauregard at last compelled to retreat.

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CHAP. L.]

AID RENDERED BY BUELL.

301

Beauregard now found that nothing more could be done, and ordered a retreat. To Breckinridge, who had command of the rear-guard, he exclaimed, "Don't let this be converted into a rout."

The Confederate losses.

Grant's captured tents were recovered, but no pursuit could be made until the next day. The Confederate losses in this dreadful battle were 1728 killed, 8012 wounded, 959 missing- total, 10,699.

As there has been much controversy respecting the actual share of the armies of Grant and of Buell in the operations of the two days (April 6th and 7th), I give the subjoined tables, which may enable the reader to form an opinion.

The national losses.

In Grant's army there were six divisions. Their losses, in killed and wounded, were:

1st, McClernand-loss both days

2d, W. H. L. Wallace-loss both days.
3d, Lewis Wallace-loss second day.
4th, Hurlbut-loss both days

5th, Sherman-loss both days

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6th, Prentiss (no report)-loss estimated.. 2000

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Of Buell's army, four divisions had marched to Grant's aid. Of these three were engaged:

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How far Grant was

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In view of all the facts, it appears that Grant was not indebted to Buell for physical aid on the indebted to Buell. first day: he had himself repulsed the final Confederate attack, and believed that as soon as Lewis Wallace joined him he could renew and win the battle.

So obstinate was the resistance he had made, that he had inflicted on his antagonist as severe a loss as he had himself sustained. The well-known approach of Buell doubt. less did give him moral assistance. In the battle of that day Sherman stands forth as the central figure: the incomparable tenacity with which he held the national right against the enemy's utmost efforts, gave Grant the means of staying the disaster that was befalling the left. Not without reason, therefore, did Halleck say, "It is the unanimous opinion here that Brigadier Gencured the victory. eral W. T. Sherman saved the fortunes of the day on the 6th, and contributed largely to the glori ous victory of the 7th."

Sherman had se

Fortune had denied to Beauregard victory. He was Beauregard's re- compelled to retreat. An eye-witness, an treat to Corinth. impressed New-Yorker, says: "I made a detour from the road on which the army was retreating, that I might travel faster and get ahead of the main body. In a ride of twelve miles alongside of the routed army I saw more of human agony and woe than I trust I shall ever be called again to witness. The retreating host wound along a narrow and almost impassable road, extending some seven or eight miles in length. Here was a long line of wagons loaded with wounded, groaning and cursing, and piled in like bags of grain; while the mules plunged on in mud and water belly-deep, the wa ter sometimes coming into the wagons. Next came a straggling regiment of infantry, pressing on past the train; then a stretcher borne upon the shoulders of four men, carrying a wounded officer; then soldiers strag gling along with an arm broken and hanging down, or other fearful wounds which were enough to destroy life. And to add to the horrors of the scene, the elements of heaven marshaled their forces, a fitting accompaniment of the tempest of human desolation and passion which was

CHAP. L.]

THE RETREAT TO CORINTH.

303

raging. A cold drizzling rain commenced about nightfall, and soon came harder and faster. It turned to piti less blinding hail. This storm raged with unrelenting violence for three hours. I passed long wagon trains filled with wounded and dying soldiers, without even a blanket to shield them from the driving sleet and hail, which fell in stones as large as partridge eggs, until it lay on the ground two inches deep.

"Three hundred men died during this awful retreat. Their bodies were thrown out to make room for others, who, although wounded, had struggled on through the storm, hoping to find shelter, rest, and medical care."

Was this the triumphant invasion of the North? Was it for this that Beauregard had issued forth from the fortifications of Corinth?

Sherman's pursuit of the Confederates.

The following day (April 8th) Sherman was sent forward with two brigades to follow on the traces of the enemy, and ascertain what they were doing. On reaching the Confederate hospital at the White House he was attacked by Forrest's cavalry, but repulsed it. He then learned that Beauregard had retreated to Corinth. All along were evidences of the great discomfiture-the dead scattered on the road-sides unburied, the farm-houses full of wounded, abandoned wagons, caissons, ammunition, and tents.

Beauregard's report

As soon as Beauregard reached Corinth, he telegraphed to Richmond that he "had gained a great to Richmond. and glorious victory; had taken from eight to ten thousand prisoners and thirty-six guns, but that Buell having re-enforced Grant, the Confederate army had retired to Corinth." He had sent a flag of truce to Grant asking permission to bury his dead, but Grant informed him that that had been already done.

The battle of Shiloh was thus a conflict in which, dur

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