to notice the parts played by Hurlbut, McClernand, and W. H. L. Wallace, both in support of the advanced troops, and in separate actions of their own.

Hurlbut's division was composed of the brigades of Veatch, Williams, and Lauman, and a light battery was attached to each brigade. Upon the first urgent request of Prentiss, he had sent him Veatch's brigade; and as that had been unable to stem the tide, he formed Williams and Lauman, with batteries on the right and left, in a cotton-field on the Hamburg road, and there awaited the advancing rebels. In came Prentiss's command in hot haste, and on came Withers, pursuing. Meyer's battery, which had been placed on the left, was deserted by the gunners, but Prentiss called for volunteers to man it, and a dozen men came forward; they held their position, while Prentiss's debris were rallying in rear. This was the darkest hour, and Hurlbut and Wallace, who had been held in reserve, were now to bear the brunt of the battle. Hurlbut and McClernand were slowly pressed back until they came upon a line with the camps of Wallace's division. Prentiss was a prisoner, and his division broken up. Sherman had been forced back, and Hildebrand's brigade cut to pieces. The regiments sent by McClernand to Sherman had been very much cut up. Many guns were lost, and the rebels had driven our forces a mile, and were in our camps

As far as mathematical statements and lines can indicate such a confused condition of things, the order at ten o'clock was the following: Colonel Stewart, of Sherman's division, who had been posted on the Hamburg road in the morning, far to the left, and who had held his position most gallantly against the overwhelming numbers of Breckinridge's reserves, had been slowly driven back to join Hurlbut's left, in spite of the re-enforcements of McArthur's brigade of Wallace's division. Next came Hurlbut, who had posted himself to resist the rebel advance; and behind him were the fugitives of General Prentiss. McClernand was on his right and rear; and Sherman's left in rear of McClernand.

General William H. L. Wallace had sent McArthur's bri

gade to support Stewart, but it had lost its way, and was unable to join Stewart, who had, as we have seen, been obliged to fall back. As it was now manifest that the fury of the rebel attack was to be directed to our left, General Wallace marched his other brigades over to join McArthur, thus filling the space so threatened upon Hurlbut's left, and took with him three Missouri batteries-Stone's, Richardson's, and Webber's-all under Major Cavender. Here, from ten o'clock until four, this devoted force manfully sustained the terrific fire and frequent attack of the continually increasing foc. Upon Wallace and Hurlbut the enemy made four separate charges, which were splendidly repulsed. At length Hurlbut was obliged to fall back, and, their supports all gone, Wallace's division were satisfied that they too must retire. To add to the disorder, their commander, General Wallace, fell mortally wounded, and was carried from the field. The artillery had done admirable execution, Stone's Battery, particularly, retreating slowly, and firing continually.

The rebels had accomplished much, but they were paying dear for their experiment. Gladden and Hindman were killed; and at half-past two a minie ball pierced General A. S. Johnston's leg, and the wound, though small, was mortal. But they had as yet far the best of it. We had lost Prentiss and three thousand prisoners, and the greater part of our advanced artillery.* The river-banks are swarming with fugitives and skulkers, who, when asked why they do not return to the front, say their regiments are cut to pieces, or they cannot find them, and who resist all the swearing, coaxing, and storming of the officers sent to bring them back. But the action of the day is not yet at an end. The rebels have reached the ravine, and, placing their guns in battery, they must clear a path for an infantry attack before they can drive away our forces, and seize the landing. And now the grand opportunity for our artillery, land and naval, has

* Only the organizations of four regiments were captured, viz., the Eighth Twelfth, and Fourteenth Iowa, and the Fifty-eighth Illinois infantry.

arrived. Captain Gwin, of the Tyler, sends an officer to General Grant for permission to shell the woods and sweep the ravine. He is told to act according to his own judgment; and he does it to good purpose. The Tyler and Lexington open, and sweep the ravine-enfilading the rebel lines and batteries. Colonel Webster, of General Grant's staff, with a quick eye and a skilful hand, has placed upon a ridge at the landing three thirty-twos and two eight-inch howitzers. Volunteers are called for to man them, and, to his great honor be it said, Dr. Cornyn, surgeon of the First Missouri artillery, offers his services, and does most excellent duty, cutting out work for other surgeons. All along the crest, our reserve artillery, consisting of twenty-fours, tens, and twenties, sixty guns in all, is placed in position, and the landing is safe beyond any peradventure.

But our army is exhausted; the line is reduced to one mile in length, in a curve at the landing; it is a forced concentration, but it really consolidates what remain.

Prentiss and Wallace's divisions, owing to the loss of general officers, are subdivided, and assigned to other divisions, and all the commands are greatly intermingled. The rebels encircle our reduced and crowded line south and west of the ravine. They have placed their artillery on the opposite crest, and still determine to cross that ravine, seize the road, and cut us off from the landing. Vain boast; if our troops have been worsted, Beauregard is not unscathed. His army is badly cut up, and the organizations are very much confused and mixed; and yet he essays the herculean task. As far as we can determine the rebel order now, the corps organization is lost; they are fighting by divisions and brigades. Chalmers is on their right, with Breckinridge in rear; and then ranging to the left are Withers, Cheatham, Ruggles, Gibson, Stewart, Anderson, Stephens, and Pond, much reduced, but still ready to fight.

But this new attack is destined to be a failure. Our artillery fire from the north crest is continuous and severe; and wherever the smoke and flashes of their guns disclose the

rebel positions, they are swept by the guns of Gwin and Shirk from the boats. At length the rebel column is launched forth, consisting of Chalmers and Jackson's brigades; they rush down the ravine and up the northern slope; but a few volleys cut them up, and drive them back like sheep. Three times they face the horrible fire, and are mowed down by an invisible enemy. The tide has turned. It is now nightfall, and Beauregard, professing himself satisfied with what he has done, and certainly checked in what he is now doing, ignorant too of Buell's arrival, determines to leave the finishing touch, the final overthrow of Grant's discomfited army, until the morning. But at last our men are in a secure position, while his are disheartened and demoralized by their last repulse. Grant, who had been all day upon the field, riding the whole length of the line, had visited Sherman about five o'clock, and, yet ignorant of Buell's arrival, had ordered him, with the assistance of Lewis Wallace, who was now crossing the Snake Creek bridge, to assume the offensive in the morning.

Of the movements of General Wallace, it must be said, that Grant had expected his appearance earlier upon the field. He had been particularly directed to move by the road nearest the river, and parallel to it, until he reached our right in rear of the camps of the Second (W. H. L. Wallace's) division, and there form in line at right angles with the river. He moved at twelve o'clock from a point only four miles and a half distant from that to which he was ordered; but, from some misconception or misunderstanding of the orders, he pursued a road almost at right angles to the one he had been directed to take, so that, after marching five miles, when he was overtaken by Colonel Rowley, of General Grant's staff, he was no nearer the battle-field than when he started. He marched back again to within half a mile from the point from which he started, where he struck the road to Pittsburg Landing, which he should have taken at the first. Thus it happened that he did not reach the field until after dark. General Grant's opinion is, that, had he not been delayed, Prentiss might have been saved from capture, and, perhaps,

the battle won the first day. He had not for a momen lost heart, and he has always believed that he could have successfully resisted the rebel army without further assistance.

But assurance is now doubly sure; Buell has arrived, and is in person on the field. In the fading light, Nelson's division* of his army crosses above the landing, with the intelligence that McCook and Crittenden are coming up the river from Savannah. On the right, behind Sherman, Lewis Wallace, leaving only two regiments at Crump's Landing, is crossing the creek with his fresh division by a good bridge, near the landing. The tables are completely turned. Our artillery and the gunboats, having forced Beauregard to fall back for safety, are keeping his wearied troops awake during the night. All night long steamers will ply between Savannah and Pittsburg, bringing up the divisions of McCook and Crittenden; and with the first streak of dawn, we shall be ready for an overwhelming advance. Sherman has already advanced to the right and front; Lewis Wallace files in upon his right, and thus the worn-out troops sink into dreamless rest. The forest is full of dead and wounded, who cannot yet be cared for; when, to add to the horrors, the woods are set on fire. Some of the wounded perish in the flames, while others are shrieking as the fiery death sweeps upon them. But, thanks be to God, a sudden April rain-storm quenches the fire, and tempers the fever of these helpless men, as rain only can.

MONDAY MORNING.

Commanders and men on both sides knew that the dawn must bring on the battle again,-a struggle the more bitter, because each was determined to assume the offensive, and the

*General Grant, hearing that Nelson's division had arrived on the night of the 5th in the vicinity of Savannah, had sent him an order, as early as seven o'clock in the morning of the 6th, to move to a point on the river opposite Pittsburg Landing; but, according to his official report, he did not start until about one o'clock, and did not reach his destination until late in the afternoon.