GENERAL GRANT'S REPORT OF THE BATTLE. 129 both being present, an advance was immediately made upon the point of attack, and the enemy was soon driven back. In this repulse much is due to the presence of the gunboats Tyler and Lexington, and their able commanders, Captains Gwin and Shirk. During the night, the divisions under Generals Crittenden and McCook arrived. General Lewis Wallace, at Camp Landing, six miles below, was ordered, at an early hour in the morning, to hold his division in readiness to move in any direction it might be ordered. At eleven o'clock the order was delivered to move it up to Pittsburg; but, owing to its being led by a circuitous route, it did not arrive in time to take part in Sunday's action. During the night all was quiet, and, feeling that great mora! advantage would be gained by becoming the attacking party, an advance was ordered as soon as day dawned. The result was the gradual repulse of the enemy at all points of the line, from nine until probably five o'clock in the afternoon, when it became evident the enemy was retreating. Before the close of the action, the advance of General T. J. Wood's division arrived in time to take part in the action. My force was too much fatigued from two days' hard fighting, and exposure in the open air to a drenching rain during the intervening night, to pursue immediately. Night closed in cloudy, with a heavy rain, making the roads impracticable for artillery by the next morning. General Sherman, however, followed the enemy, finding that the main part of their army had retreated in good order. Hospitals, with the enemy's wounded, were found all along the road as far as pursuit was made. Dead bodies of the enemy, and many graves were also found. I enclose herewith a report of General Sherman, which will explain more fully the result of the pursuit and of the part taken by each separate command. I cannot take special notice in this report, but will do so more fully when the reports of the division commanders are handed in. General Buell, commanding in the field, with a distinct army long under his command, and which did such efficient service commanded by himself in person, on the field, will be much better able to notice those officers' commands, who particularly distinguished themselves, than I possibly can. officer, Brigadier-GenHe not only was with I feel it a duty, however, to a gallant and able eral W. T. Sherman, to make a special mention. his command during the entire two days of the action, but displayed great judgment and skill in the management of his men. Although severely wounded in the hand on the first day, his place was never vacant. He was again wounded, and had three horses killed under him. In making this mention of a gallant officer, no disparagement is intended to other division commanders or Major-Generals John A. McClernand and Lewis Wallace, and Brigadier-Generals S. A. Hurlbut, P. M. Prentiss, and W. H. L. Wallace, all of whom maintained their places with credit to themselves and the cause. General Prentiss was taken prisoner on the first day's action, and General W. II. L. Wallace was severely and probably mortally wounded. His Assistant Adjutant-General, Captain Wm. McMichael, is missing, and was probably taken prisoner. My personal staff are all deserving of particular mention, they having been engaged during the entire two days in carrying orders to every part of the field. It consists of Colonel J. D. Webster, Chief-of-Staff; Lieutenant-Colonel J. B. McPherson, Chief of Engineers, assisted by Lieutenants W. L. B. Jenney, and William Kossac; Captain J. A. Rawlins, Assistant Adjutant-General W. S. Hilger, W. R. Rawley, and C. B. Lagow, Aids-deCamp; Colonel G. Pride, Volunteer Aid, and Captain J. P. Hawkins, Chief Commissary, who accompanied me upon the field. The Medical Department, under direction of Surgeon Hewitt, Medical Director, showed great energy in providing for the wounded, and in getting them from the field, regardless of danger. Colonel Webster was placed in special charge of all the artillery, and was constantly upon the field. He displayed, as always heretofore, both skill and bravery. At least, in one instance, he was the means of placing an entire regiment in position of doing most valuable service, and where it would not have been but for his exertions. Lieutenant-Colonel McPherson, attached to my staff as Chief of Engineers, deserves more than a passing notice for his activity and courage. All the grounds beyond our camp, for miles, have been reconnoitred by him, and the plans, carefully prepared under his supervision, give the most accurate information of the nature of the approaches to our lines. During the two days' battle he was constantly in the saddle, leading the troops as they arrived, to points where their services were required. During the engagement he had one horse shot under him. The country will have to mourn the loss of many brave men who fell at the battle of Pittsburg, or Shiloh, more properly. The exact loss in killed and wounded will be known in a day or two. At present I can only give it approximately at fifteen hundred killed, and thirty-five hundred wounded. The loss of artillery was great, many pieces being disabled by the enemy's shots, and some losing all their horses and many men. There were, probably, not less than two hundred horses killed. The loss of the enemy, in killed and left upon the field, was greater than ours. In the wounded, an estimate cannot be made, as many of them must have been sent to Corinth and other points. The enemy suffered terribly from demoralization and desertion. U. S. GRANT, Major-General. THE WOUNDED CHRISTIAN HERO. 131 We shall leave the field of Shiloh with a single scene after the shock of battle was over, illustrating the Christian heroism, which was never, since men were arrayed against each other in arms, so conspicuous as in the war of our nation's redemption. On Tuesday morning, among the wounded borne from the red field to the hospitals, was a brave and devout captain, fatally shot through both thighs with a bullet. He gave the following narrative of the long night, whose shades had just departed, and uncovered its horrors to the calm, sweet light: "While lying there, I suffered intense agony from thirst. I leaned my head upon my hand, and the rain from heaven was falling around me. In a little while a pool of water formed under my elbow, and I thought, if I could only get to that puddle, I might quench the burning thirst. I tried to get into a position to suck up a mouthful of muddy water, but was unable to reach within a foot of it. I never felt so much the loss of any earthly blessing. By and by, night fell, and the stars shone out clear and beautiful above the dark field, and I began to think of that great God who had given His Son to die a death of agony for me, and that he was up there-up above the scene of suffering, and above these glorious stars; and I felt that I was going home to meet Him, and praise Him there; and I felt that I ought to praise God, even wounded and on the battle-field. I could not help singing that beautiful hymn: 'When I can read my title clear To mansions in the sky, I'll bid farewell to every fear, And wipe my weeping eyes.' And there was a Christian brother in the brush near me. I could not see him, but I could hear him. He took up the strain, and beyond him another and another caught it up, all over the terrible battle-field of Shiloh. That night the echo was resounding, and we made the field of battle ring with hymns of praise to God." Nor were there wanting instances of similar trust in the ranks of treason; soldiers who were deluded by their leaders, and others impressed into the service, whose souls went up from the ensanguined plain or hospital, to worship in "goodly fellowship" before the throne, with him who sang, in the dark, damp night, of Heaven! A RECONNOISSANCE.-NAVAL MOVEMENTS. 133 CHAPTER VIII. RECONNOISSANCE TOWARD CORINTH. Reconnoissance toward Corinth.-Movements on the Mississippi River.-Capture of New Orleans.-Beauregard alarmed.-Calls upon the Planters to burn their Cotton.-Cavalry Skirmish near Corinth.-Reconnoissance toward Jackson, Tennessee. Troops concentrate at Pittsburg Landing.-General Grant's Command farther Enlarged.-Enemies again assail his Reputation.-Hon. Mr. Washburne's Defense.-General Halleck's Confidence in Grant.-Siege and Evacuation of Corinth. ON the morning of April 17, 1862, a heavy cavalry force, under Brigadier-General Smith, Chief of Cavalry, was detailed to make a reconnoissance along the upper road from Pittsburg Landing to Corinth. The force arrived within two miles of Monterey without meeting any opposition. Several of the men dismounted to act as skirmishers, and steadily advanced until they discovered the exact position of a large force of the enemy, when they fell back upon the main body, and returned. On April 24th, another similar reconnoissance was made, under the same commander, toward an elevation known as Pea Ridge, where a rebel camp was discovered and destroyed, and a few prisoners taken. Meanwhile, there had been in progress a naval campaign, whose grand success followed immediately the great land triumphs at Donelson and Shiloh. And as it was connected, in its results, directly with General Grant's movements and victories during the succeeding months, it will lend interest to the narrative of them, and shed light upon the whole field of conflict, to glance at the naval expedition culminating in the fall of New Orleans. It will be recollected, that the first battle of Manassas was fought in July, 1861. The latter part of August, the first secret naval expedition, including the Minnesota, Wabash, Pawnee, Mon |