In the night of the 12th Loring, during a rain and under cover of darkness, sent a small body to the rear of my position, and thus having gained a position on the spur of the mountain behind and above us, attempted by surprise to drive us out or capture us; but the attack was feebly made and a spirited return fire and a charge scattered the whole force.

Colonel Washington, on the 13th, in endeavoring to get on our right came into Elk Water Valley via Brady's Gate, and descended it with Major Lee's cavalry as escort. A report came to me of cavalry approaching, but knowing the road ran through a narrow gorge and much of the way in the bed of the stream, little danger was apprehended, especially as the road led directly to my position. A few troops of an Indiana regiment then on picket duty were, however, sent up the Elk Water road a short distance, and a company of the 3d Ohio was dispatched by me along the mountain range skirting the ravine and road, with instruction to gain the rear of the approaching cavalry if possible.

Washington was too eager to give time for such disposition to be carried out; he soon galloped around a curve and came close upon the pickets, Major Lee accompanying him. Sergeant Weiler and three or four others fired upon them as they turned their horses to fly. Three balls passed through Washington's body near together, coming out from his breast. He fell mortally wounded. Major Lee was unhurt, though his horse was shot. Lee escaped on foot for a short distance and then by mounting Washington's horse.(12)

When reached, Colonel Washington was struggling to rise on his elbow, and, though gasping and dying, he muttered, "Water," but when it was brought to his lips from the nearby stream he was dead. His body was carried to my outpost headquarters, thence later by ambulance to Reynolds' headquarters at camp. Washington's name or initials were on his gauntlet cuffs and upon a napkin in his haversack; these served to identify him. He was richly dressed for a soldier, and for weapons had heavy pistols and a large knife in his belt. He also had a powder-flask, field-glass, gold-plated spurs, and some small gold coin on his person. His sword, tied to the pommel of his saddle, was carried off by his horse.

On the next day Colonel W. E. Starke, of Louisiana,(13) appeared in front of my position bearing a flag of truce, and a letter addressed to the commanding officer of the United States troops, reading:

"Lt. Col. John A. Washington, my aide-de-camp, while riding yesterday with a small escort, was fired upon by your pickets, and I fear killed. Should such be the case, I request that you shall deliver to me his dead body, or should he be a prisoner in your hands, that I be informed of his condition.

"I have the honor to be your obedient servant, "R. E. Lee, "General Commanding."

Colonel Milo S. Hascall of the 17th Indiana conveyed Washington's body, on the 14th, by ambulance, to Lee's line, and there delivered it to Major Lee.

One of Colonel Washington's pistols was sent by Reynolds to Secretary of War Cameron; the Secretary directed the other one to be presented to Sergeant John J. Weiler, the knife to Corporal Birney, and the gauntlets to private Johnson, all soldiers of the 17th Indiana. General Reynolds obtained the field-glass, but subsequently gave it to Colonel Washington's son George. Hascall took possession of the spurs and powder-flask, and Captain George L. Rose, of Reynolds' staff, retained one or more letters (now in possession of his son, Rev. John T. Rose), through which one or more of the fatal bullets passed.

Colonel Washington was buried on his plantation, "Waveland," near Marshall, Fauquier county, Virginia.

Thus early, on his first military campaign, fell John Augustine Washington, born in Jefferson County, Virginia, May 3, 1821, the great-grandson of General Washington's brother, John Augustine Washington, and on his mothers' side a great-grandson of Richard Henry Lee, Virginia's great Revolutionary patriot statesman. He inherited Mount Vernon, but sold it before the war to an association of patriotic ladies, who still own it.

The tragic death of Colonel Washington was a fitting close of the complex plan of campaign, which, though entered upon under most favorable circumstances, failed fatally in execution in each and all important parts, though Generals Lee and Loring, Colonel Savage, and others of the Confederate officers present with the troops, had seen much real service in the Mexican War, and many of them were educated West Point officers.

Neither Lee or Loring ever made an official report of the campaign, and both for a time were under the shadow of disgrace because of its ineffectiveness.

General Lee was not quite candid with his own army when, on the 14th of September, he announced to it:

"The forced reconnoissance of the enemy's positions, both at Cheat Mountain Pass and on Valley River, having been completed, and the character of the natural approaches and the nature of the artificial defences exposed, the Army of the Northwest will resume its former position."

In a private letter, however, dated Valley Mountain, September 17, 1861, addressed to Governor John Letcher, Lee speaks of the failure of the campaign with great candor.

"I was very sanguine of taking the enemy's works on last Thursday morning. I had considered the subject well. With great effort, the troops intended for the surprise had reached their destination, having travelled twenty miles of steep rugged mountain paths; and the last day through a terrible storm which lasted all night, and in which they had to stand drenched to the skin in cold rain. Still their spirits were good. When the morning broke I could see the enemy's tents on Valley River at the point on the Huttonville road just below me. It was a tempting sight. We waited for the attack on Cheat Mountain, which was to be the signal, till 10 A.M. The men were cleaning their unserviceable arms. But the signal did not come. All chance for a surprise was gone. The provisions of the men had been destroyed the preceding day by the storm. They had had nothing to eat that morning, could not hold out another day, and were obliged to be withdrawn. The attack to come off from the east side failed from the difficulties in the way; the opportunity was lost and our plan discovered. It was a grievous disappointment to me, I assure you; but for the rain storm I have no doubt it would have succeeded. This, Governor, is for your own eye. Please do not speak of it; we must try again.

"Our greatest loss in the death of our dear friend, Colonel Washington. He and my son were reconnoitering the front of the enemy. They came unawares upon a concealed party, who fired upon them within twenty yards, and the Colonel fell pierced by three shots. My son's horse received three shots, but he escaped on the Colonel's horse.

"His zeal for the cause to which he had devoted himself carried him, I fear, too far."

Lee, finding trouble in the Kanawha country, repaired thither, and on September 21st assumed immediate direction of the forces there. A violent quarrel had just then arisen between the fiery Henry A. Wise and Floyd.

Lee, however, soon returned to Richmond, and though still in favor with his Governor and President Davis, his failure in Western Virginia brought him under a cloud from which he did not emerge until after he succeeded General Joseph E. Johnston on the latter being wounded while in command of the Confederate Army at Seven Pines near Richmond, May, 1862.(14)

The principal part of Reynolds' command assembled at Cheat Mountain, and, advancing, attacked Jackson in position at Greenbrier, October 3d, but was repulsed. Thereafter active operations ceased in the Cheat and Rich Mountain and Tygart's Valley region.

An unimportant and indecisive affair, hardly above a skirmish, occurred at Scarey Creek, July 17th, between a part of General J. D. Cox's command and forces under Henry A. Wise; the capture of Colonels Norton, Woodruff, and De Villiers, with two or three other officers, being the principal Union loss. No decisive advantage was gained on either side. Carnifax Ferry, on the Gauley River, was a more important affair. It was fought, October 10, 1861, between troops led by Rosecrans and those under Floyd. Floyd was found strongly posted, but was compelled to precipitately retreat across the river and abandon his stores.

The campaign season ended with the Union forces practically in possession of the forty-eight counties, soon to become the State of West Virginia.(15)

A convention held at Wheeling, June 11, 1861, declared the State offices of Virginia vacant by reason of the treason of those who had been chosen to fill them, and it then proceeded to form a regular state government for Virginia, with Francis H. Pierpont for its Governor, maintaining that the people loyal to the Union should speak for the whole State. The Pierpont government was recognized by Congress. This organization, on August 20, 1861, adopted an ordinance "for the formation of a new State out of a portion of the territory of this State." This ordinance was approved by a vote of the people, and, November 26, 1861, a convention assembled in Wheeling and framed a constitution for the proposed new State. This also was ratified, April, 1862, by the people, 18,862 voting for and 514 against it. The recognized Legislature of Virginia, in order to comply with the Constitution of the United States, May 13, 1862, consented to the creation of a new State out of territory hitherto included in the State of Virginia. The people of the forty-eight counties having thus made the necessary preparation, Congress, December 31, 1862, passed an act for the admission of West Virginia into the Union, annexing, however, a condition that her people should first ratify a substitute for the Seventh Section, Article Eleven of her Constitution, providing that children of slaves born in her limits after July 4, 1863, should be free; that slaves who at that time were under ten years of age should be free at the age of twenty-one; and all slaves over ten and under twenty- one years of age should be free at the age of twenty-five; and no slave should be permitted to come into the State for permanent residence.

March 26, 1863, the slavery emancipation clause was almost unanimously ratified by a vote of the people, and, April 20, 1863, President Lincoln issued a proclamation declaring that West Virginia had complied with all required conditions and was therefore a State in the Union.

The anomalous creation and admission of this new State was justified only by the rebellious times and in aid of the loyal cause. It is the only State carved out of another or other States. It remains a singular fact that the day preceding the final Emancipation Proclamation of Lincoln, he approved a law of Congress admitting West Virginia as a slave State (with gradual emancipation) into the Union. The proclamation excepted the counties, commonly then called West Virginia, from its application.

The fruit of the successful occupancy of Western Virginia in 1861 by the Union Army and the consequent failures there in the same year of the Confederate leaders, Lee, Floyd, Wise, and others, was the formation of a new State, thenceforth loyal to the flag and the Constitution.

We now dismiss West Virginia, where we first learned something of war, but in time shall return to it again. I have in this chapter dealt more largely in detail than I intend to do in those to follow, as the reader, if even inexperienced in war, will have by this time learned sufficient to enable him to comprehend much belonging to a great military campaign which is often difficult and sometimes impossible to narrate.

( 1) No order assigning Lee to Western Virginia seems to have been issued, but see Davis to J. E. Johnston of August 1, 1861, War Records, vol. v., p. 767.

( 2) An abstract of a return of Loring's forces for October, 1861, shows present for duty 11,700 of all arms.—War Records, vol. v., p. 933.

( 3) While the Third Ohio was temporarily camped in Cheat Mountain Pass (July, 1861) word came of the Bull Run disaster, and while brooding over it Colonel John Beatty, in the privacy of our tent, early one morning before we had arisen, exclaimed in substance: "That so long as the Union army fought to maintain human slavery it deserved defeat; that only when it fought for the liberty of all mankind would God give us victory." Such prophetic talk was then premature, and if openly uttered would have insured censure from General McClellan and others.

( 4) This prediction has been fulfilled. Major Wm. McKinley was inaugurated President of the United States March 4, 1897.

( 5) Citizen Soldier (Beatty), p. 51.

( 6) Ante, pp. 161, 196.

( 7) Citizen Soldier, p. 60-1.

( 8) William White was then a common pleas Judge; in March, 1864, he became a Judge of the Supreme Court of Ohio, a position he held until his death. He was appointed by President Arthur and confirmed by the Senate (March, 1883) United States District Judge for the Southern District of Ohio; his sudden death prevented his qualifying and entering upon the duties of the office. He was remarkable for his judicial learning, combined with simplicity and purity of character. Born (January 28, 1822) in England, both parents dying when he was a child, having no brother or sister or very near relative, poor, and almost a homeless waif, he, when about ten years of age, came in the hold of a ship to America. From this humble start, through persevering energy and varying vicissitudes he, under republican institutions, acquired an education, won friends, became eminent as a lawyer and jurist, and earned the high esteem of his fellow-men, dying (March 12, 1883) at Springfield, Ohio, at sixty years of age, having served as a common pleas Judge eight years and Judge of the Supreme Court of Ohio nineteen years.

His only son, Charles Rodgers White (born May 25, 1845), also became a distinguished lawyer and judge, and died prematurely, July 29, 1890, on a Pullman car on the Northern Pacific Railroad, near Thompson's Falls, Montana, while returning from Spokane Falls, where he, while on a proposed journey to Alaska, was taken fatally ill.

( 9) War Records, vol. v., p. 192.

(10) Kimball's Report, War Records, vol. v., p. 186.

(11) Rust's Report, War Records, vol. v., p. 291.

(12) W. H. F. Lee served through the war; was wounded and captured at Brandy Station, 1863; chiefly commanded cavalry; became a Major- General and was surrendered at Appomattox. He, later, became a farmer at White House, Virginia, on the Pamunkey, and was elected to Congress in 1886. His older brother, George Washington Custis Lee, a graduate of West Point, served with distinction through the war; also became a Confederate Major-General, and was captured by my command at the battle of Sailor's Creek, April 6, 1865. Robert E. Lee, Jr., General Lee's other son, also served in the Confederate army, but not with high rank.

(13) Colonel Starke was, as a General, killed at Antietam. His son, Major Starke, met me March 26, 1865, between the lines in front of Petersburg, under a flag of truce, while the killed of the previous day were being removed or buried. On Lee's surrender I found him, and gave him his supper and a bed for the night.

(14) Manassas to Appomattox (Longstreet), p. 112.

(15) West Virginia was admitted as a State in April, 1863, with forty-eight counties, but Congress consented, by an act approved March 10, 1866, that the counties of Berkeley and Jefferson should be added.—Charters and Cons., Par II., p. 1993.

CHAPTER V Union Occupancy of Kentucky—Affair at Green River—Defeat of Humphrey Marshall—Battles of Mill Springs, Forts Henry and Donelson —Capture of Bowling Green and Nashville, and Other Matters

The State of Kentucky, with its disloyal Governor (Magoffin), also other state officers, was early a source of much perplexity and anxiety at Washington.

The State did not secede, but her authorities assumed a position of neutrality by which they demanded that no Union troops should occupy the State, and for a time also pretended no Confederates should invade the State.

It was supposed that if Union forces went into Kentucky her people would rise up in mass to expel them. This delusion was kept up until it was found her Legislature was loyal to the Union and civil war was imminent in the State, when, in September, 1861, both Union and Confederate armed forces entered the State.

General Robert Anderson was (August 15, 1861) assigned to the command of the Department of the Cumberland, consisting of the States of Kentucky and Tennessee.

Bowling Green was occupied, September 8th, by General Simon Bolivar Buckner, a native Kentuckian, formerly of the regular army. It had been confidently hoped he would join the Union cause. President Lincoln, August 17th, for reasons not given, ordered a commission made out for him as Brigadier-General of Volunteers, and placed in General Anderson's hands to be delivered at his discretion.( 1)

Buckner decided to espouse the Confederate cause while still acting as Adjutant-General of the State of Kentucky. The commission, presumably, was never tendered to him.

Changes of Union commanders were taking place in the West with such frequency as to alarm the loyal people and shake their faith in early success.

Brigadier-General W. S. Harney, in command of the Department of the West, with headquarters at St. Louis when the war broke out, was relieved, and, on May 31, 1861, Nathaniel Lyon, but recently appointed a Brigadier-General of Volunteers, succeeded him. Lyon lost his life, August 10th, while gallantly leading his forces at Wilson's Creek against superior numbers under General Sterling Price. General John C. Fremont assumed command of the Western Department, July 25th, with headquarters at St. Louis. He was the first to proclaim martial law. This he did for the city and county of St. Louis, August 14, 1861.( 2)

He followed this (August 30th) with an emancipation proclamation, undertaking to free the slaves of all persons in the State of Missouri who took up arms against the United States or who took an active part with their enemies in the field; the other property of all such persons also to be confiscated. The same proclamation ordered all disloyal persons taken within his lines with arms in their hands to be tried by court-martial, and if found guilty, shot.( 3)

President Lincoln disapproved this proclamation in the main. He ordered Fremont, by letter dated September 2d, to allow no man to be shot without his consent, and requested him to modify the clause relating to confiscation and emancipation of slaves so as to conform to an act of Congress limiting confiscation to "property used for insurrectionary purposes."

Lincoln assigned as a reason for this request that such confiscation and liberation of slaves "would alarm our Southern Union friends and turn them against us; perhaps ruin our rather fair prospect for Kentucky.": Fremont declining to modify his proclamation, Lincoln, September 11th, ordered it done as stated.( 4)

But as matters did not progress satisfactorily in Fremont's Department, he was relieved by General David Hunter, October 24th, who was in turn relieved by General H. W. Halleck, November 2, 1861.( 4)

Brigadier-General U. S. Grant, September 1, 1861, assumed command of the troops in the District of Southeastern Missouri, headquarters Cairo, Illinois.( 5)

The most notable event of 1861, in Grant's district, was the spirited battle of Belmont, fought November 7th, a short distance below Cairo. Grant commanded in person, and was successful until the Confederates were largely reinforced, when he was obliged to retire, which he did in good order.

The Confederates were led in three columns by Generals Leonidas Polk, Gideon J. Pillow, and Benjamin F. Cheatham.

The event, really quite devoid of substantial results to either side, save to prove the valor of the troops, was the subject of a congratulatory order by Grant, in which he states he was in "all the battles fought in Mexico by General Scott and Taylor, save Buena Vista, and he never saw one more hotly contested or where troops behaved with more gallantry."( 5) The Confederate Congress voted its thanks to the Confederate commanders and their troops for their "desperate courage," by which disaster was converted into victory.( 5)

General Robert Anderson was relieved, October 6, 1861, and General W. T. Sherman was assigned to command the Department of the Cumberland.( 6)

Sherman personally informed Secretary of War Cameron and Adjutant- General Lorenzo Thomas (October 16th) that the force necessary in his Department was 200,000 men.( 6) This was regarded as so wild an estimate that he was suspected of being crazy, and he was relieved from his Department November 13th.( 7) Thereafter, for a time, he was under a cloud in consequence of this estimate of the number of troops required to insure success in a campaign through Kentucky and Tennessee. We next hear of him prominently in command of a division under Grant at Shiloh.

As the war progressed his conception of the requirements of the war was more than vindicated, and he became later the successful commander of more than two hundred thousand men.( 8)

Brigadier-General Don Carlos Buell relieved Sherman of the command of the Department of the Cumberland, and was assigned (November 9th) to the Department of Ohio, a new one, consisting of the States of Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, that part of Kentucky east of the Cumberland River, and Tennessee, headquarters, Louisville.( 9)

The War Department ordered from the commands of Generals Cox and Reynolds in Western Virginia certain of the Ohio and Indiana regiments, and this order caused the 3d Ohio, with others, to counter-march over November roads via Huttonville, Beverly, Rich Mountain, and Buchannon to Clarksburg, from whence they were moved by rail to Parkersburg, thence by steamboat to Louisville. By November 30th, the 3d was encamped five miles south of the city on the Seventh Street plank road, and soon became part of the Seventeenth Brigade, Colonel Ebenezer Dumont commanding, and (December 5th (10)) of the Third Division, commanded by General O. M. Mitchel, both highly intelligent officers, active, affable, and zealous; the latter untried in battle.

Mitchel's division moved via Elizabethtown to Bacon Creek, where it went into camp for the winter, December 17, 1861.

McCook's division was advanced about six miles to Munfordville on Green River, and General George H. Thomas' division was ordered to Liberty, where he would be nearer the main army, and later his headquarters were at Lebanon, and his division, consisting of four brigades and some unattached cavalry and three batteries of artillery, was posted there and at Somerset and London.(11)

December 17th, four companies of the 32d Indiana (German), under Lieutenant-Colonel Von Treba, from McCook's command, on outpost duty at Rowlett's Station, south of Green River, were assailed by two infantry regiments, one of cavalry—Texas Rangers—and a battery of artillery. The gallantry and superiority of the drill of these companies enabled them to drive back the large force and hold their position until other companies of the regiment arrived, when the enemy was forced to a hasty retreat, both sides suffering considerable loss. Colonel B. F. Terry (12) of the Texas Rangers forced his men to repeatedly charge into the ranks of the infantry. In a last charge he was killed, and the attacking force retired in disorder. Great credit was due to Colonel Treba and his small command for their conduct.

Colonel James A. Garfield was placed in command of the field forces in the Big Sandy country, Eastern Kentucky, and General Humphrey Marshall, of Kentucky, who made pretensions to military skill, confronted him, each with a force, somewhat scattered, of about five thousand men. Inexperienced as Garfield then was in war, he, in mid-winter, in a rough country, with desperate roads and with a poorly equipped command, with no artillery, displayed much energy and ability in pushing his forces upon the enemy at Prestonburg and Paintsville, Kentucky. There were skirmishes December 25, 1861, at Grider's Ferry on the Cumberland River, at Sacramento on the 28th, at Fishing Creek January 8, 1862, and a considerable engagement at Middle Creek, near Prestonburg, on the 10th, the result of which was to drive Marshall practically out of Kentucky, and to greatly demoralize his command and put him permanently in disgrace.

Next in importance came the more considerable fight at Logan's Cross-Roads, on Fishing Creek, Kentucky, commonly called the battle of Mill Springs, fought January 19, 1862, General George H. Thomas commanding the Union forces, and General George B. Crittenden the Confederates. The Confederate troops occupied an intrenched camp at Beech Grove, on the north side of the Cumberland River, nearly opposite Mill Springs. General Thomas, with a portion of the Second and Third Brigades, Kenny's battery, and a battalion of Wolford's cavalry, reached Logan's Cross-Roads, about nine miles north of Beech Grove, on the 17th, and there halted to await the arrival of other troops before moving on Crittenden's position.

The latter, conceiving that he might strike Thomas before his division was concentrated, and learning that Fishing Creek divided his forces, and was so flooded by recent rains as to be impassable, marched out of his intrenchments at Beech Grove at midnight of the 18th, and about 7 A.M. of the 19th fell upon Thomas at Logan's Cross-Roads with eight regiments of infantry and six pieces of artillery. The battle lasted about three hours, when the Confederate troops gave way and beat a disorderly retreat to their intrenched camp, closely pursued. They were driven behind their fortifications and cannonaded by the Union batteries until dark. General Thomas prepared to assault the works the following morning. With the aid of a small river steamboat Crittenden succeeded during the night in passing his troops across the Cumberland, abandoning twelve pieces of artillery, with their caissons and ammunition, a large number of small arms and ammunition, about 160 wagons, 1000 horses and mules, also commissary stores.

Brigadier-General F. K. Zollicoffer, of Tennessee, who commanded a Confederate brigade, was killed at a critical time in the battle. The number actually engaged on each side was about 5000. The Union loss was 1 officer and 38 men killed, and 13 officers and 194 men wounded, total 246.(13) The Confederate killed was 125, wounded 309, total 434. This victory was of much importance, as it was the first of any significance in the Department of the Ohio. It was the subject of a congratulatory order by the President.(13)

Notwithstanding this victory, President Lincoln, long impatient of the delays of the Union Army to advance and gain some decided success, issued his first (and last, looking to its character, only (14)) "General War Order" in these words:

"President's General War Order No. 1. "Executive Mansion, Washington "January 27, 1862. "Ordered, That the 22d of February, 1862, be the day for a general movement of the land and naval forces of the United States against the insurgent forces. That especially the army in and about Fortress Monroe, the Army of the Potomac, the Army of Western Virginia, and army near Munfordville, Ky., the army and flotilla at Cairo, and a naval force in the Gulf of Mexico, be ready to move on that day.

"That all other forces, both land and naval, with their respective commanders, obey existing orders for the time, and be ready to obey additional orders when duly given.

"That the heads of departments, and especially the Secretaries of War and of the Navy, with all their subordinates, and the General- in-Chief, with all other commanders and subordinates of land and naval forces, will severally be held to their strict and full responsibilities for prompt execution of this order.

"Abraham Lincoln."

Conservative commanding officers criticised this Presidential order as an assumption on Mr. Lincoln's part of the direction of the war in the field, and the naming of a day for the army and navy to move was denounced an unwise and a notice to the enemy. Under other circumstances, the President would have been open to criticism from a strategist's standpoint, but the particular circumstances and the state of the country and the public mind warranted his action. Foreign interference or recognition of the Confederacy was threatened. No decided Union victory had been won. McClellan had held the Army of the Potomac idle for six months in sight of the White House. Halleck at St. Louis, in command of a large and important department, had long talked of large plans and so far had executed none. Matters were at a standstill in Western Virginia. Buell was, so far, giving little promise of an early forward movement.

The Confederate forces held advanced positions in Missouri and high up on the Mississippi. They were fortified at Forts Henry and Donelson, on the Tennessee and the Cumberland respectively, and at Bowling Green and other important places in Kentucky. They still held the Upper Kanawha, the Greenbrier country, Winchester, and other points in the Shenandoah Valley. The Confederate Army was holding McClellan almost within the fortifications south of the Potomac at Washington. The President was held responsible for the inactivity of the army. Under other circumstances, with other army commanders, the order would not have been issued. It served to notify these commanders that the army must attack the enemy, and it advised the country of the earnestness of the President to vigorously prosecute the war, and thus aided enlistments, inspired confidence, and warned meddling nations to keep hands off.(15)

On January 28, 1862, both General Grant and Commodore A. H. Foote, Flag Officer United States Naval Forces in the Western waters, wired Halleck at St. Louis that, with his permission, Fort Henry on the Tennessee could be taken by them. Authority being obtained, they invested and attacked it by gunboats on the river side and with the army by land. The fire of the gunboats silenced the batteries, and all the garrison abandoned the fort, save General Lloyd Tilghman (its commander), his staff, and one company of about 70 men, who surrendered February 6th. A hospital boat containing 60 sick and about 20 heavy guns, barracks, tents, ammunition, etc., also fell into Union hands. The only serious casualty was on the Essex, caused by a shot in her boilers, which resulted in wounding and scalding 29 officers and men, including Commodore David D. Porter.

General Grant reported on the same day that he would take Fort Donelson, and on February 12, 1862, he sent six regiments around by water and moved the body of his command from Fort Henry across the country, distant about twelve miles.

Three gunboats under Lieutenant-Commander S. L. Phelps went up the Tennessee as far as Florence, Alabama, while others proceeded to the mouth of the Cumberland and ascended it to aid the land forces.

Commander Phelps on his way up the river seized two steamers, caused six others loaded with supplies to be destroyed, took at Cerro Gordo a half-finished gunboat, and made other important captures of military supplies. He discovered considerable Union sentiment among the inhabitants, some of them voluntarily enlisting to fight the Confederacy.(16)

Grant was assigned to the District of West Tennessee February 14, 1862.(17)

General Grant had, when he commenced the attack of Fort Donelson, about 15,000 men, in three divisions, commanded, respectively, by Generals C. F. Smith, John A. McClernand, and Lew Wallace. The total force of the enemy was not less than 20,000, under the command of General J. B. Floyd.(18) The investment of the fort commenced on the 12th, but it was not complete until the evening of the 13th, on the arrival of the gunboats and the troops sent by water. Flag Officer Foote opened fire on the enemy's works at 3 P.M. on the 14th, from four gunboats, which continued for an hour and a half with a brilliant prospect of complete success, when each of the two leading boats received disabling shots and were carried back by the current. The other two were soon partially disabled and hence withdrawn from the fight. Grant then concluded to closely invest the fort, partially fortify his lines, and allow time for Commodore Foote to retire, repair his gunboats, and return. But the enemy did not permit this to be done. He drew out from his left the principal part of his effective troops under Generals Gideon J. Pillow, B. R. Johnson, and S. B. Buckner during the night of the 14th, and at early dawn of the 15th assailed, with the purpose of raising the siege or of escaping, the extreme right of Grant's army. A battle of several hours' duration ensued, and for the most part the Confederates gained ground, driving back the Union right upon the centre. Grant was absent in consultation with Commodore Foote (19) when the attack began. Foote was then contemplating a return to Cairo to repair damages, and was likewise wounded.(19) Grant on returning to the battle-ground ordered a counter-attack on the enemy's right by Smith's division, which met with such success as to gain, at the close of the day, possession of parts of the Confederate intrenchments. After Smith's charge had commenced, McClernand and Wallace were ordered to assume the offensive on the enemy's left flank, which resulted in driving the Confederates back to the works from whence they had emerged in the morning. Preparation was then made for an assault all along the line early next morning.

Consternation and demoralization prevailed in the Confederate camps during the night, especially at headquarters.

A council of war was held at midnight of the 15th between Floyd, Pillow, and Buckner, at which the number of Grant's army was greatly magnified, and it was decided that it was impracticable to attempt to cut through the investment. Floyd pretended to believe that his capture was of the first importance to the Union cause, and, although the senior in command, he announced a determination "not to survive a surrender there." Pillow, the next in command, also assumed the same importance and individual right for himself; hence Floyd, through Pillow, turned over the command, at the end of the council, to Buckner, with the understanding that the latter would, at the earliest hour possible, open negotiations for the surrender of the forces.(20) Floyd and Pillow, with the aid of two small steamboats, which arrived from Nashville in the night, succeeded in ferrying across the river and in getting away with about 1000 officers and men, principally belonging to Floyd's old brigade. Some cavalry and small detachments and individual officers with Colonel Forrest escaped in the night by the river road, which was only passable, on account of back-water, for mounted men.(21)

The action of both Floyd and Pillow in not sharing the fate of their commands, and the conduct of Floyd especially in carrying off the troops of his old brigade in preference to others, were strongly condemned by President Davis and his Secretary of War. Both Generals were, by Davis's orders, relieved,(21) and neither, thereafter, held any command of importance. The sun of their military glory set at Donelson. Floyd had been unfaithful to his trust as Buchanan's Secretary of War, and early, as we have seen, deserted his post to join the Rebellion. Pillow as a general officer had won a name in fighting under Taylor and Scott and the flag of the Republic in Mexico.

At an early hour on the 16th Buckner sent a note to Grant proposing "the appointment of commissioners to agree upon the terms of capitulation of the forces and post" under his command, and suggesting an armistice until 12 o'clock of that day. To this note Grant responded thus:

"Yours of this date, proposing armistice and appointment of commissioners to settle terms of capitulation, is just received. No terms except unconditional and immediate surrender can be accepted. I propose to move immediately on your works."

General Buckner denominated Grant's terms as "ungenerous and unchivalrous," but accepted them, forthwith capitulating with about 15,000 officers and men, about 40 pieces of artillery, and a large amount of stores, horses, mules, and other public property.

The casualties in Grant's army were 22 officers and 478 enlisted men killed, and 87 officers and 2021 men wounded, total 2608.(22) The loss in the navy under Foote was 10 killed and 44 wounded. The Confederate killed and wounded probably did not exceed 1500,(23) as they fought, in most part, behind intrenchments. The capture of Fort Donelson was thus far the greatest achievement of the war, and won for Grant just renown.

The writer's regiment, as we have stated, went into camp in December, 1861, at Bacon Creek, Kentucky. The winter was rainy and severe, the camps were much of the time muddy, and the troops underwent many hardships. It was their first winter in tents, and many were sick.

Colonel Marrow, on one pretence or another, was generally absent at Louisville, and the responsibility of the drill and discipline of the regiment devolved on Lieutenant-Colonel Beatty, who was quite equal to it, notwithstanding Marrow said and did much to prejudice the regiment against him. The writer also had the Colonel's displeasure.

On his return to the regiment, January 28th, Beatty handed him, to be forwarded, charges relating to his disloyalty, unmilitary conduct, and inefficiency; whereupon he decided to resign and the charges were withdrawn. Beatty became Colonel and I Lieutenant-Colonel, February 12, 1862.

Buell's army commenced to move southward February 10th, Mitchel's division in the advance.

The high railroad bridge over Green River at Munfordville had no railing or protection on the sides, but it was safely passed over with the teams by moonlight. The scene of the crossing was highly picturesque, and attracted much attention from the troops just starting on a new campaign.

The march of the 14th developed much of interest. There were evident signs of loyalty at the houses of all who owned no slaves, and where slaves appeared they exhibited the greatest delight to see the Union soldiers. All slaves had the belief that we had come to free them, and there was much difficulty in preventing them from marching with us. The country through which we passed was cavernous, and the surface had many bowl-like depressions, at the bottom of which was, generally, considerable water. Springs and streams were scarce. The Confederates on retiring drove their disabled, diseased and broken-down horses, mules, etc., into these ponds and shot them, leaving them to decay and thus render the water unfit for use by the Union Army.(24) The troops had no choice but to use the water from the befouled ponds. We shall hear of them again.

On this day the division reached Barren River and exchanged a few artillery shots with the rear of General A. S. Johnston's army, under the immediate command of General Hardee. The next day—the last day of fighting at Fort Donelson—the advance of Mitchel's division crossed the river and occupied Bowling Green, which was found strongly fortified and a naturally good position for defence. In its hasty evacuation many stores were burned; others distributed to the inhabitants, and some abandoned to capture. After an unaccountable delay here of one week, during which time we heard of the victory at Fort Donelson, Mitchel's division, still in advance, resumed its march towards Nashville, distant about seventy miles. The head of the division reached Edgefield (suburb of Nashville on the north bank of the Cumberland) on the evening of the 24th of February, and the following morning the Mayor and a committee of citizens formally surrendered the city of Nashville while yet Forrest's cavalry occupied it. General Nelson's division of Buell's army arrived by boats the night of the 24th, and at once landed in the city.

Nashville would have been a rich prize and easily taken if troops from either Donelson or Bowling Green had been pushed forward without delay when Fort Donelson fell.

General A. S. Johnston abandoned the city as early as the 16th, and concentrated his forces at Murfreesboro, thirty or more miles distant, leaving only Floyd with a demoralized brigade and Colonel N. B. Forrest's small cavalry command to remove or destroy the guns and stores, of which there was an immense quantity.

Floyd was ordered by Johnston not to fight in the city.(25) Pandemonium reigned everywhere in Nashville for a week before it was taken. The mob, in which all classes participated, had possession of it. The proper officers abandoned their stores of ordnance, quartermaster and commissary supplies, and such as were portable were, as far as possible, carried off by anybody who might desire them. No kind of property was safe, private houses and property were seized and appropriated. No other such disgraceful scene has been enacted in modern times.(26)

Johnston had a right to expect the arrival of the Union Army as early as the 18th, and had wise counsel prevailed, Nashville might have been taken on that or an earlier day.

A diversity of views led to delays in the movement of Buell's army. Buell early expressed himself favorably to moving directly on Nashville via Bowling Green or by embarking his divisions at Louisville on steamboats and thence by water up the Cumberland.(27)

Halleck pronounced the movement from Bowling Green on Nashville as not good strategy, and this opinion he telegraphed both Buell and McClellan. Success at Fort Donelson did not change Halleck's views, and Grant was condemned for advancing Smith's division to Clarksville. After Buell reached Nashville he became panic-stricken, and, though he had 15,000 men, possessed of an idea he was about to be overwhelmed. He assumed, therefore, to order Smith's command of Grant's army to move by boat from Clarksville to his relief.(28)

The first time I saw Grant was on the wharf at Nashville, February 26, 1862. He was fresh from his recent achievements, and we looked upon him with interest. He was then only a visitor at Nashville. His quiet, modest demeanor, characteristic of him under all circumstances, led persons to speak of him slightingly, as only a common-looking man who had, by luck, or through others, achieved success. He was then forty years old,(29) below medium height and weight, but of firm build and well proportioned. His head, for his body, seemed large. His somewhat pronounced jaw indicated firmness and decision. His hands and feet were small, and his movements deliberate and unimpassioned. He then, as always, talked readily, but never idly or solely to entertain even his friends.

Both Halleck and Buell were apparently either jealous of Grant or they entertained or assumed to entertain a real contempt for his talents. Buell paid him little attention at Nashville, and Halleck reported him to the War Department for going there, although the city was within the limits of his district. His going to Nashville was subsequently assigned as a reason for practically relieving him of his command.(30)

Reports that Grant was frequently intoxicated, and that to members of his staff and to subordinate commanders he was indebted for his recent victories, were at this time freely circulated. Grant, like most great generals in war, had to develop through experience, and even through defeats. He, however, early showed a disposition to take responsibilities and to seize opportunities to fight the enemy. He had the merit of obstinacy, a quality indispensable in a good soldier.

In contrast with him, Halleck and Buell, each pretending to more military education and accomplishments, lacked either confidence in their troops or in themselves, and hence were slow to act. Complicated and difficult possible campaigns were talked of by them but never personally executed. They were each good organizers of armies on paper, knew much of the equipment and drilling of troops, also of their discipline in camp, but the absence in each of an eagerness to meet the enemy and fight him disqualified them from inspiring soldiers with that confidence which wins victories. Mere reputation for technical military education rather detracts from than adds to the confidence an army has in its commander. Such a commander will be esteemed a good military clerk or adjutant-general, but not likely to seek and win battles.

The 3d Ohio, with the brigade, marched through Nashville on the 27th of February, and went into camp at a creek on the Murfressboro turnpike about four miles from the city. Quiet was restored in Nashville, the inhabitants seeming to appreciate the good order preserved by the Union troops, especially after the recent experience with the mob.

At Nashville the 3d Ohio's officers (especially Colonel Beatty) were charged with harboring negro slaves, and Buell gave some slave- hunters permission to search the regiment's camp for their escaped "property." The Colonel ordered all the colored men to be assembled for inspection, but it so happened that not one could be found. One of the slave-hunters proposed to search a tent for a certain runaway slave, and he was earnestly told by Colonel Beatty that he might do so, but that if he were successful in his search it would cost him his life. No further search was made. One of the runaway slaves, "Joe," a handsome mulatto, borrowed (?) from Colonel Beatty, Assistant Surgeon Henry H. Seys, and perhaps others, small sums of money and disappeared. Some time afterwards I saw "Joe" in the employ of Hon. Samson Mason in Springfield, Ohio.

On the 8th of March, John Morgan, the then famous partisan irregular cavalry raider, dashed from a narrow road along the west side of the Insane Asylum, located about five miles from Nashville on the Murfreesboro pike, and captured, in daylight, a part of a wagon train inside our lines and made off over a by-road with Captain Braden of General Dumont's staff, who had the train in charge, the teamsters, and about eighty horses and mules. Colonel John Kennett, with a portion of his regiment (4th Ohio Cavalry) pursued and overtook Morgan, killed and wounded a portion of his raiders, and recaptured Captain Braden and the drivers; also the horses and mules. About this time Mitchel organized a party of infantry to be rapidly transported in wagons, and some cavalry, to move by night upon Murfreesboro, with the expectation of surprising a small force there. The expedition started, but had not proceeded far when about nine o'clock at night the head of the expedition was met by Morgan and about twenty-five of his men with a flag of truce, he pretending to desire to make some inquiry. The flag of truce at night was so extraordinary that he and his party were escorted to the Asylum grounds, and there detained until Buell could be communicated with. The expedition was, of course, abandoned, and about midnight Morgan and his escort were dismissed.

Columbus, Kentucky, regarded as a Gibraltar of strength, strongly fortified and supplied with many guns, most of which were of heavy calibre, deemed necessary to prevent the navigation of the Mississippi, was occupied by General Leonidas Polk with a force of 22,000 men, but on being threatened with attack by Commodore Foote and General W. T. Sherman, was evacuated March 2, 1862.(31) The State of Kentucky thus became practically free from Confederate occupancy, and the Mississippi, for a considerable distance below Cairo was again open to navigation from the North.

( 1) War Records, vol. iii., pp. 255, 442.

( 2) War Records, vol. iii., pp. 255, 442.

( 3) Ibid., pp. 466, 469, 485, 553, 567.

( 4) War Records, vol. iii., pp. 466, 469, 485, 533, 567

( 5) Ibid., pp. 144, 274, 312.

( 6) Ibid., vol. iv., pp. 296-7, 300, 314, and 333, 341.

( 7) War Records, vol. v., p. 570.

( 8) Sherman was, in January, 1861, Superintendent of the Military Academy at Alexandria, Louisiana, over the door of which, chiselled in marble, was its motto: "By the liberality of the General Government of the United States. The Union—Esto perpetua."

As early as January 9th, an expedition of five hundred New Orleans militia under Colonel Wheat, accompanied by General Braxton Bragg, went by boat to Baton Rouge and captured the United States arsenal with a large amount of arms and ammunition. The Confederates sent two thousand muskets, three hundred Jaeger rifles and a quantity of ammunition to Sherman at Alexandria, to be by him received and accounted for. Finding himself required to become the custodian of stolen military supplies from the United States, and having the prescience to know that war was inevitable, he, January 18, 1861, resigned his position, settled his accounts with the State, and took his departure North.

Later we find him in St. Louis, President of the Fifth Street Railroad, and when, May 10th, the rebels at Camp Jackson were surrounded and captured, he, with his young son, "Willie"—now Father Sherman, and high in the Catholic Church—were on-lookers and in danger of losing their lives when the troops, returning from camp, were assailed and aggravated to fire upon the mob, killing friend and foe alike. Sherman fled with his boy to a gulley, which covered him until firing ceased.—Sherman's Memoirs, vol. i., pp. 155, 174.

( 9) War Records, vol. iv., pp. 349, 358.

(10) The Seventeenth Brigade consisted of the 3d, 10th and 13th Ohio, and 15th Kentucky.—War Records., vol. vii., p. 476.

(11) Ibid., p. 479.

(12) Colonel Terry was a brother of David S. Terry, who, while Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of California, killed David C. Broderick, then a United States Senator, in a duel at Lake Merced, Cal.

Davis S. Terry, for alleged grievances growing out of a decision of the U. S. Circuit Court of California against his wife (formerly Sarah Althea Hill), setting aside an alleged declaration of marriage between the late millionaire, Senator Wm. Sharon and herself, in a railroad dining-room at Lathrop, Cal. (August 14, 1889), assaulted Justice Stephen J. Field, of the Supreme Court of the United States, and was himself twice shot and instantly killed by David Neagle, a deputy marshal, who accompanied Justice Field to protect him from threatened assaults of the Terrys. The Supreme Court, on habeas corpus, discharged Neagle from state custody, where held for trial charged with Terry's murder. Justice Lamar and Chief-Justice Fuller, adhering to effete state-rights notions, denied the right to so discharge him, holding he should answer for shooting Terry to state authority, that the Federal Government was powerless to protect its marshals from prosecution for necessary acts done by them in defence of its courts, judges or justices while engaged in the performance of duty.—In re Neagle, 135 U. S., 1, 52, 76.

(13) War Records, vol. vii., pp. 82, 102, 108.

(14) Only two other orders were issued (March 8, 1862) denominated "President's General War Orders"; one relates to the organization of McClellan's army into corps, and the other to its movement to the Peninsula and the security of Washington.—Mess. and Papers of the Presidents, vol. vi., p. 110.

(15) The taking by Captain Wilkes (Nov. 8, 1861) from the British steamer Trent of the Confederate commissioners, Mason and Slidell, came so near causing a war with England, although they were, with an apology, surrendered (January 1, 1862) to British authority, that great fear existed that something would produce a foreign war and consequent intervention.

(16) War Records, vol. vii., p. 155.

(17) Ibid., vol. viii., p. 555.

(18) Grant estimates his own force on the surrender of the fort at 27,000, but not all available for attack, and the number of Confederates on the day preceding at 21,000—Memoirs of Grant, vol. i., p. 314.

(19) War Records, vol. viii., pp. 160, 167.

(20) War Records, vol. vii., pp. 269, 283, 288.

(21) Ibid., pp. 274, 254.

(22) War Records, vol. vii., pp. 167, 270.

(23) Ibid., pp. 269, 283, 288.

(24) General Beatty accuses me, justly, of depriving him, at Bell's Tavern when very hungry, of a supper, by too freely commenting, when we were seated at the mess-table, on the soupy character and the color of the mule hairs in the coffee.—Citizen Soldier, p. 106.

(25) War Records, vol. vii., pp. 426, 433.

(26) Forrest's Rep., Ibid., vol. vii., p. 429.

(27) War Records, vol. vii., pp. 619-621, 624.

(28) Grant's Memoirs, vol. i., p. 320.

(29) Grant was born April 27, 1822, at Point Pleasant, Clermont Co., Ohio.

(30) Grant's Memoirs, vol. i, p. 326; War Records, vol. vii., pp. 683-3.

(31) War Records, vol. vii., p. 853.

CHAPTER VI Battle of Shiloh—Capture of Island No. 10—Halleck's Advance on Corinth, and Other Events

General Albert Sidney Johnston, while at Murfreesboro (February 3, 1862) assumed full command of the Central Army, Western Department, and commenced its reorganization for active field work, and on the 27th commenced moving it, with a view to concentrate to Corinth, Miss.( 1)

General P. G. T. Beauregard, March 5th, assumed command of the Army of the Mississippi. On the 29th the Confederate armies of Kentucky and the Mississippi were consolidated at Corinth under the latter designation, Johnston in chief command, with Beauregard as second, and Generals Leonidas Polk, Braxton Bragg, Wm. J. Hardee, and Geo. B. Crittenden, respectively, commanding corps. Later, General John C. Breckinridge was assigned to the Reserve Corps, relieving Crittenden. The total strength of this army was 59,774, and present for duty (April 3d) 49,444.( 2) This was, then, the most formidable and best officered and organized army of the Confederacy for active field operations. To confront this large force there was the Army of the Tennessee, with an aggregate present for duty of 44,895, of all arms.( 3) Grant had sixty-two pieces of artillery, and his troops consisted of five divisions commanded, respectively, by Generals John A. McClernand, W. H. L. Wallace, Lew Wallace, Stephen A. Hurlburt, W. T. Sherman, and B. M. Prentiss.

On April 3, 1862, the Army of the Mississippi was started for Shiloh, about twenty miles distant, under a carefully prepared field-order, assigning to each corps its line of march and place of assembling and giving general and detailed instructions for the expected battle, the purpose being to surprise the Union army at daylight on Saturday, the 5th. Hardee's corps constituted the left of the Confederate army, and on reaching the battle-ground his left was to rest on Owl Creek, a tributary of Snake Creek, his right extending toward Lick Creek. Bragg's corps constituted the Confederate right, its right to rest on Lick Creek. Both these corps were to be formed for the battle in two lines, 1000 yards apart, the right wing of each corps to form the front line. Polk's corps was to move behind the two corps mentioned, and mass in column and halt on the Back Road, as a reserve. The Reserve Corps under Breckinridge was ordered to concentrate at Monterey and there take position from whence to advance, as required, on either the direct road to Pittsburg Landing or to Hamburg. Other instructions were given for detachments of this army. The order was to make every effort in the approaching battle to turn the left of the Union Army, cut it off from the Tennessee, and throw it back on Owl Creek, and there secure its surrender.( 4)

Johnston issued this address:

"Soldiers of the Army of the Mississippi:

"I have put you in motion to offer battle to the invaders of your country. With the resolution and disciplined valor becoming men fighting, as you are, for all worth living or dying for, you cannot but march to decisive victory over agrarian mercenaries, sent to subjugate and despoil you of your liberties, property, and honor. Remember the precious stake involved. Remember the dependence of your mothers, your wives, your sisters, and your children on the result. Remember the fair, broad, abounding land, the happy homes, and ties that will be desolated by your defeat. The eyes and hopes of 8,000,000 of people rest upon you. You are expected to show yourselves worthy of your valor and lineage; worthy of the women of the South, whose noble devotion in this war has never been exceeded in any time. With such incentives to brave deeds and with the trust that God is with us, your generals will lead you confidently to the combat, assured of success."

Five of Grant's divisions were encamped at or in front of Pittsburg Landing, between Owl and Lick Creeks; Sherman's division (except Stuart's brigade) being in front, near and to the right of Shiloh Church, was most advanced. McClernand's division was located about one half mile to his rear, covering his left. Prentiss' division lay within about one half mile (a little retired) of McClernand's left in the direction of the mouth of Lick Creek, and Stuart's brigade was still to Prentiss' left on the Hamburg road. Hurlburt's and Smith's divisions—the latter on the right, commanded on the field by General W. H. L. Wallace in consequence of Smith's absence at Savannah sick—were about a mile in rear of McClernand and Prentiss, and about three quarters of a mile from Pittsburg Landing.( 5)

Lew Wallace's division, numbering present for duty 7302 men, with ten pieces of artillery, was near Crump's Landing on the west bank of the Tennessee, five miles below Pittsburg Landing and four miles above Savannah.( 6)

By a straight line Savannah is seven miles below Pittsburg Landing. Hamburg is four miles above this landing, on the same side of the river and above the mouth of Lick Creek. Shiloh Church, a log structure about two and a half miles from the river, gave the name to the battle.

We left Buell's army at Nashville. It remained there from February 25 to March 15, 1862, when his cavalry started for Savannah, where the Army of the Tennessee was then partially assembled under General C. F. Smith. Halleck had, March 4th, relieved Grant from any active command in the field, and ordered him to place Smith in command of the "expedition," and himself to remain at Fort Henry. Grant chafed much under this treatment, and repeatedly asked to be relived of further service under Halleck. Grant's recent success at Forts Henry and Donelson, and his exceptional character for assuming responsibilities and fighting, led to a public demand for his restoration, which reached Washington and Halleck, and forced the latter, on the 13th of March, to restore him to the command of his army and district. Grant reached Savannah on the 17th of March, and found Smith fatally ill, and a portion of the troops already at Pittsburg Landing on the west bank of the Tennessee. He subsequently ordered other divisions to the Landing, and although the question of intrenching was considered, his chief engineer officer, Colonel (afterwards Major-General) James B. McPherson, reported against the necessity or practicability of employing the raw troops in constructing defensive works. It was decided the undisciplined and undrilled soldiers (as most of them were) could be better prepared for the impending campaign by drilling them.

Grant made his headquarters at Savannah (east of the Tennessee), leaving Sherman in charge of that portion of the army in front of Pittsburg Landing.

Besides some troops of Buell's army who were left to hold Nashville, Mitchel's division was detached to operate on a line through Murfreesboro south into Alabama or to Chattanooga, as might seem best.

McCook's division left Nashville March 16th, following the cavalry, and other divisions of Buell's army followed at intervals. At Columbia, Tennessee, McCook was detained, reconstructing a burned bridge over Duck River, until the 30th. Nelson reached this river, and by fording crossed his division on the 29th, and was then given the advance. Buell did not hasten his march nor did Grant, it would seem, regard his early arrival important. The purpose was to concentrate the Army of the Ohio at Savannah, not earlier than Sunday and Monday, the 6th and 7th of April.

Nelson's division reached there the evening of the 5th, of which Grant had notice. Buell arrived about the same time, but did not report his arrival, or attempt to do so until 8 A.M. the 6th, when Grant had gone to Pittsburg Landing to take personal command in the battle then raging with great fury.

It is well to remember that General Grant, on whom the responsibility of the campaign and impending conflict rested, had been actually present with his army but twenty days when the battle commenced; that he did not select the position of the advance divisions of his army, and could not, if he had chosen to do so, have changed the place of the junction of Buell's army with his, as Halleck had fixed upon Savannah as that place, and Buell was slowly marching towards it before Grant's arrival there.

The unfriendly disposition of Halleck and the lack of cordiality of Buell towards Grant made matters extremely embarrassing. Buell was Grant's junior, but he had commanded a department for a considerable time while Grant only commanded a district, and this alone may account for a natural reluctance on Buell's part to serve under him. Had Buell's army arrived promptly on the Tennessee, the battle of Shiloh would not have been fought, as both Johnston and Beauregard determined the attack was only practicable before Grant's and Buell's armies united.

Grant was seriously injured, after dark on the 4th of April, while returning to Pittsburg Landing in a rain storm from investigating some unusual picket firing at the front. His horse had fallen on him, injuring his leg and spraining an ankle so much that his boot had to be cut off. He was unable to walk without the aid of crutches for some days after the battle.( 7)

In the controversy as to whether the Union Army at Shiloh was surprised on the morning of the first day I do not care to enter. The testimony of Sherman and his brigade commander, General Ralph P. Buckland, as well as that of Grant, will all of whom I have conversed on this point, should be taken as conclusive, that as early as the 4th of April they knew of the presence of considerable organizations of Confederate cavalry, and that on the evening of the 5th they had encountered such numbers of the enemy as to satisfy the Union officers on the field that the enemy contemplated making an attack; yet it is quite certain these officers did not know on the evening of April 5th that the splendidly officered and organized Confederate Army was in position in front and close up to Shiloh Church as a centre, in full array, with a definite plan, fully understood by all its officers, for a battle on the morrow. Nothing had gone amiss in Johnston's plan, save the loss of one day, which postponed the opening of the attack from dawn of Saturday to the same time on Sunday. The friends of the Confederacy will never cease to deplore the loss, on the march from Corinth of this one day. Many yet pretend to think the fate of slavery and the Confederacy turned on it. Grant was not quite so well prepared for battle on Saturday as on Sunday, and no part of the Army of the Ohio could or would have come to his aid sooner than Sunday. Grant, however, says he did not despair of success without Buell's army,( 7)

Grant, when the battle opened, was nine miles by boat from Pittsburg Landing, which was at least two more miles from Shiloh Church, where the battle opened. Up to the morning of the battle he had apprehensions that an attack might be made on Crump's Landing, Lew Wallace's position, with a view to the destruction of the Union stores and transports.( 7) He heard the first distant sound of battle while at Savannah eating breakfast,( 7) and by dispatch-boat hastened to reach his already fiercely assailed troops, pausing only long enough to order Nelson to march to Pittsburg Landing and, while en route, to direct Wallace, at Crump's Landing, to put his division under arms ready for any orders. Certain it is that the Union division commanders at Shiloh did not, on retiring the night of the 5th, anticipate a general attack on the next morning. They took, doubtless, the usual precautions against the ordinary surprise of pickets, grand-guards, and outposts, but they made no preparation for a general battle, the more necessary as three of the five divisions had never been under fire, and most of them had little, if any, drill in manoeuvres or loading and firing, and few of the officers had hitherto heard the thunder of an angry cannon- shot or the whistle of a dangerous bullet. But it may be said the private soldiers of the Confederate Army were likewise inexperienced and illy disciplined. In a large sense this was true, though many more of the Confederate regiments had been longer subjected to drill and discipline than of the Union regiments, and they had great confidence in their corps and division commanders, many of whom had gained considerable celebrity in the Mexican and Indian Wars.

The corps organization of the Confederate Army, in addition to the division, gave more general officers and greater compactness in the handling of a large army. At this time corps were unknown in the Union Army. And of still higher importance was the fact that one army came out prepared and expecting battle, with all its officers thoroughly instructed in advance as to what was expected, and the other, without such preparation, expectancy, or instruction, found itself suddenly involved against superior numbers in what proved to be the greatest battle thus far fought on the American continent. The Confederate hosts in the early morning moved to battle along their entire front with the purpose of turning either flank of the imperfectly connected Union divisions, but their efforts were, in no substantial sense, successful. The reckless and impetuous assaults, however, drove back, at first precipitately, then more slowly, the advance Union divisions, though at no time without fearful losses to the Confederates. These heavy losses made it necessary soon to draw on the Confederate reserves. The Union commanders took advantage of the undulations of the ground, and the timber, to protect their men, often posting a line in the woods on the edge of fields to the front, thus compelling their foes to advance over open ground exposed to a deadly fire. The early superiority of the attacking army wore gradually away, and while it continued to gain ground its dead and wounded were numerous and close behind it, causing, doubtless, many to straggle or stop to care for their comrades. It has been charged that much disorganization arose from the pillage of the Union captured camps. The divisions of Hurlburt and W. H. L. Wallace were soon, with the reserve artillery, actively engaged, and, save for a brief period, about 5 P.M., and immediately after, and in consequence of the capture at that hour of Prentiss and about 2000 of his division, a continuous Union line from Owl Creek to Lick Creek or the Tennessee was maintained intact, though often retired.

In the afternoon, so desperate had grown the Confederate situation, and so anxious was Johnston to destroy the Union Army before night and reinforcements came, that he led a brigade in person to induce it to charge as ordered, during which he received a wound in the leg, which, for want of attention, shortly proved fatal. To his fall is attributed the ultimate Confederate defeat, though his second, Beauregard, had written and was familiar with the order of battle, and had then much reputation as a field general. He had, in part at least, commanded at Bull Run. Beauregard now assumed command, and continued the attack persistently until night came. No reinforcements arrived for either army in time for the Sunday battle. Through some misunderstanding of orders, and without any indisposition on his part, General Lew Wallace did not reach the battle-field until night, and after the exhausted condition of the troops of both armies had ended the first day's conflict. The Army of the Tennessee, with a principal division away, had nobly and heroically met the hosts which sought to overwhelm it; some special disasters had befallen two of its five divisions in the battle; General W. H. L. Wallace was mortally wounded, and Prentiss captured, both division commanders; the Union losses in officers and men were otherwise great, probably reaching 7000 (first day of battle), yet when night came the depleted Army of the Tennessee stood firmly at bay about two miles in rear of its most advanced line of the morning. Colonel Webster, of Grant's staff, had massed, near and above Pittsburg Landing, about twenty pieces of artillery (pointed generally south and southwest) on the crest of a ridge just to the north of a deep ravine extending across the Union left and into the Tennessee. Hurburt's division was next on the right of this artillery, extending westward almost at right angles with the river. A few troops were placed between the artillery and the river. The gunboats Tyler and Lexington, commanded, respectively, by naval Lieutenants Grim and Shirk, were close to the mouth of the ravine, and when the last desperate attack came their fire materially aided in repulsing it. Next on Hurlburt's right came McClernand's division, also extending westward; then Sherman's, making almost a right angle by extending its right northward towards Snake Creek, to the overflowed lands and swamp just below the mouth of Owl Creek. Broken portions of other divisions and organizations were intermixed in this line, the three divisions named being the only ones on the field still intact.( 8) In this position Grant's army received at sunset and repelled the last Confederate assault, hurling back, for the last time on that memorable Sunday, the assailing hosts. Dismayed, disappointed, disheartened, if not defeated, the Confederate Army was withdrawn for bivouac for the night to the region of the Union camps of the morning. After firing had ceased, Lew Wallace reached the field on Sherman's right.

It is known that many stragglers appeared during the day in the rear of the Union Army, and soon assembled near the Tennessee in considerable numbers. The troops were new and undisciplined, and it was consequently hard for the officers to maintain the organizations and keep the men in line; but it is doubtful whether the number of stragglers, considering the character of the battle, was greater than usual, and they were not greater than, if as great as, in the rear of the Confederate Army. An advancing and apparently successful army in battle usually has comparatively few stragglers in the rear, but the plan of fighting adopted by Johnston and Beauregard, in masses, often in close column by regiments, proved so destructive of life as to cause brave men to shrink from the repeated attacks.

However, the gallantry displayed by the attacking force, and the stubborn defensive battle maintained by the Union Army, have seldom, if ever, been excelled or equalled by veteran troops in any war by any race or in any age.

Union officers of high rank may perhaps be justly criticised for not having been better prepared for the battle by intrenchments, concentration, etc., but certainly both officers and soldiers deserve high commendation for their heroic, bloody, and successful resistance after the conflict began. About twenty-five per cent. of those actually engaged fell dead or wounded, and at least a like number of the enemy was disabled. Napoleon fought no single battle in one day where the proportionate losses, dead and wounded, in either contending army were so great; and no battle of modern times shows so great a proportionate loss in the numerically weaker army, which was forced to retire steadily during an entire day, and yet at night was still defiantly standing and delivering battle, and its commander giving orders to assume the offensive at dawn on the morrow.

Grant was not perfection as a soldier at Shiloh, but who else would or could have done so well? If not a war genius, he was the personification of dogged, obstinate persistency, never allowing a word of discouragement or doubt to escape during the entire day, not even to his personal staff, though suffering excruciating pain from the recent injury from the fall of his horse. To him and to the valor of his officers and soldiers the country owes much for a timely victory, though won at great cost of life and limb. To him and them are due praise, not blame.

Thus far the Army of the Ohio is given no credit for participation in the Sunday battle. Buell and Nelson's division of that army were at Savannah on the evening of the 5th, but Buell refrained from attempting to report his presence to Grant until the next morning. Grant had then departed for the battle-field. Grant was eating his breakfast at Savannah when the battle opened, and at first determined to find Buell before going to his army; but the sound of guns was so continuous, he felt that he should not delay a moment, and hence left a note for Buell asking him to hasten with his reinforcements to Pittsburg Landing, gave an order for Nelson to march at once, and then proceeded by boat up the river. Buell, after reiterating Grant's instructions to Nelson to march to opposite the Landing, himself about noon proceeded by boat to that place with his chief of staff, Colonel James B. Fry.( 9)

Buell seems to have been much impressed by the number and temper of the stragglers he saw on his arrival, and he made some inquiry as to Grant's preparations for the retreat of his army. Grant, learning that Buell was on board a steamboat at the Landing, sought him there, hastily explained the situation and the necessity for reinforcements, and again departed for the battle-field. He had before that been in the thick of the fight, where his sword and scabbard had been shot away. Not until 1 or 1.30 P.M.( 9) did the head of Nelson's column move, Ammen's brigade leading, for Pittsburg Landing, and then by a swampy river road over which artillery could not be hauled. The artillery went later by boat. At 5 or 6 P.M. the advance,—eight companies of the 36th Indiana (Col. W. Grose)—reached a point on the river opposite the Landing. These companies were speedily taken across the Tennessee in steamboats and marched immediately, less than a quarter of a mile to the left of the already massed artillery, to the support of Grant's army, then engaged in its struggle to repel the last assault of the Confederates for the day. Other regiments (6th Ohio, Colonel N. L. Anderson, 24th Ohio, Colonel F. C. Jones) of Ammen's brigade followed closely, but only the 36th Indiana participated in the engagement then about spent. This regiment lost one man killed.(10) The expected arrival of the Army of the Ohio and the presence of such of it as arrived may have had a good moral effect, but its late coming gives to it little room to claim any credit for the result of the first day's battle.

As always, those who only see the rear of an army during a battle gain from the sight and statements of the demoralized stragglers exaggerated notions of the condition and situation of those engaged. That Grant's army was in danger, and in sore need of reinforcements, cannot be doubted. That the Confederate Army had been fearfully punished in the first day's fighting is certain. Beauregard reports that he could not, on Monday, bring 20,000 men into action (11)— less than half the number Johnston had when the battle began. The arrival of Nelson's and Lew Wallace's divisions six hours earlier would have given a different aspect, probably, to the fist day's battle. The Army of the Ohio was then composed, generally, of better equipped, better disciplined and older troops, though unused to battle, than the majority of those of the Army of the Tennessee.

Though night had come, dark and rainy, when the four divisions of Buell's army reached the west bank of the Tennessee, and Lew Wallace's division arrived on the right, Grant directed the ground in front to be examined and the whole army to be put in readiness to assume the offensive at daybreak next morning. Wallace was pushed forward on the extreme right above the mouth of Owl Creek, and Sherman, McClernand, and Hurlbut, in the order named, on Wallace's left, then McCook (A. McD.),(12) Crittenden (Thomas T.), and Nelson (Wm.) were assigned positions in the order named, from Hurlburt to the left, Nelson on the extreme left, well out towards Lick Creek; all advanced (save McCook) during the night a considerable distance from the position of the Army of the Tennessee at the close of the battle.(13)

Buell's artillery arrived and went into battery during the night. General George H. Thomas' division and one brigade of General Thomas J. Wood's division did not arrive in time for the battle. There were present, commanding brigades in the Army of the Ohio, Brigadier- Generals Lovell H. Rosseau, J. T. Boyle, Colonels Jacob Ammen, W. Sooy Smith, W. N. Kirk (34th Illinois), and William H. Gibson (49th Ohio). These Colonels became, later, general officers.

Soon after 5 o'clock in the morning the entire Union Army went forward, gaining ground steadily until 6 A.M., when the strong lines of Beauregard's army with his artillery in position were reached, and the battle became general and raged with more or less fury throughout the greater part of the day, and until the Confederate Army was beaten back at all points, with the loss of some guns and prisoners, besides killed and wounded. The last stand of the enemy was made about 3 P.M. in front of Sherman's camp preceding the first day's battle. Both Grant and Buell accompanied the troops, often personally directing the attacks, as did division and brigade commanders. Grant, late in the day, near Shiloh Church, rode with a couple of regiments to the edge of a clearing and ordered them to "Charge." They responded with a yell and a run across the opening, causing the enemy to break and disperse. This practically ended the two days' memorable battle at the old log church where it began.(14)

The Confederate Army of the Mississippi which came, but four days before, so full of hope and confidence, from its intrenched camp at Corinth, was soon in precipitate retreat. Its commander was dead; many of its best officers were killed or wounded; its columns were broken and demoralized; much of its material was gone; hope and confidence were dissipated, yet it maintained an orderly retreat to its fortifications at Corinth. Beauregard claimed for it some sort of victory.(15)

From Monterey, on the 8th of April, Beauregard addressed Grant a note saying that in consequence of the exhausted condition of his forces by the extraordinary length of the battle, he had withdrawn them from the conflict, and asking permission to send a mounted party to the battle-field to bury the dead, to be accompanied by certain gentlemen desiring to remove the bodies of their sons and friends. To this Grant responded that, owing to the warmth of the weather, he had caused the dead of both sides to be buried immediately.(16)

The total losses, both days, in the Army of the Tennessee, were 87 officers and 1426 enlisted men killed, 336 officers and 6265 enlisted men wounded, total killed and wounded 8114. The captured and missing were 115 officers and 2318 men, total 2433, aggregate casualties, 10,547.(16)

The total losses in the Army of the Ohio were 17 officers and 224 privates killed, 92 officers and 1715 privates wounded, total 2048. The captured were 55.(16) The grand total of the two Union armies killed, wounded, captured, or missing, 12,650.

The first reports of casualties are usually in part estimated, and not accurate for want of full information. The foregoing statement of losses is given from revised lists. Grant's statement of losses does not materially differ from the above.(17)

The losses of the Confederate Army in the two days' battle, as stated in Beauregard's report of April 11th, were, killed 1728, wounded 8012; total killed and wounded, 9740, missing 959, grand total, 10,699.(16) Grant claimed that Beauregard's report was inaccurate, as above 1728 were buried, by actual count, in front of Sherman's and McClernand's divisions alone. The burial parties estimated the number killed at 4000.(17)

Besides Johnston, the army commander, there were many Confederate officers killed and wounded. Hon. George W. Johnson, then assuming to act as (Confederate) Provisional Governor of Kentucky, was killed while fighting in the ranks on the second day; General Gladden was killed the first day, and Generals Cheatham, Clark, Hindman, B. R. Johnson, and Bowen were wounded.

Thenceforth during the war there was little boasting of the superior fighting qualities of Southern over Northern soldiers. Both armies fought with a courage creditable to their race and nationality. Americans may always be relied upon to do this when well commanded. I have already taken more space than I originally intended in giving the salient features of the battle of Shiloh, and I cannot now pursue the campaign further than to say General Halleck arrived at Pittsburg Landing April 11th, and assumed command, for the first and only time in the field. He soon drew to him a third army (Army of the Mississippi), about 30,000 strong, under General John Pope.

Island No. 10, in the bend of the Mississippi above New Madrid, was occupied early by the Confederates with a strong force, well fortified, with the hope that it could be held and thus close the Mississippi River against the Union forces from the North. Early after Fort Donelson was taken, Flag Officer Foote took his fleet of gunboats into the Mississippi, and in conjunction with the army under General John Pope sought the capture of the island. Pope moved about 20,000 men to Point Pleasant, on the west bank of the river, March 6, 1862, which compelled the Confederates, on the 14th, to evacuate New Madrid, on the same side of the river, about ten miles above Point Pleasant and the same distance below the island. Pope cut, or "sawed," a canal from a point above Island No. 10 through a wood to Wilson's and St. John's Bayou, leading to New Madrid.(18) The position of the Confederates was still so strong with their batteries and redoubts on the eastern shore of the river that Pope with his army alone could not take it. Attacks were made with the gunboats from the north, but they failed to dislodge the enemy. Foote, though requested by Pope, did not think it possible for a gunboat to steam past the batteries and go to the assistance of the army at Point Pleasant. With the assistance of gunboats Pope could cross his army to the east side and thus cut off all supplies for the Confederate Army on the island. Captain Henry Walke, U.S.N., having expressed a willingness to attempt to pass the island and batteries with the Carondelet, was given orders to do so. He accordingly made ready, taking on board Captain Hottenstein and twenty-three sharpshooters of the 42d Illinois. The sailors were all armed; hand-grenades were placed within reach, and hoses were attached to the boilers for throwing scalding water to drive off boarding parties. Thus prepared, the Carondelet, on the night of April 4th, "in the black shadow of a thunderstorm," safely passed the island and batteries. It was fired on, but reached New Madrid without the loss of a man. The Pittsburg, under Lieutenant-Commander Thompson, in like manner ran the gauntlet without injury, also in a thunderstorm, April 7th. These two gunboats the same day attacked successfully the Confederate batteries on the east shore and covered the crossing of Pope's army. Seeing that escape was not possible, the garrison on the island surrendered to Flag Officer Foote on April 7th, the same day the Confederates were driven from the field of Shiloh. Pope pursued and captured, on the morning of the 8th, nearly all the retreating troops. General W. W. Mackall, commanding at Island No. 10, and two other general officers, over 5000 men, 20 pieces of heavy artillery, 7000 stand of arms, and quantities of ammunition and provisions were taken without the loss of a Union soldier.(19)

Not until April 30th did Halleck's army move on Corinth. Grant, though nominally in command of the right wing, was little more than an observer, as orders were not even sent through him to that wing. For thirty days Halleck moved and intrenched, averaging not to exceed two thirds of a mile a day, until he entered Corinth, May 30th, to find it completely evacuated. He commenced at once to build fortifications for 100,000 men. But the dispersion of this grand army soon commenced; the Army of the Ohio (Buell's) was sent east along the line of the Memphis and Charleston Railroad, with orders to repair the road as it proceeded. We shall soon meet this army and narrate its future movements to the Ohio River—in retreat after Bragg's army.

Grant, chafing under his treatment, on Corinth being occupied, at his own request was relieved from any duty in Halleck's department. Later, on Sherman's advice, he decided to remain, but to transfer his headquarters to Memphis, to which place he started, June 21st, on horseback with a small escort.

Halleck was, July 11, 1862, notified of his own appointment to the command of all the armies, with headquarters at Washington. Grant was therefore recalled to Corinth again. He reached that place and took command, July 15th, Halleck departing two days later, never again to take the field in person. The latter was not under fire during the war, nor did he ever command an army in battle. We here leave Grant and his brilliant career in the West. We shall speak of him soon again, and still later when in command of all the armies of the Union (Halleck included), but with headquarters in the field with the Army of the Potomac.

( 1) War Records, vol. vii., pp. 904, 911.

( 2) Ibid., vol. x., Part I., p. 398 (396).

( 3) Ibid., vol. x., Part I., p. 112.

( 4) War Records, vol. x., Part I., pp. 392-7.

( 5) War Records, atlas, Plate XII.

( 6) Ibid., vol. x., Part I., p. 112.

( 7) Battles and Leaders, vol. i., p. 466.

( 8) For maps showing positions of troops of each army both days see Battles and Leaders, vol. i., pp. 470, 508.

( 9) General Ammen's diary, Nelson's and Ammen's reports, War Records, vol. x., Part I., pp. 323, 328, 332.

(10) Ammen, Ibid., vol. x., Part I., pp. 334,337.

(11) War Records, vol. x., Part I., p. 391 (398).

(12) McCook did not arrive until early on the 7th. War Records, vol. x., Part I., p. 293.

(13) Official map, Battles and Leaders, vol. i., p. 598.

(14) Grant's Memoirs, vol. i., p. 351.

(15) War Records, vol. x., Part II., pp. 384-5, 424, 482 (407-8).

(16) War Records, vol. x., Part I., pp. 111, 105, 108, 391.

(17) Battles and Leaders, vol. i., p. 485.

(18) Battles and Leaders, vol. i., p. 460.

(19) Battles and Leaders, vol. i., pp. 446, etc.

CHAPTER VII Mitchel's Campaign to Northern Alabama—Andrews' Raid into Georgia, and Capture of a Locomotive—Affair at Bridgeport—Sacking of Athens, Alabama, and Court-Martial of Colonel Turchin—Burning of Paint Rock by Colonel Beatty—Other Incidents and Personal Mention —Mitchel Relieved

General Mitchel's division (to which I belonged) of the Army of the Ohio we left at Nashville, ready to move on an independent line. When the other divisions had started for Savannah, Mitchel, March 18, 1862, resumed his march southward, encamping the first night at Lavergne, fifteen miles from Nashville. The next day we marched on a road leading by old cotton fields, and felt we were in the heart of the slaveholding South. The slaves were of an apparently different type from those in Kentucky, though still of many shades of color, varying from pure African black to oily-white. The eye, in many instances, had to be resorted to, to decide whether there was any black blood in them. But these negroes were shrewd, and had the idea of liberty uppermost in their minds. They had heard that the Northern army was coming to make them free. Their masters had probably talked of this in their hearing. They believed the time for their freedom had come. Untutored as they all were, they understood somehow they were the cause of the war. As our column advanced, regardless of sex, and in families, they abandoned the fields and their homes, turning their backs on master and mistress, many bearing their bedding, clothing, and other effects on their heads and backs, and came to the roadsides, shouting and singing a medley of songs of freedom and religion, confidently expecting to follow the army to immediate liberty. Their number were so great we marched for a good part of a day between almost continuous lines of them. Their disappointment was sincere and deep when told they must return to their homes: that the Union Army could not take them. Of course some never returned, but the mass of them did, and remained until the final decree of the war was entered and their chains fell off, never to be welded in America on their race again. They shouted "Glory" on seeing the Stars and Stripes, as though it had been a banner of protection and liberty, instead of the emblem of a power which hitherto had kept them and their ancestors in bondage. The "old flag" has a peculiar charm for those who have served under it. It was noticeable that wherever we marched in the South, particularly in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia, we found men at the roadside who had fought in the Mexican War, often with tears streaming down their cheeks, who professed sincere loyalty to the flag and the Union.

We reached Murfreesboro on the 20th without a fight, the small Confederate force retiring and destroying bridges as we advanced.

The division was kept busy in repairing the railroad, and especially in rebuilding the recently destroyed railroad bridge near Murfreesboro across Stone's River. I worked industriously in charge of a detail of soldiers on this bridge. In ten days it was rebuilt, though the heavy timbers had to be cut and hewed from green timber in the nearby woods. The Union Army never called in vain for expert mechanics, civil or locomotive engineers.