"Sons of the Saints who faced their Jordan flood,In fierce Atlantic's unretreating wave—Who by the Red Sea of their glorious bloodReached to the Freedom that your blood shall save!O, countrymen! God's day is not yet done!He leaveth not his people utterly!Count it a covenant, that he leads us onBeneath the clouds and through the crimson sea?
"Sons of the Saints who faced their Jordan flood,In fierce Atlantic's unretreating wave—Who by the Red Sea of their glorious bloodReached to the Freedom that your blood shall save!O, countrymen! God's day is not yet done!He leaveth not his people utterly!Count it a covenant, that he leads us onBeneath the clouds and through the crimson sea?
"Sons of the Saints who faced their Jordan flood,In fierce Atlantic's unretreating wave—Who by the Red Sea of their glorious bloodReached to the Freedom that your blood shall save!
O, countrymen! God's day is not yet done!He leaveth not his people utterly!Count it a covenant, that he leads us onBeneath the clouds and through the crimson sea?
MAJOR-GENERAL BUTTERFIELD.
MAJOR-GENERAL BUTTERFIELD.
The Work of Sunday Night—Landing of Buell's Troops—Effect of the Bombardment—Lack of System in the Union Army—Renewing the Battle—A Change of Tactics—Turning the Tide—Crittenden's Advance—The Advance at the Centre—A Grand Parade on the Field of War—Redeeming the Losses of Sunday—Facing the Louisiana Troops—Silencing the Battery—End of the Great Struggle.
The Work of Sunday Night—Landing of Buell's Troops—Effect of the Bombardment—Lack of System in the Union Army—Renewing the Battle—A Change of Tactics—Turning the Tide—Crittenden's Advance—The Advance at the Centre—A Grand Parade on the Field of War—Redeeming the Losses of Sunday—Facing the Louisiana Troops—Silencing the Battery—End of the Great Struggle.
After giving the roll of the Federal troops engaged at Shiloh, "Agate" concludes his remarkable narrative as follows:
With the exception of the gunboat bombardment, the night seemed to have passed in entire quiet. A heavy thunder-storm had come up about midnight, and though we were all shivering over the ducking, the surgeons assured us that a better thing could not have happened. The ground, they said, was covered with wounded not yet found, or whom we were unable to bring from the field. The moisture would to some extent cool the burning, parching thirst, which is one of the chief terrors of lying wounded and helpless on the battle-field, and the falling water was the best dressing for the wounds.
The regiments of Buell's Divisions were still disembarking at the Landing. Many had taken their places, therest hurried out as fast as they landed, and fell in, to the rear of their brigade-lines, for reserves. I stood for a few moments at the Landing, curious to see how these fine fellows would march out to the field where they knew reverses had crowded so thickly upon us the day before, and where many of them must lie down to sleep his last sleep ere the sun, then rising, should sink again. There was little of that vulgar vanity of valor which was so conspicuous in all the movements of our rawer troops eight or nine months ago. There was no noisy and senseless yelling, no shouting of boasts, no calling on on-lookers, to "show us where the cowardly Secesh is, and we'll clean 'em out double-quick." These men understood the work before them; they went to it as brave men should, determinedly, hopefully, calmly.
It soon became evident that the gunboat bombardment through the night had not been without a most important effect in changing the conditions under which we renewed the struggle. The sun had gone down with the enemy's lines clasping us tightly on the centre and left, pushing us to the river, and leaving us little over half a mile out of all the broad space we had held in the morning. The gunboats had cut the coils, and loosened the constriction. As we soon learned, their shells had made the old position on our extreme left, which the Rebels had been pleasantly occupying, utterly untenable. Instead of being able to slip up on us through the night, as they had probably intended, they were compelled to fall back from point to point; each time as they had found places, they thought, out of range, a shell would come dropping in. Nowhere within range could they lie, but the troublesome visitors would find them out; and to end the matter, they fell back beyond our inner camps, and thus lost more than half theground they had gained by our 4 o'clock retreat the afternoon before.
Less easily accounted for was a movement of theirs on our right. They had held here a steep bluff covered with underbrush, as their advanced line. Through the night they abandoned this, which gave them the best position for opposing Lew. Wallace, and had fallen back across some open fields to the scrub-oak woods beyond. The advantage of compelling our advance over unprotected openings, while they maintained a sheltered position, was obvious, but certainly not so great as holding a height which artillery and infantry would make as difficult to take as many a fort. Nevertheless they fell back.
The reader who is patient enough to wade through this narration, will scarcely fail to observe that thus far I have said little or nothing of any plan of attack or defence among our commanders. It has been simply because I have failed to see any evidence of such a plan. To me it seemed on Sunday as if every Division General at least—not to say in many cases, every individual soldier—imitated the good old Israelitish plan of action, by which every man did what seemed good in his own eyes. There may have been an infinite amount of generalship displayed, in superintending our various defeats and re-formations and retreats, but to me it seemed of that microscopic character that required the magnifying powers of a special permit for exclusive newspaper telegraphing on government lines to discover.
Sunday night there was a council of war, but if the Major-General commanding developed any plans there, beyond the simple arrangement of our line of battle, I am very certain that some of the Division Commanders didn't find it out. Stubborn fighting alone delayed our losses on Sunday;stubborn fighting alone saved us when we had reached the point beyond which came the child's "jumping-off place;" and stubborn fight, with such generalship as individual Division Commanders displayed, regained on Monday what we had lost before.
To those who had looked despairingly at the prospects Sunday evening, it seemed strange that the Rebels did not open out on us by daybreak again. Their retreat before the bomb-shells of the gunboats, however, explained the delay. Our own divisions were put in motion almost simultaneously. By seven o'clock Lew. Wallace opened the ball by shelling, from the positions he had selected the night before, the Rebel battery, of which mention has been made. A brisk artillery duel, a rapid movement of infantry across a shallow ravine, as if to storm, and the Rebels enfiladed and menaced in front, limbered up and made the opening of their Monday's retreating.
To the left we were slower in finding the enemy. They had been compelled to travel some distance to get out of gunboat range. Nelson moved his division about the same time Wallace opened on the Rebel battery, forming in line of battle, Ammon's Brigade on the extreme left, Bruce's in the centre, and Hazen's to the left. Skirmishers were thrown out, and for nearly or quite a mile the division thus swept the country, pushing the outlying Rebels before it, till it came upon them in force. Then a general engagement broke out along the line, and again the rattle of musketry and thunder of artillery echoed over the late silent fields. There was no straggling this morning. These men were better drilled than many of those whose regiments had broken to pieces on the day before, and strict measures were taken, at any rate, to prevent the miscellaneous thronging back to places of safety in the rear.They stood up to their work and did their duty manfully. It soon became evident that, whether from change of commanders or some other cause, the Rebels were pursuing a different policy in massing their forces. On Sunday the heaviest fighting had been done on the left. This morning they seemed to make less determined resistance here, while toward the centre and right the ground was more obstinately contested, and the struggle longer prolonged.
Till half-past ten o'clock, Nelson advanced slowly but steadily, sweeping his long lines over the ground of our sore defeat on Sunday morning, and forward over scores of Rebel dead, resistlessly pressing back the jaded and wearied enemy. The Rebels had received but few reinforcements during the night, their men were exhausted with their desperate contest of the day before, and manifestly dispirited by the evident fact that notwithstanding their well-laid plans of destruction in detail, they were fighting Grant and Buell combined.
Gradually, as Nelson pushed forward his lines under heavy musketry, the enemy fell back, till about half-past ten, when, under cover of the heavy timber and a furious cannonading, they made a general rally. Our forces, flushed with their easy victory, were scarcely prepared for the sudden onset, where retreat had been all they had been seeing before. Suddenly, the Rebel masses were hurled against our lines with tremendous force. Our men halted, wavered, and fell back. At this juncture, Captain Terrill's regular battery came dashing up. Scarcely taking time to unlimber, he was loading and sighting his pieces before the caissons had turned, and in an instant was tossing shell from twenty-four pound howitzers into the compact and advancing Rebel ranks.
Here was the turning-point of the battle on the left. The Rebels were only checked, not halted. On they came. Horse after horse from the batteries were picked. Every private at one of the howitzers fell, and the gun was worked by Captain Terrill himself and a corporal. Still the Rebels advanced, till, in the very nick of time, a regiment dashed up from our line, and saved the disabled piece. Then for two hours artillery and musketry at close range. At last they began to waver. Our men pressed on, pouring in deadly volleys. Just then Buell, who assumed the general direction of his troops in the field, came up. At a glance he saw the chance. "Forward at double-quick by brigades!" Our men leaped forward as if they had been tied, and were only too much rejoiced at suddenly finding themselves able to move. For a quarter of a mile the Rebels fell back. Faster and faster they ran, less and less resistance was made to the advance. At last the front camps on the left were reached, and by half-past two that point was cleared. The Rebels had been steadily swept back over the ground they had won, with heavy loss as they fell into confusion; we had retaken all our own guns lost here the day before, and one or two from the Rebels were left as trophies, to tell in after days how bravely that great victory over treason in Tennessee was won.
I have sketched the advance of Nelson. Next to him came Crittenden. He, too, swept forward over his ground to the front some distance before finding the foe. Between 8 and 9 o'clock, however, while keeping Smith's Brigade on his left up even with Nelson's flank, and joining Boyle's Brigade to McCook on the right, in the grand advance, they came upon the enemy with a battery in position, and well supported. Smith dashed his brigade forward; there was sharp, close work with musketry, and the Rebels fled,leaving us three pieces—a twelve-pound howitzer, and two brass six-pounders. But they cost the gallant Thirteenth Ohio dear. Major Ben. Piatt Runkle fell, mortally wounded. Softly may he sleep, and green grow the laurels over his honored grave. None worthier wear them living.
For half an hour, perhaps, the storm raged around these captured guns. Then came the reflex Rebel wave that had hurled Nelson back. Crittenden, too, caught its full force. The Rebels swept up to the batteries, around them, and on down after our retreating column. But the two brigades, like those of Nelson to their left, took a fresh position, faced the foe, and held their ground. Mendenhall's and Bartlett's Batteries now began shelling the infantry that alone opposed them. Before abandoning the guns so briefly held, they had spiked them with mud, and the novel expedient was perfectly successful. From that time till after 1 o'clock, while the fight raged back and forth over the same ground, the Rebels did not succeed in firing a shot from their mud-spiked artillery.
At last our brigades began to gain the advantage again. Crittenden pushed them steadily forward. Mendenhall (with his accomplished First Lieutenant Parsons, one of our Western Reserve West Pointers), and Bartlett, poured in their shell. A rush for the contested battery, and it is ours again. The Rebels retreated toward the left. Smith and Boyle, holding the infantry well in hand, Mendenhall again got their range, and poured in shell on the new position. The fortune of the day was against them as against their comrades to Nelson's front, and they were soon in full retreat.
Just then Brigadier-General Thomas J. Wood's advance brigade, from his approaching division, came up. It was too late for the fight, but it relieved Crittenden's wearyfellows, and pushed on after the Rebels, until they were found to have left our most advanced camps.
Thus the left was saved. Meanwhile McCook, with as magnificent regiments as ever came from the Army of the Potomac, or from any army of volunteers in the world, was doing equally well toward the centre. His division was handled in such a way as to save great effusion of blood, while equally important results were obtained. Thus the reserves were kept as much as possible from under fire, while those to the front were engaged. The lists of killed and wounded will show that, while as heavy fighting was done here as anywhere on the right or centre, the casualties are fewer than could have been expected.
It would scarcely be interesting to prolong details where the course of one division so nearly resembled that of the others. But let me sketch the close. An Illinois battery, serving in the division, was in imminent danger. The Sixth Indiana was ordered to its relief. A rapid rush; close musketry firing; no need of bayonets here; the battery is safe. The enemy are to the front and right. Advancing and firing right oblique, the Sixth pushes on. The Rebel colors fall. Another volley; they fall again. Another volley; yet once more the colors drop. There is fatality in it, so the Rebels seem to think at least, as they wheel and disappear.
And then Rousseau's Brigade is drawn off in splendid style, as if coming in from parade, conscious of some grand master of reviews watching their movements. So there was—the Rebel general. As he saw the brigade filing back, he pushed his forces forward again. Kirk's Brigade advanced to meet them, coming out of the woods into an open field to do so. They were met by a tremendous fire, which threw a battalion of regulars in front ofthem (under Major Oliver, I think,) into some confusion. They retire to reform, and meanwhile down drops the brigade, flat on the ground. Then, as the front is clear, they spring up, charge across the open field—never mind the falling—straight on, on to the woods—under cover, with the enemy driven back by the impetuous advance. And now he rallies. Fierce musketry firing sweeps the woods. They advance—thirty rods, perhaps—when the Twenty-ninth Indiana gets into a marsh, and falls partially to the rear. Heavier comes the leaden hail. Twenty-ninth and Thirtieth both fall back fifteen or twenty rods; they rally and advance; again they are hurled back; again they start forward; and this time they come in on the vulnerable points. The enemy flees. Colonel Waggoner's Fifteenth Indiana comes up to the support; the enemy disappear; fresh troops take their places, and for them the fight is ended. I might describe similar deeds of Willich's and Harrison's regiments, but "from one learn all."
Farther to the right, McClernand and Hurlbut were gallantly coming on with their jaded men. The soldiers would fight—that was the great lesson of the battle. If surprised, and driven off in consequence of surprise, that can hardly be wholly charged on them. Four times McClernand regained and lost again the ground to the front of his division. Similar were Hurlbut's fortunes.
But I must abandon these details. Beginning at the left we have followed the wave of successes that swept us forward again, from spot to spot, over the hard-lost fields of Sunday—our paeans of victory, the wild cheers of our successful soldiers, sounding the requiem of the fallen Rebels, who have atoned for their treason by the brave man's death. Nelson, Crittenden, McCook, Hurlbut, McClernand have borne their divisions through the fray. Itlasted longer on the right, and was as rarely interesting as the chess-game of a master. Let us trace it through.
In speaking of the beginning of Monday's battle, I mentioned Major-General Lew. Wallace's opening the ball at seven o'clock, by shelling with enfilading fires a Rebel battery. A few shots demonstrated to the Rebels that their position was untenable. The instant Sherman came in to protect his left, Wallace advanced his infantry. The Rebel battery at once limbered up and got out of the way. The advance had withdrawn the division from Sherman. Making a left half-wheel, to get back into the neighborhood of our line, they advanced some two hundred yards, which brought them to a little elevation, with a broad, open stretch to the front.
As the division halted on the crest of the swell, there passed before them a rare vision. Away to the front were woods. Through the edge of the timber, skirting the fields, the head of a Rebel column appeared, marching past in splendid style on the double-quick. Banner after banner appeared; the "stars and bars" formed a long line, stretching parallel with Wallace's line of battle. Regiment after regiment followed on, the line lengthened, and doubled and trebled; the head of the column was out of sight, and still they came. Twenty regiments were counted passing through these woods. The design was plain. The Rebels had abandoned the idea of forcing their way through our left, and now the manifest attempt was to turn our right.
Batteries were ordered up—Thompson's and Thurber's—and the whole column was shelled as it passed. The Rebels rapidly threw their artillery into position, and a brisk cannonading began. After a time, while the fight still rested with the artillery, the Rebels opened a new and destructivebattery to the right, which our men soon learned to know as "Watson's Louisiana Battery," from the marks on the ammunition-boxes they forced it from time to time to leave behind.
Batteries, with a brigade of supporting infantry, were now moved forward over open fields under heavy fire, to contend against this new assailant. The batteries opened, the sharpshooters were thrown out to the front to pick off the Rebel artillerists, the brigade was ordered down on its face to protect it from the flying shell and grape. For an hour and a half the contest lasted, while the body of the division was still delayed, waiting for Sherman. By ten o'clock Sherman's right, under Colonel Marsh, came up. He started to move across the fields. The storm of musketry and grape were too much for him, and he fell back in good order. Again he started on the double, and gained the woods. The Louisiana Battery was turned; Marsh's position left it subject to fire in flank and front, and it fled. The other Rebel batteries at once did the same; and Wallace's Division, up in an instant, now that a master move had swept the board, pushed forward. Before them were broad fallow fields, then a woody little ravine, then corn-fields, then woods.
The left brigade was sent forward. It crossed the fallow fields, under ordinary fire, then gained the ravine, and was rushing across the corn-fields, when the same Louisiana steel rifled guns opened on them. Dashing forward they reached a little ground-swell, behind which they dropped like dead men, while skirmishers were sent forward to silence the troublesome battery. The skirmishers crawled forward till they gained a little knoll, not more than seventy-five yards from the battery. Of course the battery opened on them. They replied, if not so noisily, more to the purpose.In a few minutes the battery was driven off, with artillerists killed, horses shot down, and badly crippled every way. But the affair cost us a brave man—Lieutenant-Colonel Garber—who could not control his enthusiasm at the conduct of the skirmishers, and in his excitement incautiously exposed himself. All this while Rebel regiments were pouring up to attack the audacious brigade that was supporting the skirmishers, and fresh regiments from Wallace's Division came up in time to checkmate the game.
But the battery was silenced. "Forward," was the division order. Rushing across the corn-fields under heavy fire, they now met the Rebels face to face in the woods. The contest was quick, decisive. Close, sharp, continuous musketry for a few minutes, and the Rebels fell back.
Here, unfortunately, Sherman's right gave way. Wallace's flank was exposed. He instantly formed Colonel Wood's (Seventy-sixth Ohio) in a new line of battle, in right angles with the real one, and with orders to protect the flank. The Eleventh Indiana was likewise here engaged in a sharp engagement with the enemy attempting to flank, and for a time the contest waxed fierce. But Sherman soon filled the place of his broken regiments; again Wallace's Division forced forward, and again the enemy gave way.
By 2 o'clock the division was into the woods again, and for three-quarters of a mile it advanced under a continuous storm of shot. Then another contest or two with batteries—always met with skirmishers and sharp-shooting—then, by 4 o'clock, two hours later than on the right, a general Rebel retreat—then pursuit, recall and encampment on the old grounds of Sherman's Division, in the very tents from which those regiments were driven that hapless Sunday morning.
The camps were regained. The Rebels were repulsed. Their attack had failed. We stood where we began. Rebel cavalry were within half a mile of us. The retreating columns were within striking distance. But we had regained our camps. And so ended the battle of Pittsburgh Landing.
I do not pretend to give more than an estimate; but I have made the estimate with some care, going to the adjutants of different regiments that had been in as heavy fighting as any—getting statements of their losses, sure to be very nearly if not quite accurate, and approximating thus from the loss of a dozen regiments to the probable loss of all. I have ridden over the grounds, too—have seen the dead and wounded lying over the field—have noted the number in the hospitals and on the boats. As the result of it all, I do not believe our loss in killed and wounded will number over five thousand. The question of prisoners is another matter.
The best opinions of the strength with which the Rebels attacked us place their numbers at sixty thousand. They may have been reinforced five to ten thousand Sunday night.
Grant had scarcely forty thousand effective men on Sunday. Of these, half a dozen regiments were utterly raw—had scarcely had their guns long enough to know how to handle them. Some were supplied with weapons on their way up.
Buell crossed three divisions that took part in the action—Nelson's, Crittenden's, and McCook's. They numbered say twenty thousand—a liberal estimate. Lew. Wallace came up on Monday, with say seven thousand more. That gives us, counting the Sunday men as all effective again, sixty-seven thousand on Monday, on one side, against sixty to seventy thousand Rebels. It was not numbers that gained us the day, it was fighting. All honor to our Northern soldiers for it.
Halleck Takes the Field—Organization of the Army—Progress at a Snail's Pace—Sherman's Advance—The Flight of the Rebels—Sherman's Official Report—Congratulating the Troops—Beauregard's Address to his Soldiers—Some Account of Corinth—Abrupt Finale of a Rebel Harangue.
Halleck Takes the Field—Organization of the Army—Progress at a Snail's Pace—Sherman's Advance—The Flight of the Rebels—Sherman's Official Report—Congratulating the Troops—Beauregard's Address to his Soldiers—Some Account of Corinth—Abrupt Finale of a Rebel Harangue.
The battle of Pittsburgh Landing unquestionably presented remarkable features. The magnitude of the struggle, the panic that affected some of the troops on the first day, the stern recovery and complete triumph of the second day, all make the event notable in our military annals. But far more remarkable, in an entirely different sense, was the campaign that followed; a campaign that even now can scarcely be contemplated with patience. It seemed as though the commanding General (Halleck), conceding the truth of the charges of excessive rashness and lack of preparation at Shiloh, had now resolved to atone therefore by going to the opposite extreme of caution and deliberation. The results of this policy were not disastrous; but they were exasperating. Had the Union army promptly followed up its advantage, gained at Shiloh, it could and doubtless would have annihilated the opposing forces and made rebellion in that region a thing of the past. This probably would have been done had Shermanbeen in command; for, as we have seen, his voice was for an aggressive campaign. But Sherman was not in command.
Immediately after the battle, Halleck came down from St. Louis and took his place as commander of the army in the field. Perhaps he believed the miserable slanders against Grant, charging him with drunkenness at Shiloh; perhaps he merely retained his former feeling of dissatisfaction with him. At any rate, he kept him under a cloud, appointing him nominally second in command, but giving him nothing to do. But it served his purpose to treat Sherman well, and he accordingly took him into his confidence and gave him important commissions to execute. He drew troops from other parts of the country, until he had an army of more than a hundred thousand men. To Major-General Pope he gave command of the left wing, to Major-General Buell the centre, to Major-General Thomas the right, and to Major-General McClernand the reserves. Lew. Wallace was under McClernand. Sherman was under Thomas, in the right wing, and was glad to be there. They were classmates and trusted friends, and, as Sherman afterward said, it made no difference which of them commanded the other, they were bound to work together in harmony for the good cause.
The army was thus organized for an advance on Corinth, where the Rebel army lay. This place was the junction of two great railroads, and was of much strategic importance. The same Rebel army that had been defeated at Pittsburgh Landing was gathered there, re-organized and reinforced. Since Albert Sidney Johnston's death, General Beauregard was in command, and on May 8th he issued this address to his troops:
"Soldiers of Shiloh and Elkhorn! We are about to meet once more in the shock of battle the invaders of oursoil, the despoilers of our homes, the disturbers of our family ties, face to face, hand to hand. We are to decide whether we are freemen, or vile slaves of those who are only free in name, and who but yesterday were vanquished, although in largely superior numbers, in their own encampments, on the ever-memorable field of Shiloh. Let the impending battle decide our fate, and add a more illustrious page to the history of our revolution—one to which our children will point with pride, saying, 'Our fathers were at the battle of Corinth.' I congratulate you on your timely junction. With our mingled banners for the first time during the war, we shall meet our foe in strength that should give us victory. Soldiers, can the result be doubtful? Shall we not drive back to Tennessee the presumptuous mercenaries collected for our subjugation? One more manly effort, and, trusting in God and the justness of our cause, we shall recover more than we lately lost. Let the sound of our victorious guns be re-echoed by those of Virginia on the historic battle-field at Yorktown."
GEN. JOHN A. LOGAN.
GEN. JOHN A. LOGAN.
It should be explained, concerning the first words of this address, that among the reinforcements of Beauregard's army were Van Dorn's troops, who had fought at Pea Ridge, Arkansas, a battle which the Rebels called Elkhorn; and concerning the closing words, that on the very day when this address was issued, the Rebels fled from Yorktown before the advance of McClellan! General Bragg also made an address to his soldiers, saying: "You will encounter the enemy in your chosen position, strong by nature and improved by art, away from his main support and reliance—gunboats and heavy batteries—and for the first time in this war, with nearly equal numbers." This remark about equal numbers was certainly untrue, since atShiloh the Rebel army on the first day actually outnumbered the Union troops. And now at Corinth it is hardly possible to believe that the Rebels had anything like a hundred thousand men. Forty-seven thousand is the estimate given by one careful writer, and sixty-five thousand by another. There really seems to be no good reason for believing that Beauregard had at most more than two-thirds as many soldiers as Halleck, and there was no prospect of his getting any more, for McClellan's huge army was menacing Richmond, and all available Southern troops were needed there to cope with it. Of course, Halleck's men were still comparatively new to war, and it would have been injudicious to hurry them forward against Beauregard's entrenched position. But under another leader they doubtless might have been conducted with certain success against the foe in half the time that Halleck took, and with far more satisfactory results than those achieved by him.
Shiloh was fought on April 6th and 7th. For twenty days thereafter Halleck was preparing to pursue the enemy. His army really did need much re-organization. Sherman's Division, for example, had suffered so much that its four brigades were now consolidated into three, commanded respectively by Morgan L. Smith, John A. McDowell, and J. W. Denver. Supplies were plentiful, being brought up the river. But there was a scarcity of wagon trains for the march inland to Corinth, and much confusion occurred on this account. However, by April 14th Halleck decided that some move must be made, so he sent Sherman to break the Memphis and Charleston railroad at Bear Creek; which was done. Then Halleck began his advance upon Corinth. And such an advance! If at Shiloh the army had lain for weeks without intrenchments, here itwas not halted for a day without elaborate fortifications. The troops literally burrowed their way across the country. It took, said the Rebels, six weeks to move fifteen miles; and the statement is not far from truth. On May 3d, General Pope's Division won a victory of some importance at Farrington, five miles northwest of Corinth, and the cavalry pushed on to Glendale and cut the Rebel line of communication there.
The Union army on May 17th was within five miles of Corinth. Sherman was on that date sent forward to take the Russell house, about midway between the two armies. This he did after a sharp action, in which he handled his troops with credit. Recognizing the strength and importance of the position, Sherman at once fortified it strongly. And at the same time Halleck's whole army settled down to besiege Corinth after the orthodox fashion now growing into use,i.e., with elaborate intrenchments, parallels and battery epaulements. Halleck believed that Corinth was strongly fortified, and that it could only be taken by siege. On May 27th he was within a mile of the Rebel lines, with his heavy siege guns in position. He now ordered Sherman to advance, drive in the Rebel pickets, and make a strong demonstration against Corinth itself.
This task Sherman accomplished with masterly skill. He had under him, on this occasion, McClernand, Hurlbut and John A. Logan. Generals Grant and Thomas witnessed the engagement and expressed much admiration of Sherman's ability in it. The position gained overlooked at close quarters the Rebel fortifications around Corinth, and not only the drum and bugle calls in the Rebel camp, but the noises of the town itself were plainly audible. Sherman entrenched himself strongly and broughtup his artillery. Halleck was jubilant and was confident of capturing the whole of Beauregard's army. But on the night of May 29th there were strange sounds in Corinth. The rumble and roar of railroad trains was incessant. At daylight of May 30th the town and the country about were shaken by an explosion, and a vast cloud of smoke overshadowed Corinth. Halleck had expected a battle before this, but there was no sign that the Rebels would come out of their fortifications.
When the explosion occurred, on May 30th, Sherman asked Halleck if he had any idea what it meant. Halleck replied that he had not, and then ordered Sherman to move forward with his division and find out. Sherman did so, and lo! The Rebel works were abandoned, and Corinth itself was evacuated. On February 26th, Beauregard had commenced hurrying his sick troops and stores southward, on the night of the 28th he had sent the bulk of his effective force, and on the night of the 29th, the rear guard had fled, setting fire to the town and blowing up the magazine. The Rebel pickets had not been called in, nor even notified of the army's flight, so they fell into Sherman's hands, with the ruins of the town. And thus ingloriously ended the Siege of Corinth.
Following, is Sherman's official report of the capture of Corinth, dated May 30th, 1862.
"On the nineteenth instant, I reported the operations of this division in taking from the enemy the positions at Russel's. After driving the enemy away, we found it one of great natural strength, and proceeded to fortify it. Lines were laid off by the engineer, Captain Kossak, and a very excellent parapet was constructed by the men in a style that elicited the approval of General Halleck. Men worked day and night, and as soon as it was done and the densetrees and undergrowth cleared away in front, to give range to our batteries, I directed our pickets to drive the enemy further back behind a large open field to our front and right. This was handsomely executed by the regular detail of picket-guard under the direction of the field-officer of the day, Lieutenant-Colonel Loudon of the Seventieth Ohio.
"We remained in that intrenched camp at Russell's until the night of the 27th, when I received from Major-General Halleck an order by telegraph 'to send a force the next day to drive the Rebels from the house in our front on the Corinth road, to drive in their pickets as far as possible, and to make a strong demonstration on Corinth itself,' authorizing me to call on any adjacent divisions for assistance; I asked General McClernand for one brigade and General Hurlbut for another to co-operate with two brigades of my own division. Colonel John A. Logan's Brigade of General Judah's Division of McClernand's Reserve Corps, and General Veatch's Brigade of Hurlbut's Division, were placed subject to my orders, and took part with my own division in the operations of the two following days, and I now thank the officers and men of these brigades for the zeal and enthusiasm they manifested, and the alacrity they displayed in the execution of every order given.
"The house referred to by General Halleck was a double log building, standing on a high ridge on the upper or southern end of the large field before referred to as the one to which we had advanced our pickets. The enemy had taken out the chinks and removed the roof, making it an excellent block-house from which, with perfect security, he could annoy our pickets. The large field was perfectly overlooked by this house, as well as by the ridge along itssouthern line of defence, which was covered by a dense grove of heavy oaks and underbrush. The main Corinth road runs along the eastern fence, whilst the field itself, about three hundred yards wide by about five hundred yards long, extended far to the right into the low land of Phillips's Creek, so densely wooded as to be impassable to troops or artillery. On the eastern side of the field the woods were more open. The enemy could be seen at all times in and about the house and the ridge beyond, and our pickets could not show themselves on our side of the field without attracting a shot.
"The problem was to clear the house and ridge of the enemy with as little loss as possible. To accomplish this, I ordered General J. W. Denver, with his Brigade (Third), and the Morton Battery of four guns, to march in perfect silence from our lines at 8 A. M., keeping well under cover as he approached the field; General Morgan L. Smith's Brigade (First), with Barrett's and Waterhouse's Batteries, to move along the main road, keeping his force well masked in the woods to the left; Brigadier-General Veatch's Brigade to move from General Hurlbut's lines through the woods on the left of and connecting with General M. L. Smith's, and General John A. Logan's Brigades to move down to Bowie Hill Cut of the Mobile and Ohio Railroad, and thence forward to the left, so as to connect with General Denver's Brigade on the extreme right; all to march at 8 A. M., with skirmishers well to the front, to keep well concealed, and, at a signal, to rush quickly on to the ridge, thus avoiding as much as possible the danger of crossing the open field exposed to the fire of a concealed enemy. It was impossible for me beforehand to ascertain the force of the enemy, and nothing is more embarrassing than to make dispositions against a concealed foe, occupying,as this was, a strong natural position. I then supposed and still think, this position was held by a small brigade of the enemy.
"My preliminary arrangements having thus been made, two twenty-pound Parrott rifle-guns of Silfversparre's Battery, under the immediate supervision of Major Taylor, Chief of Artillery, were moved silently through the forest to a point behind a hill, from the top of which could be seen the house and ground to be contested. The guns were unlimbered, loaded with shell and moved by hand to the crest. At the proper time I gave the order to Major Taylor to commence firing and demolish the house, or render it decidedly uncomfortable to its occupants. About a dozen shells well directed soon accomplished this; then designating a single shot of the twenty-pound Parrott gun of Silfversparre as a signal for the brigades to advance, I waited till all were in position, and ordered the signal, when the troops dashed forward in fine style, crossed the field, drove the enemy across the ridge and field beyond into another dense and seemingly impenetrable forest. The enemy was evidently surprised, and only killed two of our men, and wounded nine. After he had reached the ridge, he opened on us with a two-gun battery on the right and another from the front and left, doing my brigades but little harm, but killing three of General Veatch's men. With our artillery we soon silenced his, and by 10 A. M. we were masters of the position. Generals Grant and Thomas were present during the affair, and witnessed the movement, which was admirably executed, all the officers and men keeping their places like real soldiers.
"Immediately throwing forward a line of skirmishers in front of each brigade, we found the enemy reinforcing his front skirmishers; but the woods were so dense as tocompletely mask his operations. An irregular piece of cleared land lay immediately in front of Gen. Denver's position, and extended obliquely to the left, in front of and across Morgan Smith's and Veatch's brigades, which were posted on the right and left of the main Corinth road, leading directly south. For some time I was in doubt whether the artillery fire we had sustained had come from the enemy's fixed or field-batteries, and intended to move forward at great hazard to ascertain the fact, when, about 3 P. M., we were startled by the quick rattle of musketry along our whole picket-line, followed by the cheers and yells of an attacking column of the enemy.
"Our artillery and Mann's Battery of Veatch's Brigade, had been judiciously posted by Major Taylor, and before the yell of the enemy had died away arose our reply in the cannon's mouth. The firing was very good, rapid, well-directed, and the shells burst in the right place. Our pickets were at first driven in a little, but soon recovered their ground and held it, and the enemy retreated in utter confusion. On further examination of the ground, with its connection on the left with Gen. Hurlbut, and right resting on the railroad near Bowie Hill Cut, it was determined to intrench. The lines were laid out after dark, and the work substantially finished by morning.
"All this time we were within one thousand three hundred yards of the enemy's main intrentchments, which were absolutely concealed from us by the dense foliage of the oak forest, and without a real battle, which at that time was to be avoided, we could not push out our skirmishers more than two hundred yards to the front. For our own security I had to destroy two farmhouses, both of which had been loop-holed and occupied by the enemy. By 9 A. M. of yesterday, (twenty-ninth,) our works were substantiallydone, and our artillery in position, and at 4 P. M. the siege-train was brought forward, and Colonel McDowell's Brigade, (Second) of my division, had come from our former lines at Russell's, and had relieved General John A. Logan's Brigade.
"I feel under special obligations to this officer, (General Logan) who, during the two days he served under me, held the critical ground on my right, extending down to the railroad. All the time he had in his front a large force of the enemy, but so dense was the foliage that he could not reckon their strength, save from what he could see in the railroad track. He will, doubtless, make his own report, and give the names of the wounded among his pickets.
"I had then my whole division in a slightly curved line facing south, my right resting on the Mobile and Ohio Railroad, near a deep cut known as Bowie Hill Cut, and left resting on the main Corinth road, at the crest of the bridge, there connecting with General Hurlbut, who, in turn, on his left, connected with General Davis, and so on down the whole line to its extremity. So near was the enemy that we could hear the sound of his drums and sometimes voices in command, and the railroad cars arriving and departing at Corinth were easily distinguished. For some days and nights cars have been arriving and departing very frequently, especially in the night; but last night (twenty-ninth) more so than usual, and my suspicions were aroused.
"Before daybreak I instructed the brigade commanders and the field-officer of the day to feel forward as far as possible, but all reported the enemy's pickets still in force in the dense woods to our front. But about 6 A. M. a curious explosion, sounding like a volley of large siege-pieces, followed by others singly, and in twos and threes,arrested our attention, and soon after a large smoke arose from the direction of Corinth, when I telegraphed to General Halleck to ascertain the cause. He answered that he could not explain it, but ordered me 'to advance my division and feel the enemy, if still in my front.' I immediately put in motion two regiments of each brigade by different roads, and soon after followed with the whole division, infantry, artillery and cavalry.
"Somewhat to our surprise, the enemy's chief redoubt was found within thirteen hundred yards of our line of intrenchments, but completely masked by the dense forest and undergrowth. Instead of having, as we supposed, a continuous line of intrenchments encircling Corinth, his defences consisted of separate redoubts, connected in part by a parapet and ditch, and in part by shallow rifle-pits, the trees being felled so as to give a good field of fire to and beyond the main road.
"General M. L. Smith's Brigade moved rapidly down the main road, entering the first redoubt of the enemy at 7 A. M. It was completely evacuated, and he pushed on into Corinth and beyond, to College Hill, there awaiting my orders and arrival. General Denver entered the enemy's lines at the same time, 7 A. M., at a point midway between the wagon and railroads, and proceeded on to Corinth, about three miles from our camp, and Colonel McDowell kept further to the right, near the Mobile and Ohio Railroad. By 8 A. M. all my division was at Corinth, and beyond.
"On the whole ridge, extending from my camp into Corinth and to the right and left, could be seen the remains of the abandoned camps of the enemy, flour and provisions scattered about, and everything indicating a speedy and confused retreat. In the town itself many houses werestill burning, and the ruins of warehouses and buildings containing commissary and other Confederate stores were still smouldering; but there still remained piles of cannon balls, shells and shot, sugar, molasses, beans, rice, and other property, which the enemy had failed to carry off or destroy. Major Fisher, of the Fifty-fourth Ohio, was left in Corinth with a provost-guard, to prevent pillage and protect the public stores still left.
"From the best information picked up from the citizens who remained in Corinth, it appeared that the enemy had for some days been removing their sick and valuable stores, and had sent away on railroad-cars a part of their effective force, on the night of the 28th. But, of course, even the vast amount of their rolling stock could not carry away an army of a hundred thousand men.
"The enemy was, therefore, compelled to march away, and began the march by 10 o'clock on the night of the 29th—the columns filling all the roads reaching south and west all night—the rear guard firing the train which led to the explosions and conflagration, which gave us the first real notice that Corinth was to be evacuated. The enemy did not relieve his pickets that morning, and many of them have been captured, who did not have the slightest intimation of their purpose.
"Finding Corinth abandoned by the enemy, I ordered General M. L. Smith to pursue on the Ripley road, by which it appeared they had taken the bulk of their artillery.
"Captain Hammond, my chief of staff, had been and continued with General Smith's Brigade, and pushed the pursuit up to the bridges and narrow causeway by which the bottom of Tuscumbia Creek is passed. The enemy opened with canister on the small party of cavalry, andburned every bridge, leaving the woods full of straggling soldiers. Many of these were gathered up and sent to the rear, but the main army had escaped across Tuscumbia Creek, and further pursuit by a small party would have been absurd, and I kept my division at College Hill until I received General Thomas's orders to return and resume our camps of the night before, which we did, slowly and quietly, in the cool of the evening.
"The evacuation of Corinth at the time and in the manner in which it was done, was a clear back-down from the high and arrogant tone heretofore assumed by the Rebels. The ground was of their own choice. The fortifications, though poor and indifferent, were all they supposed necessary to our defeat, as they had had two months to make them, with an immense force to work at their disposal.
"If, with two such railroads as they possessed, they could not supply their army with reinforcements and provisions, how can they attempt it in this poor, arid and exhausted part of the country?
"I have experienced much difficulty in giving an intelligent account of the events of the past three days, because of the many little events, unimportant in themselves, but which in the aggregate form material data to account for results.
"My division has constructed seven distinct intrenched camps since leaving Shiloh, the men working cheerfully and well all the time night and day. Hardly had we finished one camp before we were called on to move forward and build another. But I have been delighted at this feature in the character of my division, and take this method of making it known. Our intrenchments here and at Russell's, each built substantially in one night, arestronger works of art than the much boasted forts of the enemy at Corinth.
"I must, also, in justice to my men, remark their great improvement on the march—the absence of that straggling which is too common in the volunteer service; and still more, their improved character on picket and as skirmishers. Our line of march has been along a strongly marked ridge, followed by the Purdy and Corinth road, and ever since leaving the 'Locusts' our pickets have been fighting. Hardly an hour, night or day, for two weeks, without the exchange of hostile shots. But we have steadily and surely gained ground—slowly, to be sure, but with that steady certainty which presaged the inevitable result. In these picket skirmishes we have inflicted and sustained losses, but it is impossible for me to recapitulate them.
"These must be accounted for on the company muster-rolls. We have taken many prisoners, which have been sent to the Provost-Marshal General; and with this report I will send some forty or fifty picked up in the course of the past two days. Indeed, I think if disarmed, very many of these prisoners would never give trouble again; whilst, on the other hand, the real Secessionists seem more bitter than ever."
Sherman also issued a congratulatory address to his soldiers, in which he indulged in some expressions that must now appear rather extravagant, such as his characterization of the capture of Corinth as "a victory as brilliant and important as any recorded in history."
"But a few days ago," he said, "a large and powerful Rebel army lay at Corinth, with outposts extending to our very camp at Shiloh. They held two railroads extending north and south, east and west, across the whole extent oftheir country, with a vast number of locomotives and cars to bring to them speedily and certainly their reinforcements and supplies. They called to their aid all their armies from every quarter, abandoning the seacoast and the great river Mississippi, that they might overwhelm us with numbers in the place of their own choosing. They had their chosen leaders, men of high reputation and courage, and they dared us to leave the cover of our iron-clad gunboats to come to fight them in their trenches, and still more dangerous swamps and ambuscades of their Southern forests. Their whole country, from Richmond to Memphis and Nashville to Mobile, rung with their taunts and boastings, as to how they would immolate the Yankees if they dared to leave the Tennessee River. They boldly and defiantly challenged us to meet them at Corinth. We accepted the challenge, and came slowly and without attempt at concealment to the very ground of their selection; and they have fled away. We yesterday marched unopposed through the burning embers of their destroyed camps and property, and pursued them to their swamps, until burning bridges plainly confessed they had fled, and not marched away for better ground. It is a victory as brilliant and important as any recorded in history, and every officer and soldier who lent his aid has just reason to be proud of his part.
"No amount of sophistry or words from the leaders of the rebellion can succeed in giving the evacuation of Corinth, under the circumstances, any other title than that of a signal defeat, more humiliating to them and their cause than if we had entered the place over the dead and mangled bodies of their soldiers. We are not here to kill and slay, but to vindicate the honor and just authority of that government which has been bequeathed to us by ourhonored fathers, and to whom we would be recreant if we permitted their work to pass to our children marred and spoiled by ambitious and wicked Rebels.
"The General commanding, while thus claiming for his division their just share in this glorious result, must, at the same time, remind them that much yet remains to be done, and that all must still continue the same vigilance and patience, and industry and obedience, till the enemy lays down his arms, and publicly acknowledges for their supposed grievances, they must obey the laws of their country, not attempt its overthrow by threats, by cruelty, and by war. They must be made to feel and acknowledge the power of a just and a mighty nation. This result can only be accomplished by a cheerful and ready obedience to the orders and authority of our leaders, in whom we now have just reason to feel the most implicit confidence. That the Fifth Division of the right wing will do this, and that in due time we will go to our families and friends at home, is the earnest prayer and wish of your immediate commander."
A well-informed observer says of Corinth, after the capture:
"Corinth is the only pleasant country village I have seen in this section of the country. I was informed that it usually contained two thousand two hundred inhabitants, of all colors, but I am inclined seriously to doubt the assertion. From one thousand to one thousand two hundred would be far nearer a true estimate.
"The houses are built after the Southern fashion, with a front door for every room looking toward the street. This is an odd feature to one used to Yankee architecture, but it is the universal style of the Southern States. The apartments of most of the houses are large and airy, andsurrounded with immense porticoes, where the high-toned chivalry enjoy their siesta in the most approved Spanish manner, except that they imbibe, before sleeping, a somewhat different beverage from the Castilians. Instead of the wines of Andalusia, they consume almost unheard-of quantities of Bourbon and rifle whiskey.
"The yards of the rich are decorated with shrubbery, and what is far more in accordance with good taste, forest trees are left standing and neatly trimmed—a custom which has been too sadly neglected in the North. There are several substantial brick and frame business-houses, all of which have been stripped and deserted.
"Not enough of the Corinthians remained to welcome us, to give me any idea of what the mass of the citizens are like. A few poor persons, the druggist referred to, and the Mayor's clerk, and two or three wealthy females, were all that were to be found. The poor were nearly starved, and were disposed to welcome any change, as it might bring relief, but could not add to their suffering. They walked curiously around, observing the movements of the soldiers, astonished at the comparatively handsome uniform they wore, and gratified that the fears they had felt had not been realized. The wealthy females looked from the windows of their mansions upon the Union troops, affecting the greatest scorn and disdain for the Yankees, who viewed them in return rather in a spirit of pity than revenge.
"One of the Rebel commanders, unaware of our presence, called around him a brigade and commenced addressing them in something like the following strain:
"'Sons of the South: We are here to defend our homes, our wives and daughters, against the horde of vandals who have come here to possess the first and violatethe last. Here upon this sacred soil we have assembled to drive back the Northern invaders—drive them into the Tennessee. Will you follow me? If we cannot hold this place, we can defend no spot of our Confederacy. Shall we drive the invaders back, and strike to death the men who would desecrate our homes? Is there a man so base among those who hear me, as to retreat from the contemptible foe before us? I will never blanch before their fire, nor ——.'
"At this interesting period the signal was given, and six shell fell in the vicinity of the gallant officer and his men, who suddenly forgot their fiery resolves, and fled in confusion to their breastworks."