THE BATTLE OF SHILOH.
THE UNION SIDE.
BY ULYSSES S. GRANT, GENERAL, U. S. A.
was correct, and sustained my judgment. What, then, was my surprise, after so much had been accomplished by the troops under my immediate command between the time of leaving Cairo, early in February, and the 4tli of March, to receive from my chief a despatch of the latter date, saying: “You will place Major-General C. F. Smith in command of expedition, and remain yourself at Fort Henry. Why do you not obey my orders to report strength and positions of your command ? ” I was left virtually in arrest on board a steamer, without even a guard, for about a week, when I ־was released and ordered to resume my command.
Again: Shortly after the battle of Shiloh had been fought, General Halleek moved his headquarters to Pittsburg Landing, and assumed command of the troops in the field. Although next to him in rank, and nominally in command of my old district and army, I was ignored as much as if I had been at the most distant point of territory within my jurisdiction; and although I was in command of all the troops engaged at Shiloh, I was not permitted to see one of the reports of General Buell or his subordinates in that battle, until they were published by the War Department, long after the event. In consequence, I never myself made a full report of this engagement.
the Union Army of the Tennessee at Shiloh.
tive men and all their munitions of war, I believed much more could be accomplished without further sacrifice of life.
Clarksville, a town between Donelson and Nashville, in the State of Tennessee, and on the east bank of the Cumberland, was garrisoned by the enemy. Nashville was also garrisoned, and was probably the best-provisioned depot at the time in the Confederacy. Albert Sidney Johnston occupied Bowling Green, Ky., with a large force. I believed, and my information justified the belief, that these places would fall into our hands without a battle, if threatened promptly. I determined not to miss this chance. But being only a district commander, and under the immediate orders of the department commander, General Halleek, whose headquarters were at St. Louis, it was my duty to communicate to him all I proposed to do, and to get his approval, if possible. I did so communicate, and, receiving no reply, acted upon my own judgment. The result proved that my information
Brigadier-General commandin;
THE battle of Shiloh, or Pittsburg Landing, fought on Sunday and Monday, the 6th and 7th of April, 1862, has been perhaps less understood, or, to state the case more accurately, more persistently misunderstood, than any other engagement between National and Confederate troops during the entire rebellion. Correct reports of the battle have been published, notably by Sherman, Badeau, and, in a speech before a meeting of veterans, by General Prentiss; but all of these appeared long subsequent to the close of the rebellion, and after public opinion had been most erroneously formed.
Events had occurred before the battle, and others subsequent to it, which determined me to make no report to my then chief, General Halleek, further than was contained in a letter, written immediately after the battle, informing him that an engagement had been fought, and announcing the result. The occurrences alluded to are these: After the capture of Fort Donelson, with over fifteen thousand effec-
BRIGADIER-GENERAL W. H. L. WALLACE, U. S. Y.
Killed at Sliiloli.
DONELSON TO SHILOH.
Tlie Union victory at Pea Ridge set free the Northern troops in Missouri to unite with the armies east of the Mississippi. On the Confederate side Yan Dorn and Price marched their troops eastward to unite them with the armies under Albert Sidney Johnston and Beauregard, which had fallen back from the Tennessee line after the capture of Fort Donelson by Grant, and were concentrating at Corinth, Miss., to protect the Memphis and Charleston railway. The victorious army at Donelson, and the Army of the Ohio under Buell, were directed by General Halleek to move up the Tennessee River— that is, south—and cut the Memphis and Charleston road east of Corinth. Grant’s army reached Pittsburg Landing early in April. While lying in camp awaiting the arrival of Buell it was attacked early on the morning of the 6th. Buell arrived that afternoon and evening, and on the 7th the united Union forces drove the Confederates back to Corinth. None of the troops from Pea Ridge reached the field in time to participate, and the contest lay between the forces which had confronted each other on the Tennessee line all winter. Johnston was killed at Shiloh, and a few weeks later Beauregard evacuated Corinth, thus yielding up to the North all that had been fought for at Shiloh.