WOOD AND UNDERBRUSH CALLED THE “HORNETS’ NEST.” From a photograph taken in 1885.
This outflanking, so common in the Union reports at Shiloh, is not a mere excuse of the inferior commanders. It is the practical consequence of the absence of a common head, and the judicious use of reserves to counteract partial reverses and preserve the front of battle. The want of a general direction is seen also in the distribution of Hurlbut’s and Wallace’s divisions. Hurlbut sent a brigade under Colonel Veatch to support Sherman’s left; Wallace sent one under General McArthur to the opposite extreme to support Stuart; and the two remaining brigades of each were between the extremes—Wallace on Yeatch’s left, but not in connection with it, and Hurlbut on McArthur’s right, also without connection. Stuart himself with his brigade was two miles to the left of Sherman’s division to which he belonged. When the three Confederate lines were brought together successively at the front, there was, of course, a great apparent mingling of organizations; but it was not in their case attended with the confusion that might be supposed, because each division area was thereby supplied with a triple complement of brigade and division officers, and the whole front was under the close supervision of four remarkably efficient corps commanders. The evils of disjointed command are plainly to be seen in the arrangement of the Federal line, but the position of the left wing after the forced correction of the first faulty disposition of Hurlbut’s brigades was exceedingly strong, and in the center was held without a break against oft-repeated assaults from 9 o’clock until 5 o’clock. From 12 until 2 it was identical with the second position taken by Nelson and Crittenden on Monday, and it was equally formidable against attack from both directions. Its peculiar feature consisted in a wood in the center, with a thick undergrowth, flanked on either side by open fields, and with open but sheltering woods in front and rear. The Confederates gave the name of “Hornets’ Nest” to the thicket part of it on Sunday, and it was in the open ground on the east flank that General Johnston was killed. . . .
that formed it. Another reverse to his thinned ranks would drive him over the bluff into Owl Creek bottom, and perhaps cut him off from the river. He determined, therefore, between 2 and 3 o’clock to retire across Tillman’s Hollow in the direction of the landing. That movement was effected with a good deal of irregularity, but with the repulse of a small body of pursuing cavalry, and a new line was formed on the opposite ridge along the River road, north of Hurlbut’s headquarters. Leaving the right wing, as it may be called, in this position prior to the attack of 4 o’clock, which drove it still farther back, we will return to the current of events in the left wing.
With Stuart on the extreme left, as with the other commanders, the presence of the enemy was the first warning of danger. He was soon compelled to fall back from his camp to a new position, and presently again to a third, which located him on the prolongation and extreme left of the line formed by Hurlbut and W. H. L. Wallace, but without having any connection with it. As soon as the first advance of the enemy was known, these two commanders were called upon by those in front for support. In the absence of a common superior it was sent forward by regiments or brigades in such a manner as seemed proper to the officer appealed to, and after that was left to its own devices. It seldom formed the connection desired, or came under the direction of a common superior. Indeed, the want of cohesion and concert in the Union ranks is conspicuously indicated in the official reports. A regiment is rarely overcome in front, but falls back because the regiment on its right or left has done so, and exposed its flank. It continues its backward movement at least until it is well under shelter, thus exposing the flank of its neighbor, who then must also needs fall back. Once in operation, the process repeats itself indefinitely. In a broken and covered country which affords occasional rallying-points and obstructs the pursuit, it proceeds step by step. On an open field, in the presence of light artillery and cavalry, it would run rapidly into general rout.
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MAJOR-GENERAL DON CARLOS BUELL, U. S. V.
McClernand’s whole front. Finding him pressed, I moved McDowell’s brigade against the left flank of the enemy, forced him back some distance, and then directed the men to avail themselves of every cover — trees, fallen timber, and a wooded valley to our right.” It sounds like the signal to disperse, and a little after 1 o’clock the brigade and regiments are seen no more. Some fragments of the division and the commander himself attached themselves to McClernand’s command, which now, owing to its composite and irregular organization, could hardly be denominated a division.
The contest which raged in MeClernand’s camp was of a fluctuating character. The ground was lost and won more than once, but each ebb and flow of the struggle left the Union side in a worse condition. In his fifth position McClernand was driven to the camp of his First Brigade, half of his command facing to the south and half to the west, to meet the converging attack of the enemy. His nominal connection with the left wing of the army across the head of Tillman’s Hollow had been severed, by the dispersion or defeat of the detached commands
order to keep the enemy back endeavored by Sherman’s direction to throw a regiment beyond Oak Creek, which covered his front at a distance of two hundred yards, but on reaching the brow of the low hill bordering the stream the enemy was encountered on the hither side. Nevertheless the brigade resisted effectively for about two hours the efforts of the assailants to cross the boggy stream in force. The enemy suffered great loss in these efforts, but succeeded at last. Before being quite forced back, Buckland received orders from Sherman to form line on the Purdy road four hundred yards in rear, to connect with McClernand’s right. Orders were also given to McDowell, who had not yet been engaged, to close to the left on the same line. These orders were in effect defeated in both cases, and five pieces of artillery lost by faults in the execution and the rapid advance of the enemy. Sherman’s division as an organized body disappeared from the field from this time until the close of the day. McDowell’s brigade preserved a sort of identity for a while. Sherman reports that at “about 10:30 a. m. the enemy had made a furious attack on General