26 OR 10, pt. 1, 581; Cox, “Sixth Mississippi,” 509, 510; Buck, Cleburne and His Command, 38. Waterhouse’s Battery did most of the damage to the Mississippians. Cleburne’s report bears this out. OR 10, pt. 1, 581. Reed, Shiloh, 57, said Sherman was hit by Wood and Cleburne. D. W. Reed knew more about the tactical dispositions at Shiloh than any other human being, but after hiking the battle field, checking numerous official reports, and discussing the matter with the present Shiloh National Military Park Historian, Jerry Schober, I have come to believe that Wood’s Brigade did not join in the advance until after the Fifty-third and Fifty-seventh regiments broke and were replaced by Raith’s brigade around 9:00 a.m. || Dr. Cunningham’s theory is interesting, but the editors believe it is only partially correct. The Shiloh Battle field Commission verified Wood’s Brigade with several tablets in the park. It placed the brigade in southern Rhea Field as early as 7:30 a.m., and later fighting their way through the field against Peabody on the right and taking fire from Waterhouse’s Battery on the left, in the field it self, as late as 9:00 a.m. The 53rd Ohio fell back shortly after 8:00 a.m. according to their monument, Shiloh Battlefield Commission Monument # 131. Shaver did not dislodge Peabody to the east until around 9:00 a.m. See Shiloh Battlefield Commission Tablets # 211 and 215. Thus, although Dr. Cunningham is correct that Wood’s Brigade did not advance through the 53rd Ohio’s camp until around 9:00 a.m., the editors believe Wood’s advance was as orderly and flowed at about the same speed as Shaver’s, who was making no better time to the east.
27 Order Book, Fifth Washington Artillery, April 9, 1862, 45, Louisiana Historical Association Collection; OR 10, pt. 1, 146, 513. The two guns Shoup brought to help the Washington Artillery were from either Hubbard’s Battery, Calvert’s Battery, or Trigg’s Battery. Ibid., 146.
28 Ibid., 496, 507, 585, 497.
29 || Dr. Cunningham originally stated that Anderson’s Brigade penetrated Buckland’s and Hildebrand’s lines. We have seen no evidence of Anderson or anyone else breaking Buckland’s line. Anderson’s extreme right regiments may have aided in pushing some of Hildebrand’s units back, but they most assuredly did not drive back Buck land. Thus, we have slightly altered the text to reflect this. See OR 10, pt. 1, 267, 497.
30 OR 10, pt. 1, 414, 415.
31 Ibid., 420. Later in the battle, Crowley was captured by Grant’s army, and he was later exchanged near Baton Rouge, Louisiana, October 9, 1862. Andrew Booth, Records of Louisiana Confederate Soldiers and Louisiana Confederate Commands 3 vols. (New Or leans: n.p., 1920), 2: 493; Charles Johnson to his wife, Louisia, April 11, 1862, Charles Johnson Papers, Louisiana State University Archives. In civilian life, Crowley was a mechanic. He was a private at Belmont, but was later elected lieutenant when a vacancy occurred in Company C. He was discharged from the army, but insisted on returning to his regiment on Wednesday before Shiloh. Ibid.
32 OR 10, pt. 1, 420, 421, 505; Charles James Johnson to wife, Louisia, April 11, 1862, Charles James Johnson Papers, Louisiana State University Archives.
33 OR 10, pt. 1, 428.
34 Ibid., 505; Booth, Louisiana Records, 3: 835.
35 Reed, Shiloh, 77.
36 OR 10, pt. 1, 504.
37 Ibid., 510.
38 Ibid., 507, 508, 510.
39 S. W. Ferguson to General Beauregard, April 9, 1862, Miscellaneous Collection, Shiloh National Military Park.
40 OR 10, pt. 1, 407, 408.
41 Ibid., 582, 427, 416, 444.
42 Ibid., 582.
43 Ibid., 505, 146.
44 Ibid., 506. Part of the right regiment became separated in the attack and linked up with the Confederate Guards Response Battalion and a portion of the Eleventh Louisiana. Andrew Booth maintained that Hynes was a first lieutenant in Company A. Hynes resigned from the army on July 28, 1862, presumably from his wounds. Booth, Louisiana Records, 3: 403.
45 OR 10, pt. 1, 509-511; Charles DePetz to his wife, April 5, 1862, in Robert T. Clark, Jr., “The New Orleans German Colony in the Civil War,” Louisiana Historical Quarterly 20 (Fall 1937): 1003. || Here again, Dr. Cunningham stated originally that the Confederates broke Buck land’s line. We have found no credible evidence of this, but argue that Buckland voluntarily with drew upon orders from Sherman. There is, how ever, no doubt that Anderson pushed Buckland along in the withdrawal. We have slightly altered the original text to reflect this. See OR 10, pt. 1, 267, 497.
46 OR 10, pt. 1, 249, 262, 263; Lindsey, Ohio at Shiloh, 31.
47 OR 10, pt. 1, 444, 446, 450, 451.
48 J. B. Howard, “Wanted A Finger Wound,” Confederate Veteran 7 (May 1899): 223.
49 OR 10, pt. 1, 444.
50 W. H. Lee, “Major John C. Thompson of Mississippi,” Confederate Veteran 16 (November 1908): 585. Elected major, Thompson was killed at Chickamauga. Private Hugh McVey, Company D, Fourth Kentucky, a British-born veteran of Waterloo, an aggressive Confederate, was killed at Shiloh. He was over seventy years old. Thompson, History of the Orphan Brigade, 650.
51 OR 10, pt. 1, 444, 445; Edwin Bearss, “An Artillery Study Shiloh National Military Park, Project 17,” Miscellaneous Collection, Shiloh National Military Park. This work will be here after cited as “Project 17.”
52 OR 10, pt. 1, 446; A. J. Vaughan, Personal Record of the Thirteenth Regiment, Tennessee Infantry (Memphis: Press of C. S. Toof and Company, 1897), 15, 16.
53 OR 10, pt. 1, 276, 277; “War Experiences of George Read Lee,” George Read Lee Papers, Illinois State Historical Library.
54 C. W. Robertson to D. W. Reed, May 26, 1904, Miscellaneous Collection, Shiloh National Military Park.
55 Samuel Latta to wife, April 12, 1862, Confederate Collection, Tennessee Department of Archives and History; C. W. Robertson to D. W. Reed, May 26, 1904, Miscellaneous Collection, Shiloh National Military Park. There is some dispute as to whom actually captured the guns. Both the Thirteenth and One hundred fifty-fourth Tennessee claimed them. (Copy of an interview between Colonel A. J. Vaughan and D. W. Reed, Miscellaneous Collection, Shiloh National Military Park.) Robertson claimed the One hundred fifty-fourth took them, while Vaughan did so like wise. In all probability it was a dead heat, with men from both regiments getting there about the same time. No one mentions taking Nispel’s abandoned gun. It is possible some of the Tennessee soldiers scooped up this weapon, thinking it was part of Waterhouse’s Battery; hence, possibly ac counting for the confusion of the claims. || The Shiloh Battlefield Commission gave the 13th Tennessee the honor of capturing the position. See Battlefield Tablet #305. Subsequent authors have also given the 13th Tennessee the credit. See Daniel, Shiloh, 170; Sword, Shiloh, 197.
56 OR 10, pt. 1, 445.
57 Colonel Pond’s Brigade advanced on orders from General Ruggles, the idea being to turn the enemy’s right flank. “Ammended Report of General Ruggles,” Southern Historical Society Papers 7 (January 1879): 38.
58 OR 10, pt. 1, 254, 255; Byers, Iowa In War Times, 138; William Salter, “Major-General John M. Corse,” Annals of Iowa 11 (April 1895): 5. When the Sixth Iowa moved out that morning with McDowell’s brigade, Lieutenant Colonel Markoe Cummins, of Muscatine, Iowa, was theoretically in command. Unfortunately he was quite drunk. After Cummins put the regiment through some strange maneuvers, McDowell placed him under arrest. Wright, Sixteenth Iowa, 80. In the Official Records, Captain John Williams is listed as commanding the Sixth. OR 52, pt. 1, 18. Williams turned in a report of the early part of the day’s action, but it was vaguely worded, and he continually used the first person plural to describe the regiment’s activities. OR 10, pt. 1, 256. It would seem that Iseminger was killed very early in the action, and then Williams took over until he was wounded. Later in the day Cummins sobered up and joined with the Fifteenth Iowa, fighting as a simple private soldier. Cummins was mustered out of the army on May 20, 1862. Belknap, 15th Iowa, 83; McElroy, Undying Procession, 21.
59 J. L. Bieler, copy of a speech made at a reunion of the battery, Miscellaneous Collection, Shiloh National Military P
ark.
60 OR 10, pt. 1, 516, 255.
61 John T. Hunt, “Reminiscences of Shiloh,” Miscellaneous Collection, Shiloh National Military Park. The militia uniforms worn by the Louisianans caused them much trouble all day long. As Mouton’s Eighteenth Louisiana swarmed into McDowell’s abandoned camps, scooping up twenty-nine stragglers, the regiment was fired into by a body of Confederate skir mishers on their right. The skirmishers simply mistook the blue uniforms of the Eighteenth for Federal outfits. One private was killed, and three privates and Captain Henry Huntington, just returned from two months sick leave, were badly wounded. OR 10, pt. 1, 521. The brigade was then halted and rested for several hours, excepting the Crescent Regiment, which was detached from the group to go to the aid of the Thirty-eighth Tennessee Infantry Regiment.
62 Bering and Montgomery, Forty-eighth Ohio, 21; OR 10, pt. 1, 267, 270.
63 Ibid., 421; Liddell Hart, Sherman, 127; Roman, Beauregard, 1: 290.
64 OR 10, pt. 1, 425; Lemuel Scarborough, “Shiloh,” Miscellaneous Collection, Shiloh National Military Park.
65 Ibid.; Vaughan, Personal Record of the Thirteenth Regiment, Tennessee Infantry, 16; Samuel Latta to his wife, April 12, 1862, Confederate Collection, Tennessee Department of Archives and History. It is not certain if Colonel Vaughan cut across, behind, or in front of the Twelfth Tennessee’s advance. The Twenty-second Tennessee Infantry apparently followed along close behind Vaughan in the charge. Robert H. Wood to his father, James Wood, June 1, 1862, University of Tennessee Library, Knoxville, Tennessee.
66 OR 10, pt. 1, 141.
67 Ibid., 433, 427. Waterhouse’s Battery probably had the best shot at the Fifth, and the James rifles could have dropped a shell that far, but Venable said that a cannon ball struck the flag staff. Perhaps it was a dud shell.
68 Ibid.
69 Ibid., 430.
70 Richardson, “War As I Saw It,” 99.
71 OR 10, pt. 1, 487.
72 Thomas C. Robertson to mother, April 9, 1862, Thomas Chinn Robertson Papers, Louisiana State University Archives; Richardson, “War As I Saw It,” 99.
73 OR 10, pt. 1, 489.
74 Thomas Chinn Robertson to mother, April 9, 1862, Thomas Chinn Robertson Papers, Louisiana State University Archives.
75 OR 10, pt. 1, 489, 430.
76 Ibid., 430.
77 Ibid., 597, 598, 600.
Chapter 9
1 || Dr. Cunningham originally stated that Peabody’s brigade was “resting just southeast of the Bark Road, near the road touching the Rhea Field fence.” We have been unable to figure out exactly what he was describing, and have removed the confusing clause for the sake of clarity.
2 OR 10, pt. 1, 574.
3 Ibid., 573. The Confederate table of organization for Shiloh listed the Fifth Arkansas as part of this brigade, and it also listed the Pillow Flying Artillery as part of Shaver’s Brigade. OR 10, pt. 1, 383. Shaver’s report mentioned neither unit as being in his command during the battle. The two units are not listed in any official reports, nor in any of the sources this writer consulted. || Neither Sword nor Daniel make mention of the units either. McDonough’s Order of Battle was based on the OR.
4 Stanley, Autobiography, 187, 193.
5 Arthur Walker, Jr., “Three Alabama Baptist Chaplains, 1861-1865,” The Alabama Review 16 (July 1963): 178-179; Charles Pitts, Chaplains in Gray: The Confederate Chaplains’ Story (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1957), 96, 97.
6 OR 10, pt. 1, 532. Chalmers’ Brigade is usually referred to simply as the “Mississippi Brigade” or the “High Pressure” Brigade. J. C. Reitti, History of the Mississippi Rifles, 10th Mississippi Regiment (Glasgow: W. Anderson Fadie, n.d.), 1, 2; Rowland, Official and Statistical Register, 599. The Twenty-sixth Alabama was supposed to be on Gladden’s left, but they were crowded out of their position by some of Shaver’s men. Lieutenant William Chadwick wisely decided to quickly shift his regiment around to Gladden’s right. In this new position it took part in the charge. OR 10, pt. 1, 545.
7 S. H. Dent to wife, April 9, 1862, Shiloh-Corinth Collection, Alabama Department of Archives and History. Bragg accompanied Gladden’s Brigade in this attack. Reed, Shiloh, 73. Private Leander Stillwell, Sixty-first Illinois, commented on the exact way the Southerners advanced in “excellent order,” an unknowing tribute to the excellence of Bragg’s training of General Gladden’s regiments. Stillwell, Common Soldier, 45.
8 S. H. Dent to wife, April 9, 1862, Shiloh-Corinth Collection, Alabama Department of Archives and History; Hugh W. Henry to parents, April 10, 1862, Shiloh-Corinth Collection, Alabama Department of Archives and History.
9 Colonel Lea was badly injured by his fall and carried off the battlefield. Major Rundle seems to have been injured also at this time, and Lieutenant Colonel H. S. Oliver was not present, which left Captain Andrew Wilson to assume command of the regiment. William Mosier to D. W. Reed, December 11, 1912, Miscellaneous Collection, Shiloh National Military Park.
10 OR 10, 1: 548; Micajah Wilkinson to his brother, April 16, 1862, Micajah Wilkinson Papers, Louisiana State University Archives.
11 Captain James Sligh to his wife, April 7, 1862, James W. Sligh Papers, Michigan Historical Collection, University of Michigan; Reed, Shiloh, 60, 61; OR 10, pt. 1, 548.
12 “The Death of General Gladden,” Un signed sketch in Miss Cottrill’s Scrap book, Alabama Department of Archives and History. According to an unidentified private in the Twenty-sixth Alabama, Gladden’s last words were, “Go on my brave boys, they have hit old dad. I know you will drive every Yankee before you into the Tennessee River.” “History of the 26th Alabama,” Shiloh-Corinth Collection, Alabama Department of Archives and History. Gladden’s arm was crushed by a cannon-ball, or more probably by a large shell fragment. Colonel Deas, who ended up in command of the brigade, claimed Gladden was hit by a “cannon-ball.” OR 10, pt. 1, 538. Adams said Glad den was hit by a can non shot. Ibid., 536. Hickenlooper’s two 6-pound smooth bores fired canister, both single and double charges. The James rifles fired shrapnel. Hickenlooper, “Shiloh,” 420. Munch’s four rifles fired explosive shell or case shot, and his two howitzers canister. Gladden was likely hit by a shell fragment. Ezra Warner claims he was hit by a fragment. Warner, Generals in Gray, 107.
13 OR 10, pt. 1, 286.
14 Hickenlooper, “Shiloh,” 415. Protected by the fire of Captain Charles Swett’s Mississippi Battery, Shaver’s Brigade also advanced. OR 10, pt. 1, 574. The Shiloh National Military Park markers indicate that the Seventh Arkansas collided head on with the Twenty-fifth Missouri on and along the road.
15 Morton, “A Boy at Shiloh,” 60.
16 OR 10, pt. 1, 286.
17 Morton, “A Boy at Shiloh,” 60, 61.
18 OR 10, pt. 1, 537.
19 Stillwell, Common Soldier, 45, 46.
20 OR 10, pt. 1, 545.
21 S. H. Dent to wife, April 9, 1862, Shiloh-Corinth Collection, Alabama Department of Archives and History.
22 Reed, Shiloh, 59. || Dr. Cunningham’s original text stated that Prentiss lost four guns, two from each battery. In reality, Hickenlooper lost two guns, while Munch had two damaged and sent to the rear. One later returned to action. See Reed, Shiloh, 59; Shiloh Battlefield Commission Monument #111.
23 Morton, “A Boy at Shiloh,” 62; OR 10, pt. 1, 537, 383, 284, 286; Stillwell, Common Soldier, 46. See Reed, Shiloh, for another version, 59, 60.
24 James Sligh to wife, April 17, 1862, James W. Sligh Papers, Michigan Historical Collection, University of Michigan.
25 T. H. Peebles to wife, April 17, 1862, Confederate Veteran 16 (June 1908): 281.
26 Charles James John son to wife, April 11, 1862, Charles James John son Papers Louisiana State University Archives.
27 George Bryan, “Hand cuffs on Manassas Battlefield,” Confederate Veteran 14 (July 1906): 304; Jordan, “The Campaign and Battle of Shiloh,” 278.
28 Stanley, Autobiography, 191; Williams, P. G. T. Beauregard, 135; Comte de Paris, History of the Civil War in
America, 1: 547; Jordan, “The Campaign and Battle of Shiloh,” 278, 393.
29 S. W. Ferguson to General Beauregard, April 9, 1862, Miscellaneous Collection, Shiloh National Military Park. After the capture of Prentiss’ camp, a column of Federal prisoners was led into General Johnston’s presence. Many of them were German immigrants and spoke little or no English. Some of these fellows threw them selves on the ground at Johnston’s feet, begging for their lives. The general reassuringly spoke to them, saying, “Why men, you don’t suppose we kill prisoners, do you? Go to the rear and you will be safe there.” D. W. Yandall to William Preston Johnston, November 11, 1877, Mrs. Mason Barret Papers, Albert Sidney Johnston Collection, Howard-Tilton Memorial Library, Tulane University. The Confederates captured one very distinguished prisoner at this time, Henry Bently, war correspondent for the Philadelphia Inquirer. J. Cutler Andrews, The North Reports the Civil War (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1955), 173.
30 Battles and Leaders, 1: 587.
31 OR 10, pt. 1, 203.
32 Ibid.; Confederate Veteran 3 (November 1895): 332.
33 OR 10, pt. 1, 203. Some of the Federals took shelter behind a wooden rail fence along the edge of the field. Ibid.; Seymour Thompson, Recollections With the Third Iowa (Cincinnati: Published by Author, 1864), 220. This whole area was comparatively flat and even. The peach trees were in full bloom, adding a touch of color and gentle fragrance to the atmosphere. W. H. L. Wallace to his wife, Ann, April 5, 1862, W. H. L. Wallace Papers, Illinois State Historical Library; Thompson, Recollections With the Third Iowa, 214, 219, 220.
Shiloh and the Western Campaign of 1862 Page 41
