Recollections with the Third Iowa Regiment

CHAPTER XVI. At length he lost his reason in his baffled rage; and failing in his repeated efforts to break the 3d Brigade, and thus propagate on our left the disorder of the center, he undertook to carry the cotton field and capture the annoying battalions behind it by direct assault. A brigade leaped the fence, line after line, and formed on the opposite side of the field. It was a splendid sight, those men in the face of death closing and dressing their ranks, hedges of bayonets gleaming above them, and their proud banners waving in the breeze; our guns, shotted with canister, made great gaps in their ranks, which rapidly closed, not a man faltering in his place. And now their field officers waved their hats. A shout arose, and that column, splendidly aligned, took the double quick and moved on magnificently. We could not repress exclamations of admiration. There is a grandeur in heroism, even when connected with a bad cause. We could not hate those men. Were they committing a crime? They had been educated to love what we hated. They could not advance so splendidly upon death itself, and imagine it was for aught but a noble cause. Nevertheless, it seemed to us like the wrong assaulting the right—like the night advancing upon the day; dark and gloomy, it is true, but with all the majesty of night. We saw the truth; we pitied the event, but recognized the inexorable necessity of firing upon those men. Our officers ordered us to reserve our fire and wait for the word. On, on came their unwavering line. Not a man faltered; not a gun they fired. Not a gap occurred, save where our canister went plunging through, and these were speedily closed. Suddenly a few rifles were heard in the 32d Illinois on our left, and a field officer was seen to fall. And then all along our regimental line a crash of muskets maintained in a steady roar, followed by a cloud of blinding smoke, through which we could see nothing. We knew not whether they stood or fell, halted, retreated, or advanced. We only knew that their bullets at times rattled through the fence, and that some of our men were shot. We continued to load and fire until our officers ordered us to cease firing, and then it was not without much difficulty that they could make us understand and obey them. When the smoke cleared away, we saw what was left of this splendid brigade, retreating in good order by the right flank, by which movement they placed a hill between them and us. Singular enough, many muskets again commenced firing. The enemy's dead and wounded lay so thickly upon the field where his charge was first checked, that they looked like a line of troops lying down to receive our fire. It was some time before we could believe that such was not the case. When we saw our victory, there went up an exultant shout. It was a moment of ineffable joy to us. No one who has not felt it knows how a soldier feels in such a moment of triumph. We had served ten months, and marched and watched and fought, and suffered, and this was our first victory. But that single moment was sufficient to compensate us for all we had endured to gain it. CHAPTER XVI. The enemy massing against the left—Our successful stand—Retreat and our successive positions therein—We form the left of Prentiss—His gallant conduct and capture—Capture of Major Stone—He and Prentiss vindicated—Scene on the bluff—Night and Buell—The cannonade—The night. Our triumph was but the beginning of disaster. From our position we could see the enemy preparing a storm which was to sweep us from the field. Regiment after regiment of his infantry filed along our front beyond the field, and took position in front of Colonel Stuart's brigade, which formed the extreme left of the line. Once or twice his cavalry formed as if to charge us, and then disappeared. This was probably an attempt to mask the movements of his other troops. It did not succeed. We watched with harrowing expectations this masking of his battalions on our left. We noticed, too, that toward the right the firing had grown feeble and irregular. This told us that the enemy was withdrawing troops from the right and concentrating them against this part of the line, which was all that remained unbroken. In the meantime would we be reinforced? We could hardly expect it; for we knew that our other troops were broken and that there were no reserves. Turning to ourselves we saw that we had already suffered heavily. Our remaining guns were well nigh disabled, and much of our infantry was hors de combat . And yet we saw that our only resource was our own strength and courage. Everything seemed now at stake and depending upon us,—life, honor, the salvation of the army and perhaps the success of our cause. We looked the crisis in the face, and every soldier seemed to resolve to meet it like a man. Most of the 1st Brigade had been moved to the left to support the expected point of attack. General Hurlbut was there to command the men in person, and to inspire them by his brave example as he had already done. Half of our regiment was moved to the left, but was not taken beyond the end of the field. At half past three o'clock, the enemy's infantry in a column of several lines moved to the attack. From our position we could see the immense mass sweeping through the half open woods. The spectacle charmed even the dread it occasioned. At the same time his artillery, strengthened by the arrival of additional batteries, began to fire with greatly increased vigor, and his infantry renewed the battle on the right of the field. Everywhere around us the storm began to rage; shot, shell, grape, canister came howling and whistling through our lines. The very trees seemed to protest against it. Missiles flew everywhere. Lying on our faces we could not escape them. Our artillery, the 2d Michigan battery, replied feebly but bravely. Their horses were shot down and their men swept from their guns. We could not but admire the heroic conduct of these men, and shudder to see them fall. When we saw them go down before those terrible vollies, horses, riders and gunners thrown upon each other, we forgot all feelings but pity, thick as was the danger around us. Their battery was finally disabled and compelled to withdraw into the woods. It is impossible to depict this hour of conflict. All the noises of battle commingled rose in a bewildering roar, and above all we could hear the cries of the combatants as they joined, and the shouts of multitudes, announcing a successful or an unsuccessful charge; for we knew not whether these voices were of friends or foes. It was a swift, anxious hour. By four o'clock, the left was flanked and turned. Regiment after regiment was successively broken from extreme left to right. An enfilading battery opened upon us with canister. Their cartridges exhausted in opposing the flanking fire, and mowed down by the enfilading canister, our troops began to retreat in disorder through the woods. General Hurlbut rode up to Major Stone, and said in a calm, low tone, "I look to the 3d Iowa to retrieve the fortunes of this field." Those who heard those memorable words will never forget how the general looked then—a calm example of heroism amid those thickening disasters. It was an occasion which called forth the highest qualities of our natures, and told us who were men. Before us the enemy's dead strewed thickly over the field, showed us what discipline and courage could do. Above us the hissing and screaming of missiles; around us the roar of battle rising louder and louder; assailed in front and flank; the enemy to the left crowding our fugitive troops and pressing furiously on our rear; the troops to our right swept back; we beheld ourselves the left and the front of the army—all of those five divisions that remained unshaken; and we had heard the words of the General committing the fortunes of the day to us. I would not write boastingly of my own regiment, nor in the least disparage the conduct of the gallant men who had fought on other parts of the field. That we still held this position was owing not more to the fact that it had proven unassailable to the enemy's infantry, than to the heroic conduct of the troops who had fought immediately on our right and left. I do not on this account claim for my comrades a degree of courage which others did not possess. I merely state the fact, and challenge the successful contradiction of those who have claimed the same honor for other regiments, that the 3d Iowa was the last regiment of the front line to retreat from the position it first occupied. Such was the situation around us at half past four in the afternoon. Major Stone resolved not to disappoint the General, but to hold the position at whatever hazard. Our line was withdrawn for better protection a few rods from the fence. A part of the 2d Michigan Battery, commanded by the gallant Lieutenant ——, was yet with us. We were assailed by a concentrated fire of artillery,—a direct fire from the front, a cross fire from the right, and an enfilading fire from the left. General Hurlbut again rode up, explained to Major Stone the situation, that his right was driven back and his left broken, that it was the enemy's fault that our regiment was not captured, and ordered the Major to take us to the rear. We moved back about three hundred yards and again faced toward the enemy. Here we came in contact with the enemy's infantry, pressing confusedly on after the fugitive troops behind our left. We availed ourselves of every shelter the ground afforded without breaking our line, and engaged him at close range. We were yet almost equal to a fresh regiment. He had not expected to meet such resistance. The buckshot from our smoothbore muskets flew too thickly for him, and he recoiled in astonishment. For a few moments the field was clear. Looking forward to our old position, we beheld the enemy's hated flag floating above the house behind which we had rested most of the day. Meanwhile we replenished our cartridge-boxes with ammunition, which had been previously brought up from the rear. The enemy again advanced upon us. This regiment was the 22d Alabama. We received it as we had done the others, at close range. They raised their demoniac yell and pressed on at a charging step. They came so near that our officers used their revolvers against them. But like the others, they recoiled and retreated before our thick fire, leaving us masters of the ground. The enemy subsequently acknowledged that our range was here most perfect, and that this regiment was well nigh destroyed in this attempt, and did not again participate in the action either day. But masses of troops now crowding past our right, forced us to another retreat. We fell back about three hundred yards and again faced toward the enemy, and re-formed our line. Major Stone, in the absence of senior officers, had been for some time gallantly fighting his own battle. General Prentiss was now to our right with five regiments of Smith's division, endeavoring to hold the enemy in check. He rode up to the Major and explained to him what he was trying to do—to hold the enemy in check, if possible, till the army could again form in the rear, or till night should put an end to the battle. He asked the Major to assist him, and that our regiment should become his left. The Major readily assented, and agreed to obey his orders. Here, then, if the spectacle of the field was appalling, it was sublime. Six regiments disputing the field with the enemy's army, and delaying his expected triumph. He crowded furiously on, assailing us in front and flank, his soldiers howling with mingled exultation and rage, their voices rising even above the din of battle. He no longer came in lines nor in columns, but in confused masses, broken in pursuit as our army had been in retreat. His missiles swept the field in all directions. Our dead fell thickly. Our wounded streamed to the rear. We no longer had lines of battle, but fought in squads and clusters. The settling smoke obscured the vision. Comrades knew not who stood or fell. All was confusion and chaos around us. A mass of the enemy broke the regiment on our right and separated us from Prentiss. We were again compelled to retreat. We fell back in disorder, keeping up a brisk fire upon the enemy, who pressed on. The Major before ordering the retreat had determined to make another stand in front of our regimental camp, and make his command a nucleus on which the broken troops of Prentiss might rally. Reaching this position, he sent Adjutant Sessions to form the left, while he in person undertook to form the right. The right was partially sheltered by a hollow; the left was on high ground and completely exposed. From the latter point we for the moment discerned the battle around us. To our right and rear as far as the eye could reach, through the woods and over the fields—at least a mile, our line of battle in full retreat,—infantry, artillery, wagons, ambulances, all rushing to the rear—a scene of confusion and dismay—an army degenerating into a rout. In front of us, partly obscured in smoke, the enemy's assailing infantry, while to our left and rear his multitudes were pouring through the camp of the 41st Illinois, and hurrying to cut off our retreat. In a few moments he would be full in our rear. It was no time to hesitate now. We must run the gauntlet he had prepared for us or be captured. We preferred to take the chances and run. The left wing gave way and ran in disorder through our camp. Passing through it, we saw to our late left, masses of the enemy very near, firing rapidly and rushing towards us with frantic yells. On the other side, led by a regiment well aligned, he was directing himself so as to cut off our retreat. Between these two fires we were completely exposed and suffered our greatest loss. At no time had we been exposed to so thick a fire. More of our men fell within the lines of our own regimental camp than anywhere else upon the field. Major Stone, retreating last with the right wing, crossed the open space between our camp and drill ground, and coming again into the woods, ran full against a rebel regiment, and with a few men was captured. With the exception of those who fell, the rest of our regiment escaped. Soon after, General Prentiss retreating with the remainder of his troops, came upon our camp ground, and looking forward, saw the gap closed through which he had hoped to escape. Exposed to a concentrated fire from all sides, his regiments completely broken, there was no alternative but to surrender. The officer who received the surrender of Major Stone, a major of a Tennessee regiment, received also that of Gen. Prentiss. The regiments captured here were the 8th, 12th, and 14th Iowa, and the 58th Illinois. The capture of General Prentiss affords a most striking example of the reward the most meritorious conduct may sometimes receive at the hands of public opinion. Because he held the field with a handful of troops, regardless of the number against him, and finally retreated, not to escape danger, but, when he saw the enemy surrounding him, to escape capture;—because he was thus willing to sacrifice himself, if necessary, to hold the enemy in check and save the army, the imputation of cowardice was cast upon him and the brave men who were captured with him. His fault consisted alone in not knowing when to retreat; theirs in obeying their general too well. The same imputation was cast upon Major Stone, and used against him in the late gubernatorial campaign in Iowa, by his political and personal enemies. It is vain to say that a man exhibited a lack of courage in a day of battle at its close, who, through all its storm from early in the morning, had fought so bravely and so well;—and this, too, because he was too tardy in retreat! But he has since triumphed gloriously at Vicksburg, and in the hearts of the people of Iowa. I have always believed that this effort of General Prentiss delayed the enemy an hour, and prevented the capture of our army. It was about five o'clock when he surrendered. A mile behind him, and near the landing, the army was forming its last line of resistance. Toward this one point the retreat had converged from all parts of the field. Here the troops were crowded together in disorderly masses. Men were separated from their colors, and mixed in inextricable confusion. There were no longer any regiments, brigades or divisions. All was an immense mob—a great rout, halting because it could retreat no further. This was the grand army which yesterday surveyed itself so proudly! To-night it looked at itself and was appalled. The stoutest hearts sickened at the sight. Officers called upon their men to rally, but they did not heed them. Every one seemed to think that their commands did not apply to him. Men looked blankly into each other's countenances, and read only their own dismay. But the delay of the enemy gave time for reflection, and they began to realize their situation. Behind them was an impassable river staying their retreat. To plunge into it was ignominious death. Before was a victorious foe, coming relentlessly on. To face towards him and fight was, at least, to die with honor. Many began to be seized with this heroic resolution. During the day, Captain Madison had with great difficulty succeeded in getting four of his siege guns into position on the bluffs. The remnants of the broken regiments had halted and planted their colors near them. Stragglers came up and joined them, and by degrees a line of battle grew and extended itself to the right. Under the direction of Colonel Webster, chief of staff to General Grant, about thirty pieces of cannon were got into position along this line and opened upon the enemy. For some time we had noticed on the opposite side of the river a signal flag and a battalion of cavalry. We heard a band of music playing martial airs. A strange general was also seen riding with Grant. It was he!—It was Buell! The news spread and was rumored everywhere. "Take courage," our officers said. "We will hold them till night; to-morrow Buell's army will be on the field, and we will easily defeat them." Nevertheless, we had the gloomiest doubts. Would his troops be here in time? It was an unheard-of thing in this war for our generals to be in time to support each other. We were divided between hopes and doubts, until Ammon's brigade of Nelson's division marched up the hill. But we were astonished beyond measure at the enemy. When there was no longer anything to oppose him, he had halted. He had delayed an hour when perseverance alone was necessary to make his victory complete. When he could have seized the great prize almost without effort, he declined to take it. He, too, hesitated at the turning point of his destiny. It was his fatality and our salvation. But we did not fully understand his situation. His troops had suffered terribly, as the assailing party always does when the assailed fight bravely. They had been broken in the pursuit well nigh as badly as we in the rout. Many of his men had straggled from their colors and begun to plunder our camps. Besides, General Prentiss had assured him that we had fortifications near the river. These circumstances decided him to re-form his lines before making the final assault. Before he could accomplish this, night began to close upon the scene. Nevertheless, his right wing was thrown forward to the river, and moved down against us. But its advance was obstructed by an almost impassable ravine, at which point the gunboats Tyler and Lexington attacked it vigorously. At the same time Ammon confronted him with his full battalions; and beyond him, behind our now blazing batteries, a long blue line of infantry extended. The enemy halted and limited himself to keeping up a furious cannonade. As if out of respect to our brave men in front, his missiles almost invariably passed over their heads and fell among the disgraceful stragglers in the rear. Here the scene was humiliating in the extreme. On the bottom below the landing and in the ravines leading to it, were thousands of stragglers belonging mostly to the regiments broken in the morning, whom no efforts were available to rally. The enemy's shells burst thick and fast among them. The transports not engaged in crossing Buell's troops were compelled to anchor in the stream or tie to the opposite bank, to prevent being loaded down by them and sunk. Some plunged into the stream and were drowned, endeavoring to swim across. Others swam the bayou which puts into the river below the landing, and hid themselves in the woods beyond it. A furious artillery duel, our gunboats and siege guns joining with their hoarser voices, was kept up until night cast its welcome shadows over the scene of horror. The moon rose and threw a ghastly light upon the field. The roar of battle gave place to the dull sounds of moving multitudes in front, and to the noise of transports crossing and recrossing continually in the rear, save, when at intervals from one of the gunboats, a jar of cannon, the noise of a flying projectile, and far to the front, the crack of an exploding shell, announced to the enemy that we were not yet wholly his. CHAPTER XVII. The battle on Monday—Defeat of the enemy's right wing—Firmness of the left—Gallant conduct of Gen. Hurlbut—Col. Johnson in command of a part of our divided brigade—Victory—Flight of the enemy and failure to pursue. All night the troops of Buell continued to cross. Regiment after regiment filed up the bluff, took position in line of battle, and awaited the dawn of day. During the fore part of the night, a moist, warm breeze blew from the south. About 10 P. M. the sky was overcast, and there began a drizzling, uncomfortable rain. Nevertheless, the soldiers, blanketless and weary, lay down and slept. No one who has not experienced it knows with what a sleep a soldier sleeps after a great battle. But ours was interrupted at regular intervals by the jar of the gunboat howitzer, which had been ordered to throw shells during the night to annoy the enemy. Thus awakened and closing our eyes again to sleep, we saw in our brain-fever all the terrible images of the day's battle—hedges of glittering bayonets; blue masses swaying to and fro; and that last appalling image, the army in retreat—gigantic even in ruin, sublime in its own dismay. These images, flitting ghostlike and without effort through our minds seemed to possess the reality of day. Could I have produced them on canvas as I saw them in my mind that night, what a panorama it would have been. But the generals could not have slept, they were busy with the preparations for the morning's battle. During the night two divisions and a part of a third succeeded in getting across. Lines of battle grew in the darkness and extended themselves over the hills. All expected victory. The plan was an admirable one—to turn the enemy's right and get possession of the Pittsburg and Corinth road, his only line of retreat. But of this of course the men knew nothing. Buell's men were as weary with marching as we with fighting, and all slept. The day dawned. Our men arose and awaited the order to advance. The enemy, too, began to form his lines of battle. To his soldiers, who knew nothing of our being reinforced, our capture was expected without difficulty. "We will have them by eight o'clock," said some. Others thought we would hold out till nine and possibly later. Both hosts were full of expectation. With what a shock, then, would they join! Nevertheless the enemy formed his ranks slowly. His officers had to use curses and threats to induce the men to move with sufficient alacrity. Weary with yesterday's battle, added to their previous fatigues, a stupor clung to their limbs which not even a sense of their situation could dissipate. Suddenly they heard the reports of rifles. Their pickets driven in announced the advance of our troops. In a moment our infantry confronted them. If the earth had sunk under their feet they could not have been more stupified. Batteries mounted the crests of the ridges and thundered at them. Lines of skirmishers appeared and vanished, followed by full battalions advancing at a charge and shouting victory! victory! It was not possible that the broken host of yesterday had renewed its strength and were turning upon them. No, Buell was on the field. They realized it immediately, expected the worst, and determined to meet the shock like men. The Fourth Division rested at this time on the bluffs as a reserve. We listened with great impatience to the noise of battle on the left, and to the frequent reports that came to us from that part of the field. The firing rose and continued heavily for two or three hours, growing the while more and more distant. The end of this beginning is known. The enemy fought desperately, inflicting upon us heavy loss, but he was forced back several miles, losing part of his artillery. By nine o'clock his stragglers began to pace through the woods towards Corinth, reporting Buell on the field and the day lost. By twelve o'clock this part of his lines seems to have been pushed nearly to Shiloh Springs, and crumbling and streaming through the woods, is said to have left the field in rout. Why Buell did not get possession of the Corinth road is more than the troops who subsequently passed over this ground could understand. It must have been owing to the stubborn resistance our attack met with on the center and right. Here the battle rose as soon as it was well in progress on the left, and raged heavily and with varying fortunes until four o'clock in the afternoon. About ten o'clock General Hurlbut was ordered to move forward his division and reinforce the right. "Here," said the General, looking at his fragments of battalions, "is what I am ordered to march against the enemy." He then ordered the regiments to be counted. The 3d Iowa numbered one hundred and forty men, and First Lieutenant George W. Crosley, as ranking officer, was in command. We moved by the flank, the First Brigade in advance, and General Hurlbut and Colonel Pugh at the head of the column. Thus this remnant of the Fourth Division, gallant men whom nothing could dismay, led by a general whom in one day they had learned to love, again moved forward into the battle. Having advanced perhaps a mile, we came within range of the enemy's shells, which fell in the rear of our line in this part of the field with great rapidity. This firing fortunately did us no damage. We reached the point we were ordered to support, and the division was drawn up in front. The battle here raged heavily, and the line in front of us which was engaged swayed to and fro. To our right and rear, one of our batteries was engaged with one of the enemy's, a short distance to our left and front. The duel they kept up was rapid and revengeful. They fired shot and shell, which flew directly over our heads and struck and burst behind us and before us. A soldier in our ranks expressed the wonder whether the battery on our right was ours or the enemy's. A voice from behind him answered, "It is ours of course." Looking around us we saw General Hurlbut, seated on his horse and smoking calmly. Such was the conduct of this brave man. Whatever the danger, he kept constantly near his line, inspiring us with his presence, and never omitting a word that could encourage his meanest soldier. In front of us we could catch glimpses of the battle. Regiments advanced, disappeared in the thick woods, and came back in disorder. It was a succession of successful and unsuccessful attacks. Now fortune was with us, and now with the enemy. Behind all the Fourth Division stood firmly, stayed the retreating battalions and held the line. Through all, the enemy's battery held its position and kept up its cannonade. Its shells seemed omnipresent. Its projectiles falling far and near to right and left, scaling the tree tops or crashing through their boughs, it seemed to overlook the field and talk to the army's whole right wing. General Hurlbut several times changed the disposition of his line as circumstances seemed to dictate. A regiment retreating in confusion by the flank, broke through it cutting it about the center of our regiment. At this precise moment, Col. Pugh began to move the brigade to the left. In the noise and confusion, the command was not heard by those of the right, and one regiment thus separated from the rest; nor was the movement known until the left of the brigade had disappeared. This portion took position in the reserve line and was not engaged during the day. The right of the brigade, however, including about forty of our regiment with our colors, were to play a very different part. Col. Emory K. Johnson, of the 28th Illinois, assumed command, and began immediately to advance the line. As it moved into more open ground and discovered its length, it was evident he had command of a greater part of the brigade. Having advanced a considerable distance, the line halted and volunteer skirmishers were called for. A sufficient number immediately went forward and when about a hundred and fifty yards to the front, the line again advanced. The skirmishers soon discovered the enemy moving by the left flank along our front in the edge of a wide field. At the same time skirmishers farther to the left reported him massing troops in that direction, with the apparent design of flanking us. Col. Johnson immediately took measures to meet this movement. He moved his line to the left perhaps a quarter of a mile and then changed its direction to the front. Suddenly we confronted the enemy, standing in compact line of battle, as if just dressed to begin an advance. We halted and both lines began a vigorous and steady fire. On our part there was no swaying nor straggling. It was a fair stand-up fight, the antagonists exposed to view, and deliberately shooting each other down. The enemy must have outnumbered us, for his right extended some distance beyond our left. It was a splendid test of the morale of the two forces. Victory was with us. We had expended from twenty to thirty rounds of ammunition, when the enemy's line gave way and ours followed at a charge. We pushed him to the edge of a field, over which he fled in disorder, suffering severely under our fire. A part of a battery fell into our hands, around which dead men and horses lay thickly, showing how severely it had suffered. The enemy, escaped across the field, and began a feeble fire from the opposite side. All at once our line was ordered to retreat. It fell back rapidly and not without some disorder, and took position with the other troops. I have never been able to ascertain why this retreat was made. At the time it was commanded, the enemy's fire was so slight, that without its being increased we could have easily crossed the field. Neither part of our regiment was engaged during the remainder of the day. Fresh troops went forward to reinforce the right, and the battle raged with unvarying steadiness all along the line, the enemy being gradually forced back till about four o'clock, when he finally disappeared from the field, and the cavalry rode forward with loud shouts to pursue. We who knew nothing of the ineffectiveness of cavalry against infantry, and especially untrained cavalry, and on a timbered field, expected them to perform prodigies in disorganizing the retreating enemy. But when we learned they had only followed him a short distance, picking up a few stragglers, "the man on the horse" sunk profoundly low in our estimation. As it was, they doubtless did all they could. Breckinridge's division covered the enemy's retreat, and presented a strong front to them when they approached. The soldiers now expected the order to pursue. It is now almost useless to inquire why this was not done; but history will demand to know why nearly two months of hardship and suffering, including the recall of the army of the Mississippi from its theater of successful operations, was required to force the evacuation of Corinth, which might now have been accomplished by twenty-four hours vigorous action. General Grant's apology for not pursuing the enemy is expressed in his official report: "My force was too much fatigued during two days hard fighting, and exposed in the open air to a drenching rain during the intervening night, to pursue immediately. Night closed in cloudy and with heavy rain, making the roads impracticable for artillery by the next morning." This statement admits of some qualification. None of Buell's army had been engaged but one day; and of this but a part of Wood's Division, and none of Thomas' had been engaged at all. The latter, though greatly fatigued by the long and hurrying march they had made to reach the scene of conflict, were eager to participate in the honors of the occasion, and might have been advantageously used in the pursuit. At least, were we not as able to pursue as the enemy to retreat? He had suffered as much in fatigue as we, and proportionally far more in the losses of the battle. He had marched against us expecting everything, and had gained nothing but slaughter and defeat. His right wing had left the field in rout. His whole army, conscious of our now superior strength and of their utter inability to make a stand against us, whatever the position they might take, was retreating demoralized on a single road which defiled for twenty miles through an almost uninterrupted forest, and which was now almost impassable for his artillery and train. Before reaching Corinth his retreat had degenerated into a rout, and his army had dissolved into a disorganized and straggling multitude. If we may believe the concurrent accounts of citizens, added to those of his own soldiers whom we subsequently captured, such was their dismay, that a pursuit conducted with ordinary skill and vigor, would have resulted in immense captures of men and materiel . The enemy succeeded in getting his artillery through to Corinth after the night's rain, which General Grant avers made the road impassable for artillery. But had this been the case, a successful pursuit could have been made without doubt by infantry and cavalry alone. Who then shall say, that, within the utmost scope of endurance, General Grant should not have pursued as soon as the enemy retreated? The soldiers seemed to think so, and murmured because it was not attempted. Nevertheless, whole regiments dissolved into squads and scattered over the field in search of their dead and wounded; and it was not long before the entire field was covered with stragglers and plunderers of the dead. To put a stop to this, the cavalry was ordered to get up a panic among them. They rode frantically over the field, circulating the report that the enemy's cavalry was upon them. The effect was admirable. In a few minutes the panic communicated itself to all parts of the field, and stragglers without number poured through the woods toward the river like herds of frightened brutes. No one could tell what he was running from. Each saw his fellow straggler run and followed him, seized and mastered by an indefinable, vague dread. At one point an officer, meeting a gang of stragglers, advised them to congregate for their safety upon an open field which was without a fence! The simpletons actually followed his advice. General Sherman pursued the enemy a short distance and returned. The men of our regiment, after collecting their wounded and most of their dead, assembled at our regimental camp. Through the energy and prudence of Quartermaster Clark, during the forenoon of Monday, our tents had been let down to the ground and our baggage hauled to the landing. Thus the former were saved from being greatly injured by the missiles of the battle, and the latter from capture by the enemy. The baggage was not brought up till the next day. We divided and ate a little food, put up our tents, and without covering lay down to rest. With blankets for their shrouds our dead comrades lay near us. Scattered over the field were thousands of wounded whose sufferings we could not alleviate. Under ordinary circumstances it would seem that men in this situation would scarcely wish to sleep at all. But we slept a sound and joyous sleep. All night it rained heavily and with scarcely a moment's intermission. Storm, darkness and gloom—a fitting termination of those two dreadful days. CHAPTER XVIII. A survey of the field—Plundering the dead—Civilians and relic-seekers—Congratulatory orders—Camp on a field of graves. Drenched by the rain and without covering, the troops of Buell had lain all night on the advance portions of the field in line of battle. In the morning many of them began to discharge their pieces to get the wet loads out of them. These reports caused great consternation among the stragglers in their rear, who fled toward the river firing their pieces as if to repeat the alarm. For some time we did not heed these noises; but soon hosts of stragglers, most of them armed, began to pour through our camp, reporting that the enemy was renewing the attack. Our teamsters began to hitch up their mules; our sutler gathered up his books and commenced a retreat toward the landing. In a moment our regiment was in line. Captain Smith was in command. We joined the 32d Illinois on our left and stretched our line across the road which ran between their camp and ours, thus intercepting the terror-stricken herd that poured down it, and compelling them to take positions in our ranks. We stacked arms and broke ranks as soon as the panic had subsided. During the afternoon, I yielded to curiosity, and with some comrades took a stroll over the field. From our extreme front camps to the river, and for three or four miles to right and left, the dead were everywhere to be found. Upon the crests of certain hills, in camps and in open fields they lay more thickly than elsewhere. One could discern with unmistakable certainty on what parts of the field the battle had raged with greatest fury. Nowhere did the enemy's dead lay so thickly as on the open field behind which the First Brigade of the Fourth Division had fought on Sunday, and nowhere did our own dead lay so thickly as at certain points to the right and left of it. Soldiers were scattered everywhere over the field, some prompted by curiosity, some by a desire to revisit some particular spot where his regiment had fought and suffered, where some dear comrade had fallen, or where he had witnessed while it was taking place, some particular feature of the battle, and some by a desire to plunder the dead. For ourselves, we paid particular attention to the position our regiment had held for five hours on Sunday. "Here," said we, "we repulsed the charge on the field and piled up the enemy's dead. Here Mann's Battery engaged the enemy; here we supported the steel guns and here the 2d Michigan. And what a storm was here! And here was our first, and here our second position in retreat; and here we made our last stand, and then——". The dead presented every possible appearance. Some of them looked calm and natural as if taking a quiet sleep; not a mark of any emotion; not a distorted line in their features. It did not seem possible that these men could have fallen in battle. Other countenances exhibited traces of rage; others of fear. One rebel lay dead holding a cartridge in his teeth. We noticed that the countenances of our own dead seemed much more natural than those of the enemy. As to the appearance of the wounds which caused death, no general idea can be given. Some did not seem to be wounded at all, but only asleep. There were no traces of violence or injury upon them, except, perhaps, the hair in a particular place would be clotted with blood. Under it, a buckshot had perhaps penetrated the skull. Many were shot in the face, and showed a ball hole under the eye or on either cheek, and a pool of clotted blood under the head. Many were shot in the chest and abdomen. Their bodies were swelled enormously, and a watery liquid bubbled and gurgled from their wounds. Some of their eyes were closed. Others lay on their backs, staring an unearthly stare, as though the light of a strange world were breaking on them. Some bore evidences of having expired in great agony, and looked sickening in the extreme. Their eyes were grim, their faces yellow and their mouths filled with foam. Other bodies were torn to pieces, as if by the explosion of a percussion shell. Others were disembowelled by canister, and beheaded, unlimbed and cut in two with solid shot. Less than a mile from the landing, five of the enemy's dead lay in a row behind a tree. They were evidently killed by the same missile. The skull of the first was torn open on one side; the second was struck in the neck, the third in the chest, and so on, as though a descending shell had struck them while standing behind the tree in a row. Near them were two other bodies which bore evidence of having been killed by an exploding shell. After surveying the field and its multitude of dead, I returned, sickened, depressed, and disgusted with all things. Was it possible that such masses of corruption had been the dwelling places of immortal souls? Could spirits inhabit such foul tenements, and then fly to the stars? Such were the temples in which the images of God were appointed to dwell,—beautiful, it may be, when whole; but when broken, how monstrous! I hated myself because I was flesh and blood. I could have killed myself, had it not been for the thought of becoming like them. I was equally disgusted with war, with peace, with life. I hated peace; for looking back upon it, it seemed cowardly. I hated war; for it was a work of destruction. It was against life, that is to say, against God. I hated life; because it was a scene either of war or of peace. For a while it seemed to me as though men were made only to play a little, worthless game, and then sink into nothingness. To such an extent were my feelings depressed, while contemplating this sickening scene of horror. After the battle came the sad duty of caring for the wounded and burying the dead. Late as Tuesday evening we saw ambulances bringing in the wounded; and Thursday night many of the dead were unburied. It must not be supposed that our army thus neglected its own dead. It was the first duty with the men of the Third Iowa to bury their dead comrades. It was done as well as circumstances would permit, and head-boards were placed at the graves with suitable inscriptions. How the wounded were cared for, they and their attendants best can tell. They were placed upon hospital boats, and sent as rapidly as possible to northern hospitals. Fatigue parties were detailed to bury the enemy's dead. After the first day after the battle, this duty was anything but agreeable. Immense pits were dug where the dead lay thickest, to which the bodies were dragged by means of horses and then thrown in and buried. Thus were the heroes rewarded with nameless graves. But as they had been comrades in peril, they were now comrades in their last resting-place. To some of these graves our soldiers had placed head-boards. I noticed one with an inscription like this:— Fourteen Dead Rebels , Killed April 6th and 7th , 1862. On the cotton field where we had fought on Sunday, it was said that one hundred and thirty had been buried in one of these pits. Most of our regiments buried their dead by themselves, thus forming a little regimental cemetery, around which they built an enclosure. The tardiness and carelessness with which the enemy's dead were buried was a disgrace to our army. Wednesday afternoon, I saw putrid corpses lying upon an open field within ten rods of General Nelson's tent, and in plain view of it. There were more men ready to engage in plundering the dead, than voluntarily to assist in burying them;—hyenas in uniform; vermin who creep over the field of battle by night and rifle the pockets of the slain,—who pull the boots from their feet, and cut off their fingers for the rings that are on them; birds of prey too despicable to be classed with buzzards,—who are too cowardly to pursue living game; but who skulk in the rear in battle, and when it is over, go forth and plunder alike friend and foe, whose arms can no longer strike, and whose voices can no longer rebuke them. Crawling over the field by night; skulking through the woods by day; when you meet them they tell you they are in search of dead or wounded comrades; they entertain you with tales of their own marvelous exploits in the battle. But if you watch them, it will not be many days before they will have "trophies" to exhibit,—swords, money, watches, jewelry. There is but one way to deal with such persons. To give them trial by court martial, is to insult discipline and to abuse the service. Mounted patrols should be detailed to scour the field after a battle, and should shoot without questioning whoever is caught plundering the dead. I do not mean to say that valuable property should be buried with dead men. But the dead should be collected and buried in the usual way, and their effects retained or disposed of by the proper officers for the benefit of the Government. After a lapse of a few days, an army of civilians appeared on the field;—men who had come in search of missing friends, or to care for wounded ones,—agents of Sanitary Commissions sent to nurse the wounded, and having charge of stores for their benefit, who, according to report, lived upon the stores and spent their time rambling over the field in search of relics and gratifying curiosity. They permeated the woods like a host of locusts. It was the especial delight of the boys to impose upon them. A soldier would cut a small stick, shoot two or three holes in it from his revolver, and sell it to one of them for a dollar as a cane cut from the battle-field. A soldier found an old, rusty, musician's sword, and sold it to a civilian for ten dollars, stating that he had captured it from a rebel officer! Many such tricks were practiced both to our amusement and profit. The battle changed materially the morale of the army. It had diminished our inclination to boast. If it had not taught us to respect ourselves less, it had taught us to respect our enemies more. It diminished our confidence in General Grant, and greatly increased it in General Hurlbut. From the former, a general without experience and an army equally so, it is true we could not reasonably expect more than tolerable management. But he had allowed an immense army to march upon him and surprise him, and that surprise had entailed upon us defeat, and, to a certain degree, dishonor. The conduct of the latter won our unbounded admiration. We had expected nothing of him; he had done everything for us. If the country did not know it, we nevertheless felt it—that the Fourth Division under his leadership had covered itself with glory. On Sunday the enemy had beaten us by superiority of numbers, by having his plans laid and his dispositions for the battle made without our knowledge, and without any interruption from us, and, finally, by the advantage gained in the attack being a complete surprise to us. Of these, his advantage in superiority of numbers is the only one that has been questioned. The most moderate estimates from the enemy's side have placed his force at about forty thousand. No one who knows that our army was so much reduced by sickness and other causes that not more than half the men borne on its rolls were available for the line of battle, will believe that we had more than thirty thousand actually engaged. I have no doubt, that in the afternoon the enemy opposed us on the left with two to one. We believed that this battle had demonstrated the superiority of the enemy's generals; but at least the equal bravery of our own troops. His prisoners admitted that they had not imagined we would fight so well. We told them in reply that we were all Americans, the only difference between us being of ideas and education. If we were to believe what the newspapers at home said of us, we were both heroes and cowards. We knew that if we had achieved nothing splendid, we were at least victors. Though we knew that we had not won much glory, we felt that we had merited much more than we had won. On the whole, we were disposed to rejoice, not so much on account of the bare victory we had gained, as that the army had escaped, though narrowly, from the utter ruin which hung over it. Finally, the following orders of thanks and congratulation came, the two latter of which, and particularly the one of Governor Andrew, brought tears to the eyes of stout soldiers as they were read on parade:— Headquarters, Department of the Mississippi , } Pittsburgh , Tenn., April 15th, 1862. } General Orders , No. 16. The Major General commanding the Department thanks Major Generals Grant and Buell, and the officers and men of their respective commands, for the bravery and endurance with which they sustained the general attacks of the enemy on the sixth, and for the heroic manner in which, on the seventh, they defeated and routed the whole rebel army. The soldiers of the West have added new laurels to those which they had already won on numerous fields. While congratulating the troops on their glorious success, the General commanding desires to enjoin upon all officers and men the necessity of greater discipline and order. These are as essential to the success as to the health of the army, and without them we can not long expect to be victorious; but with them we can march forward to new fields of honor and glory, till this wicked rebellion is completely crushed out, and peace returned to our country. By command of Major General Halleck, (Signed) N. H. McLean , A. A. G. Headquarters, District of West Tennessee , } April 10th, 1863. } General Orders , No. 34. The General commanding congratulates the troops who so gallantly sustained the attack, repulsed and routed a numerically superior force of the enemy, composed of the flower of the Southern army, and fought by them with all the desperation of despair. In numbers engaged no such contest ever took place on this continent. In importance of result, but few such battles have taken place in the world. Whilst congratulating the brave and gallant soldiers, it becomes the especial duty of the General commanding to make mention of the brave wounded and those killed on the field. Whilst they leave friends and relatives to mourn their loss, they have won a nation's gratitude, and undying laurels, not to be forgotten by future generations, who shall enjoy the blessings of the best Government the sun ever shone upon, preserved by their valor. By command of Major General Grant, (Signed) John A. Rawlins , A. A. G. Headquarters, Department of the Mississippi , } Camp Pittsburgh Landing , April 19th, 1862. } General Orders , No. 17. The following General Order of the Governor and Commander-in Chief of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, has been received and is published to the Military and Naval forces of this Department:— Commonwealth of Massachusetts , } Headquarters, Boston , April 10th, 1862. } General Orders , No. 6. In honor of the most signal victories recently won by the soldiers of the Union in the Department commanded by Major General Halleck, under the immediate leadership of Major Generals Pope, Grant and Buell, and by the sailors and marines commanded by Flag Officer A. H. Foote, and as a humble expression of the grateful joy with which the splendid results of the heroic valor, energy and good conduct of these commanders, their officers and men, is received by their brethren and fellow citizens of Massachusetts, it is ordered by the Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Militia of Massachusetts, that a salute of one hundred guns be fired on Boston Common, to-morrow, the 11th day of April current at noon. Not even the cannon's mouth can loudly enough proclaim the debt which our country, human liberty, and civilization itself, owe to those noble men of the West, who have met the angriest torrents of the rebellion, and rolled its waves back upon its depths. The heart of every son of Massachusetts leaps to salute them and do them homage. Major General Andrew, commanding First Division, is charged with the execution of this order. By command of His Excellency John A. Andrew, Governor and Commander in Chief. William Schoulder , Adjutant General. By command of Major General Halleck, N. H. McLean , A. A. G. Headquarters Fourth Division , } Pittsburgh , Tenn., April 9th, 1862. } General Orders , No. 20. The General commanding tenders his heartfelt gratitude to the surviving officers and men of this Division, for their magnificent service during the two days struggle which under the blessing of God has terminated in victory. Let this Division remember that for five hours on Sunday, it held under the most terrific fire, the key point of the left of the army, and only fell back when flanked by overwhelming masses pressing through points abandoned by our supports. Let them remember that when they fell back it was in order, and that the last line of resistance in rear of the heavy guns was formed by this Division. Let them remember that on the morning of Monday, without food and without sleep, they were ordered forward to reinforce the right; and that where-ever either brigade of this division appeared on the field, they were in time to support broken flanks and hold the line. Keep these facts before your memories to hand down to your children when we conquer a peace, and let it be the chief pride of every man of this command, as it is of your General, that he was at Pittsburgh with the Fighting Fourth Division. By order of Brigadier General Hurlbut, Smith D. Atkins , A. A. G. But when we looked through the ranks of our regiment and surveyed our losses, there was left us little room for joy or congratulation. Of the four hundred and fifty who had marched into the battle under our flag on Monday morning, twenty-eight were killed, and over two hundred were killed, wounded and missing. Of our officers, Stone was captured; Hobbs was killed; O'Niel, Knight, Merrill and Wayne were wounded and captured; and Trumbull, Ogg, Weiser, Tullis and Hammill were wounded. In addition to this, Williams, whom we claimed was disabled while commanding the brigade, and while doing his duty bravely and well. Many regiments of the different divisions had suffered as much, and some perhaps more than ours. It was a poor satisfaction that the enemy's dead outnumbered our own. The only joy we could derive from a knowledge of his sufferings was that it would diminish his strength for the next battle. The field attested that his killed outnumbered ours by at least one-third. But his prisoners in our hands asserted that their dead in proportion to their wounded was unusually large. When both sides of the question shall have been fully heard in reference to this great battle, it will be believed that the aggregate losses of the two contending forces were very nearly equal. [1] Adding together our own and the enemy's dead, and including those who died of wounds and disease, at least four thousand men were buried on the field of Shiloh. And here, breathing a foul atmosphere, drinking a sickening water, and surrounded by loathsome and gloomy associations, we remained for three weeks—in camp on a field of graves. CHAPTER XIX. Preparations to advance on Corinth—Morale of army and sanitary condition—Advance to Shiloh Springs—Inspection by General J——Advance to Pea Ridge—Gov. Yates—Picket skirmishing—Battle of Russellville House—Arrival of Col. Scott—A night on picket in the face of the enemy—THE EVACUATION AND OCCUPATION OF CORINTH. Meanwhile the enemy entrenched at Corinth; Gen. Halleck arrived at Pittsburg Landing and assumed command of the army in person, and preparations were made for an advance. The troops of the two corps moved out and camped in line, Buell to the left of Grant. The Army of the Mississippi, called from its operations before Fort Randolph to reinforce us, disembarked at Hamburg and took post as the left corps of the army, thus throwing Buell in the center and Grant on the right. Grant was second, Buell third in command. McClernand and Wallace's divisions were detached as the reserve of the army under McClernand. Immense supplies were collected, and large quantities of clothing were issued to the troops. Those of the sick, who, in the opinion of the medical officers, would not be fit for duty in thirty days, were sent to the hospital boats and thence to northern hospitals. Fatigue parties under commissioned officers were detailed each day to repair and construct roads in the rear of the army. The sanitary condition of the army was anything but flattering. Of our own regiment which, so far as we could hear, was a type of all the rest, very few were even in tolerable health. Fevers and camp diarrhœa filled the hospitals to overflowing; the sick lists increased rapidly; and the great extent to which the army was weakened in numbers by sickness, became a just source of alarm. It became painfully evident, too, that its morale was being greatly impaired by the same cause. For disease weakens the mind as well as the body; lingering, obtuse pains bring on a state of settled melancholy; the approaching heats of summer afforded no hope of an improvement in our sanitary condition; and, besides, we were beyond the reach of home comforts and the ministrations of bosom friends. It will not be surprising, then, that many good soldiers were possessed of a homesickness —a desire to be sent home on furlough or discharged, that amounted almost to a mania. But if the troops were not buoyant in spirit, they were nevertheless determined. A beaten enemy was before us; we knew the responsibility upon us; and with what expectations the country looked to us; we had no reason to distrust the capacity of our commanding general. Under such circumstances, cravens would scarcely wish to turn back. In addition to this, it is plain to all that there was a spirit of rivalry between the army of the Tennessee and that of the Ohio. The latter army had come upon the field of Shiloh as a reinforcement, and had surprised and assisted in defeating an exhausted enemy; and for this, popular opinion at the North, forgetting Donelson and the bloody struggle of April 6th, inquiring not into causes, but looking only at results, had, with a degree of stupidity and injustice to which the age affords no parallel, awarded to them the greater share of glory. The army of the Tennessee, from its highest officers to its meanest soldiers, felt the slight most keenly, and resolved to equal at Corinth, with their decimated battalions, all that Buell could do with his full ones. The army of the Tennessee, having suffered reverses and finally triumphed in two great battles, had learned well the character of its foes, and that nothing could be achieved over them except by steady and persistent bravery. They knew their enemy, and how to fight him. They had already become veterans. The same may be said to a certain extent of the army of the Ohio. Those of this army who had not been engaged at Shiloh, together with the army of the Mississippi, which, without a test of its valor, had accomplished by endurance and the skill of its leader alone, by far the most brilliant exploit of the war, longed to win for themselves that which the other troops of the army possessed, the glory which alone is won in battle; and hence, though perhaps less reliable and much more enthusiastic, they welcomed the expected conflict with joy. Near the middle of April, Grant and Buell moved out and camped in line. Toward the end of the month the general advance commenced. Let us now dismiss our observations concerning the army, the great whole of which, we, the Third Iowa, were but a little part, and turn to our regiment, brigade and division; for here we were at home and among comrades, now scarcely less in our regiment than in our division, where all followed and had faith in a common leader, and had a common glory won and to win. Captain Smith was in command of our regiment. The Third Brigade had been discontinued, and General Lauman was assigned to the command of the First Brigade. April 24th, the division broke up camp and moved forward to Shiloh Springs, where it camped with McClernand on its right, Sherman on its left, and Wallace in the rear. The camp of our regiment was on a beautiful open field, a quarter of a mile to the rear of the Springs. We found here in a block house a rebel hospital, and near our camp the brush and saplings were cut down so as to form a sort of abattis. This had been done by the enemy in his retreat. The improvement in air and water, scenery and associations, rendered our change of camp highly beneficial. Here for the first time since landing at Pittsburg we began to do picket duty. This duty was no unimportant part of the details of the advance upon Corinth. Each division picketed its own front under a division picket officer. Our brigade furnished each day for picket 150 men with the proper complement of officers. The picket line was here about a mile and a half in advance of the camps. Our infantry picket line, unless circumstances determined otherwise, was aimed to be disposed as follows: One half in reserve; the other half in a line composed of squads of six men each under a non-commissioned officer, one hundred and fifty yards in advance of the reserves. Each of these squads was divided into three reliefs of two men each, and a chain of sentries, two at a post, stationary and as much as possible concealed from view, was kept up still in advance. Beyond all on the roads were the cavalry videttes. Here, though the picketing was sometimes badly, and even shamefully performed through the negligence of officers, we were learning for the first time since being in the service to do picket duty well. Our picket line thus admirably formed was a complete safeguard against surprise, and was so strong that it would have resisted the enemy long enough for the troops in the rear to form line of battle before being attacked. A similar picket line before the battle of Shiloh would have done much to prevent the disastrous surprise of Sunday morning. It was estimated that throughout the army not less than ten thousand men were detailed for picket duty each day. The degree of pleasure we took in this work depended greatly upon circumstances—the officers in command, the character of the country where we were posted, the state of the weather, and the degree of vigilance necessary to be kept up. I have a vivid recollection of a day on picket in front of Shiloh Springs. Capt. Wright, 53d Illinois, was picket officer for the brigade that day. He posted the men admirably; he impressed upon them by words and manner the responsibility of the position, and maintained throughout the entire tour a degree of vigilance which it was really a lesson to contemplate. Not a man even in the brigade reserve was allowed to take off his accoutrements or sleep day or night. It was a delightful day, a soft breeze blowing and the sun warm. Nothing of the offensive effluvia of the camps; but the woods all fragrant and green and unmangled by the axes of soldiers. None of the constant and wearisome clamor of voices as in the camps; but a quiet siesta under the shady oaks, breathing the sweet air, and hearing only the birds, and the distant bands discoursing martial airs. During the day the detail from the 3d Iowa was in reserve. We were allowed to kindle in a hollow a small fire over which to cook our coffee and fry our bacon. We had long since learned to ask for nothing better than pilot bread, and that a piece of meat broiled on a stick or in the ashes, is as sweet as when cooked in a pan. One or two unlucky porkers strayed close to us, and were covertly put out of the way. Of course the good old captain was sure not to know how we got the fresh meat we had for dinner. Could we be blamed for that?—we who so long had tasted nothing better than salt bacon and hard crackers? Certainly not. The old captain, whatever his suspicions might have been, did not object to a slice himself. Toward evening, our good friend, General Hurlbut, always ready to give us good news when it came, but never particular about publishing any that was bad, sent an orderly to read to us a dispatch that Farragut had captured New Orleans. We were not allowed to cheer, but it seemed as though there would no end to our rejoicing. So great was our joy that we endured almost with a gusto the drenching rain that set in about dark, when we took position in the advanced line. Still we could have rejoiced full as well in our dry tents. For in Tennessee "when it rains it pours." The air is full of rain. The clouds break away until you can see the stars through them, and still it rains. But to-night the clouds nowhere broke away, but hung over us, the rain pouring down without interruption till gray morning. Of course we were not allowed to kindle fires in the night, especially upon the advanced line. We had no artificial shelters, and were compelled to stand up and—let it rain. At daylight we were relieved and put in reserve, and at ten o'clock the new guard marched up, and we returned to camp. April 27th, the 1st Brigade was reviewed and inspected by Brig. Gen. J——, Inspector General for the Army of the West. This officer was a model in his way. His dress and horse equipments looked splendid. He looked altogether out of place. It was the parade general, gorgeously dressed, without a speck of dirt upon his horse or uniform. His almost beardless face white and delicate as though he had been raised in a bandbox, coming among a host of sunburnt soldiers on active duty, whose guns were rusty on the outside from exposure in constant rains, and whose single suit of clothing, greasy from handling and cooking rations, and dirty from wading and sleeping in the mud, fell far short of his standard of soldierly appearance. His look, so imperious and haughty, was sufficient to set us to hating him from the first. We could not but observe that he never turned his head, but only his eyes, to look at us, and that when our colors passed him in review, he did not uncover his head as our own generals were wont to do, but only slightly lifted his hat. Still he went through his work with a rapidity and precision which astonished us, and left upon us the impression that he was a valuable officer to the service, and an extraordinary man in his way. April 30th, we had just finished our monthly inspection, when orders came for the division to advance. Leaving our sick behind and taking all our baggage, we moved on the main Corinth road about five miles to the southwest. We passed on the way wagons, caissons, knapsacks, clothing, and other evidences of the enemy's retreat. We also passed a dilapidated log building house, and near it a deserted rebel camp, full of tents, destroyed commissary stores, clothing, and camp equipage, everything indicating a hasty evacuation. We camped on what is known as Pea Ridge, a high backbone of country, four miles from Shiloh Springs and nine from Pittsburg Landing. From this commanding eminence we could look around us over a wide space of country. The whole army was advancing in columns, moving upon different roads. The hour of expected bloody work was drawing nigh. Sherman with the 5th Division had the honor of forming the right of the army. With twelve regiments of infantry and one of cavalry he had the enormous complement of nine batteries of artillery. He was now camped on the Corinth road a short distance beyond us, while McClernand and Wallace were about two miles in our rear.

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