Early in the morning General Wallace became satisfied that a battle was in progress. Immediately he concentrated his troops at A, where he held them in readiness to march. As, however, General Grant must necessarily pass Crump's Landing on his way to the field, he awaited instructions from him. These instructions were, as we have before mentioned, not to move, but to remain where he was and await further orders. Bound by this command, he remained, chafing with impatience, within sound of the battle, until half-past eleven o'clock. A courier then arrived with instructions from General Grant directing him to move immediately, and join the National army on their right. This order was issued before the patriot army had been driven back from their lines. Obedience to this order required that General Wallace should take the short road, A B. His troops were instantly put in motion. Meanwhile the National troops were, unknown to General Wallace, being steadily beaten back. A little before he reached Snake Creek, he was overtaken by an aid of General Grant with the information that the old position had been abandoned, and that the troops were fighting a desperate and losing battle near the landing. To have continued his march in the direction in which he was then moving would have brought him, not to the right of his companions in arms, but to the rear of the rebels, where his entire division would inevitably have been captured. No cross-road led down to the river road. There was but one alternative left him. He was compelled to retrace his steps to C, and then march by the river road direct to the Landing. Thus, instead of six miles, his men were obliged to march nearly fifteen. They did not reach the scene of conflict until after sunset. General Wallace, under the circumstances in which he was placed, did every thing which a gallant soldier could do. During the night the rebel host slept on their arms. General Beauregard had received intelligence which led him to suppose that General Buell could not reach the battle-field in time to participate in the next day's engagement. Little doubt appears to have been entertained by the rebels that on the morrow the shattered remnants of General Grant's army would fall an easy prey into their hands. So confident were they of this, that they made no effort to gather up the spoils from our camp which they had captured. They did not even bury their dead. Beauregard telegraphed the news of his victory to Richmond. Jeff. Davis made it the subject of a special message to the rebel Congress. The rebel host rioted during the night in the confidence of assured victory. In the patriot lines there was, under the veil of darkness, the most intense activity." * General Nelson's Division was ferried across the river. General McCook, who had reached Savannah by a forced march at seven o'clock Sabbath night, pressed forward with his indomitable, tireless band, and by half-past nine the next morning was on the field of battle, just in season to take his position in the line. Meanwhile, General Lew. Wallace, to whom was assigned the extreme right, was busily occupied in ascertaining the positions of the foe, in planting his batteries, and in arranging his brigades for the morrow's battle. The remnants of the shattered and panic-stricken regiments were gathered together and reorganized. The divisions of General W. L. H. Wallace and General Prentiss had lost their commanders, by the death of the one and the captivity of the other. The two divisions were merged in other organizations of the army. The commands of Generals Sherman and McClernand, which had been much shattered and dispersed, were collected and reorganized. A council of war was held, and the line of battle decided upon as indicated on the map. General Wallace held the right, supported by General Sherman. Generals Nelson and Crittenden held the left, where the National line had been most seriously driven back the day before. The centre was formed by Generals Crook, Hurlbut, and McClernand. It was after midnight before these dispositions were effected. Indeed, as we have mentioned, General Crook did not arrive upon the ground with his division until after five o'clock in the morning. * "On Sunday night General Beauregard established his head-quarters at the little church of Shiloh, and our troops were directed to sleep on their arms in the enemy's encampment. The hours, however, which should have been devoted to the refreshment of nature were spent by many of the troops in a disgraceful hunt after the spoils. The possession of the rich camp of the enemy seemed to have demoralized whole regiments. All through the night and early the next morning the hunt after the spoils was continued. Cowardly citizens and rapacious soldiers were engaged alike in the wretched work. They might be seen everywhere plundering the tents, out of which the enemy had been driven, and loading themselves down with the spoil. The omission of discipline which permitted these scenes is not pardonable, even in the license and indulgences which generally attend the victory of an army."-Southern History of the War, First Year, p. 301. About midnight a furious thunder-storm burst upon the camp. It was, of course, a source of great discomfort to the men exposed unsheltered to its drenching flood. Still, it afforded refreshment to the parched lips of the multitude of wounded sufferers, moaning, dying, all uncared for, over the vast field from which the patriot troops had been driven. All night, too, the gunboats kept up a slow but unceasing fire upon the rebel lines. In the terrible disaster of Sunday afternoon the victorious rebels had pursued the patriots, on the left, even to the banks of the river. The gunboats opened such a fire upon them that they were compelled to fall back beyond the range of their shot. Thus, upon our left, the rebels lost, during the night, much of the ground they had gained, at a fearful cost, during the day. The hours of darkness passed rapidly away. In the rebel camp, where the foe were exulting in the abundance from which they had driven our own troops, there was confidence and inaction. With the patriots, exposed unsheltered to night and the storm, there was anxiety and toil. CHAPTER XVII. THE BATTLE OF SHILOH AND SIEGE OF CORINTH. From April 4th to May 30th, 1862. PREPARATIONS TO RENEW THE BATTLE.-ARRIVAL OF REËNFORCEMENTS.-DESPERATION OF THE FIGHT.-PATRIOT VICTORY.-UNEXPLAINED MYSTERIES.-RETREAT OF THE REBELS.-SLOW PURSUIT.-BATTLE OF FARMINGTON.-SIEGE OF CORINTH.-THE REBELS ESCAPE.—“ NEGRO ON THE BRAIN." THE morning of Monday, April 4th, was just beginning to dawn, when the various divisions of the patriot army were simultaneously put in motion to anticipate the attack of their foes. Though still much outnumbered, they were animated by the consciousness that four fresh divisions had reënforced them. General Beauregard had brought his whole force with him, in his first impetuous attack, and had no reënforcements at his disposal. He had also lost, in the battle of Sunday, his ablest general, Albert Sidney Johnston.* General Beauregard was himself also, at this time, suffering from the effects of protracted illness. The morning light revealed to the rebel leader, in the extended lines of the patriots, that his plan of fighting General Grant's and General Buell's army separately was defeated. It was apparent that an important combination had been effected. The patriot hosts, "thrice armed," slowly, cautiously, resolutely advanced upon the foe, pressing them back over the ground they had gained the day before. The rebels fought with their accustomed desperation, and did not willingly relinquish the victory, which they had supposed was so easily within their grasp. Again and again they rushed upon our adamantine lines, only to be driven back in disorder. The heaviest fighting was on the wings, especially on the right. on the right. The foe General Albert Sidney Johnston was born in Kentucky, in 1803. He graduated at West Point in 1826; served in the Black Hawk war, and in 1836 entered the Texan army as a private soldier. After several promotions, he succeeded General Felix Houston in the chief command, and was involved in a duel with him in consequence. In 1838 he was appointed Secretary of War, and, in the following year, engaged in a successful expedition against the Cherokees. In 1840 he retired to private life for a time, in Texas; but in 1846, at the solicitation of General Taylor, he assumed the command of a volunteer Texan regiment against the Mexicans. At the siege of Monterey he served as inspector-general, and gained for himself much distinction. In October, 1849, he received from President Taylor the appointment of paymaster of the army, with the rank of major. In 1857 he conducted the expedition against the Mormons, and commanded the District of Utah, with the brevet rank of brigadier-general, until 1860, when he was removed to the command of the Pacific Department, and stationed at San Francisco. His sympathies being upon the side of the Southern Confederacy, he was making arrangements to deliver the State of California to the Confederacy, when he was unexpectedly superseded in his command, by General E. V. Sumner, before his plans were completed. He then entered the rebel army, and was, next to General Lee, of Virginia, perhaps their ablest general.-Annual Cyclopedia for 1862. had a salutary dread of the gunboats, and, thus intimidated, were quite unable to resist, on our left, General Wallace's impetuous charges. Upon our right, where the gunboats could afford us no aid, they massed their forces. Here they brought forward the Crescent Regiment of New Orleans, and the Washington Artillery; and here General Beauregard was present in person, inciting his troops to the most desperate valor. But it was all in vain. The rebels were steadily driven, over the uneven ground, from one position to another, though the surges of battle, over the wide plain, more than five miles in length and three-fourths of a mile in width, rolled to and fro in many retreats and advances. There were the thunderings of batteries in artillery duels, impetuous infantry charges, ambuscades, and the sweep of cavalry. There were dense woods to grope through, and hills to climb, and ravines to be threaded. Many regiments, on both sides, were almost annihilated. The Eleventh Illinois stood as a rock, when the rebels, five regiments deep, came rushing upon them. "The whites of their eyes, boys," was the order of their heroic leader, Colonel Ransom. The brave men held their fire until every one could take deliberate aim. Nearly every bullet performed its mission. The advancing foe staggered, recoiled, and fled, leaving the ground covered with their slain. But again they rallied, pouring in volley after volley upon the devoted band. Still the heroic patriots held their ground, begrimed with smoke and smeared with blood, until but one hundred were left who could shoulder a musket. A few regiments then filed in their front, and they were for a moment relieved. Their general rode up, and gazing proudly yet sadly upon them, said, "Is this all that is left of the Eleventh ?" "Yes," was the reply. "Well, my men," said the general, "we must win this day, or all will be lost. Will you try it again?" "We will," was the heroic response. In ten minutes they were again buried in the smoke and tumult of the battle. In the desperate struggle for the camps, they were lost and won again and again. The tents were riddled with bullet-holes. The storm of lead was so thick that it is a marvel that any one could have escaped unshot. It would seem that a bird could not have passed through that leaden hail unscathed. One tree, not eighteen inches in diameter, was struck with ninety balls, not ten feet from the ground. Another was pierced by sixty bullets. General Grant seemed to bear a charmed life. He was in the thickest of the battle, and was untouched. One bullet passed through the back of General Sherman's hat, another glanced from his metallic shoulderstrap, and a third passed through his hand. A private had two front teeth struck out by a spent bullet, which entered his mouth, but went no farther. In the thick underbrush every shrub, though not larger than one's finger, was struck. During the battle, General Buell was very efficient, displaying commanding qualities of generalship. کم The rebel lines, infantry, Hour after hour this fierce fight continued. horse, artillery, all were slowly driven back. through the woods, as the Union troops received increasing assurance that the day was theirs. About four o'clock the retreating foe broke into a run, and, rushing through the Union camps which they had occupied the night |