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BEAUREGARD RETREATS FROM PITTSBURG LANDING. 69

when the battery was charged by in- | thing before them. At 4 P. M., our fantry; who were easily repelled by Col. Morgan L. Smith's brigade.

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Confederate and 50 Union wounded; returning with the former to his camp near Shiloh next morning.

soldiers held the original front line whence we had been so hurriedly Meantime, Gen. Sherman, who had driven 34 hours before; and the whole waited for the sound of Buell's Rebel army was retreating, unpurguns upon the main Corinth road, sued, on Corinth. Gen. Sherman, advanced at 8 A. M., steadily and with two brigades and the cavalry, slowly, under fire, until he reached went out a few miles next morning the point where the Corinth road on the Corinth road, and had a smart crosses the line the line of McClernand's skirmish with a small Rebel force, abandoned camps, and saw Willich's mainly of cavalry, which he repulsregiment, on his right, fighting gal-ed, destroying a camp, and capturlantly for the possession of a pointing a hospital, wherein he found 280 of timber some 500 yards east of Shiloh church. Hence the Rebel army could be seen re-forming its lines to the southward, with a battery by the church, and another near the Hamburg road, pouring grape and canister into any column of our troops that advanced upon that green point of timber whence Willich's regiment had just been repulsed, but into which one of McCook's brigades (Rousseau's) was now advancing. Directing the fire of two 24-pound howitzers of McAllister's battery upon the Rebel guns, Sherman formed his two brigades (David Stuart's, now commanded by Col. T. Kilby Smith, and Col. Buckland's) to advance in line with Rousseau; which they did superbly, sweeping every

65 "An Impressed New-Yorker" says: "No heroism of officers or men could avail to stay the advance of the Federal troops. At 3 P. M., the Confederates decided on a retreat to Corinth; and Gen. Breckinridge, strengthened by three regiments of cavalry-Forrest's, Adams's, and the Texas Rangers, raising his effective force to 12,000 men-received orders to protect the rear. By 4 P. M., the Confederates were in full retreat. The main body of the army passed silently and swiftly along the road toward Corinth; our division bringing up the rear, determined to make a desperate stand if pursued. At this time, the Union forces might have closed in upon our retreating columns and cut off Breckinridge's division, and perhaps captured it. A Federal battery threw some shells, as a feeler, across the road on which we were

Beauregard, in his official report, states that his effective force had now been reduced, "from exhaustion and other causes, from 40,000 to less than 20,000 men ;" and adds:

"Hour by hour opposed to an enemy constantly reenforced, our ranks were perceptibly thinned under the increasing, withering fire of the enemy; and, by 12 M. [of the second day], 18 hours of hard fighting had sensibly exhausted a large number; posed of; and the enemy was evidently remy last reserves had necessarily been disceiving fresh reenforcements after each repulse; accordingly, about 1 P. M., I deterflict; securing such of the results of the vicmined to withdraw from so unequal a contory of the day before as were practicable."

This is pretty fair, but not strictly accordant with the dispatch which

retreating, between our division and the main body; but no reply was made to them, as this would have betrayed our position. We passed on with little opposition or loss, and by 5 o'clock had reached a point one and a half miles nearer Corinth than the point of attack Sabbath morning. Up to this time, the pursuit seemed feeble, and the Confederates were surprised that the victorious Federals made no more of their advantage. Nor is it yet understood why the pursuit was not pressed. A rapid and persistent pursuit would have created a complete rout of the now broken, weary, and dispirited Rebels. Two hours more of such fighting as Buell's fresh men could have made would have demoralized

and destroyed Beauregard's army. For some reason, this was not done; and night closed the battle.'

he, after sending back from Monterey his army." Gen. Grant, writing on

a request to Gen. Grant for permission to send a mounted party to the battle-field under a flag of truce to bury his dead, and being answered that, owing to the warmth of the weather, they had already been buried, transmitted to Richmond, namely:

CORINTH, Tuesday, April 8th, 1862. "To the Secretary of War, Richmond: "We have gained a great and glorious victory. Eight to ten thousand prisoners, and 36 pieces of cannon. Buell rëenforced Grant, and we retired to our intrenchments at Corinth, which we can hold. Loss heavy on both sides. BEAUREGARD."

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Beauregard officially reports his loss in this battle at 1,728 killed, 8,012 wounded, 957 missing: total, 10,699, or a little more than onefourth of the admitted strength of

66 These cannon were unquestionably taken on Sunday; but how many of them were retained on Monday and carried off in the retreat, does not appear. It is not probable that Beauregard returned to Corinth with so many or so effective guns as he had taken thence when he advanced.

67 Beauregard's official report enumerates, among the casualties on his side, in addition to the loss of their commander-in-chief, Albert S. Johnston, that Hon. Geo. W. Johnson, "Provisional Governor of Kentucky," was killed on Monday, having had his horse shot under him on Sunday; Brig.-Gen. Gladding, of Withers's corps, was mortally wounded; that Gen. Bragg had two horses shot under him; Gen. Hardee was slightly wounded, his coat cut with balls, and his horse disabled; that Gen. Breckinridge was twice struck by spent balls; that Gen. Cheatham was slightly wounded and had three horses shot under him; that Brig.-Gens. Clark, Bowen, and B. R. Johnson were severely wounded; and that Gen. Hindman had his horse shot under him and was severely injured by his fali. [He was hoisted ten feet into the air by the explosion of a shell, which tore his horse to shreds, and was himself supposed to be killed; but he rose at once to his feet and called for

another horse.] Several Colonels were killed, and many more severely wounded; among them, Henry W. Allen, 4th Louisiana, who was chosen

the 9th, gives his losses approximately at 1,500 killed and 3,500 wounded, and says nothing of a loss of prisoners, of whom about 2,200 effectives were marched off the field with Prentiss, with possibly 200 or 300 more of our wounded of Sunday. A later and more circumstantial statement summed up our losses as 1,735 killed, 7,882 wounded, 3,956 prisoners; total, 13,573. Recurring to the reports of subordinates—all we have we find their losses stated as follows:

3d Division-Gen. W. H. L. Wal

Killed. Woun'd. Missing. Total.

lace (2 regt's not reported)... 226 1,033 1,164 2,423 4th Division-Gen. Hurlbut... 313 1,449

sth Division-Gen. Sherman... 818 1,275 Buell's army..

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Total...

266 1,816

223 1,985 441 2,034 88 2,167 1,123 5,573 1,916 8,609

Add to these our loss in prisoners,

next Rebel Governor of the State, and whose official report of the second day's fight contains the following:

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Having suffered from loss of blood and intense pain, I placed the regiment under the command of Lt.-Col. S. E. Hunter, and rode over to the hospital to get relief. After having my wound dressed, I was about lying down, in order to take a little rest, when a general stampede began of wagons, ambulances, and men. I mounted my horse immediately, and rode after the disgraceful refugees. I succeeded in putting a stop to the stampede, and placed cavalry in the rear, with orders to cut down all who attempted to pass. Here I met an aid of Gen. Bragg, who ordered me to rally all the stragglers and form them in line. This I did. After forming a battalion, Lieut.-Col. Barrow, commanding the 11th Louisiana, came to me with the remnant of his regiment, and placed mand. This force, together with the remnants himself and regiment under my comof two Alabama and one Tennessee regiment, made a large body of men, who stood firm in front of the hospitals, ready to receive the advancing column of the enemy.

"While rallying the stragglers, I came across two batteries that had lost all their commissioned officers. These I took possession of, sent for ammunition, supplied them with men from my command, and sent one of them to Gen. Beauregard. This battery fired the last shots against the enemy. The other battheir position in the very face of the enemy, tery, and the forces under my command, held until ordered to be retired by command of Gen. Bragg."

GEN. HALLECK'S APPROACHES TO CORINTH.

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and the killed and wounded in Pren- | increased by accessions from various tiss's, McClernand's, and Lew. Wal- quarters to a little over 100,000 men. lace's divisions—the latter known to All this time, and afterward, Gen. be very light-and our actual losses Beauregard industriously strengthenin these two days' desperate conflicted his works, covering Corinth with can hardly have been less than 15,000 an irregular semicircle of intrenchmen; and it is probable that Beauregard's, including the skulkers who here saw enough of fighting and never rejoined their regiments, was barely, if any thing, less than this."

The victory was clearly ours; for we had the field and the dead; but the losses were fairly equalized, while the Rebels had the spoil of our camps -though they could carry off but little of it—and the prisoners.

Maj. Gen. Halleck, commanding the Department of the Mississippi, left St. Louis directly after receiving news of the Shiloh battles," and reached Pittsburg Landing by steamboat two or three days thereafter. Meantime, and for weeks following, no attempt was made against the Rebel army at Corinth; and, though Gen. Pope arrived from Missouri on the 22d, with a rëenforcement of 25,000 men, even Monterey was not occupied by us till the 1st of May, when Gen. Halleck's army had been

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68" An Impressed New-Yorker," writing of the retreat from this Rebel victory, says:

ments, 15 miles long, and well-mounted with artillery; destroying the roads and bridges beyond, and blocking the approaches with abatis. Gen. Halleck saw fit not to flank these formidable defenses, but to overcome them by regular and necessarily slow approaches, involving constant and mutual artillery practice and picket fighting, with very little loss; three weeks of which brought our nearest batteries within three miles of Corinth." A reconnoissance under Gen. Paine to Farmington," five miles N. W. of Corinth, had brought on a skirmish, in which he took 200 prisoners, striking the Charleston and Memphis Railroad at Glendale, three miles farther, and partially destroying it; while the Ohio road was in like manner broken at Purdy.

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fearful wounds, which were enough to destroy life. And, to add to the horrors of the scene, the elements of heaven marshaled their forces"I made a detour from the road on which the a fitting accompaniment of the tempest of human army was retreating, that I might travel faster and get ahead of the main body. In this ride of desolation and passion which was raging. A twelve miles alongside of the routed army, I cold, drizzling rain commenced about nightfall, and soon came harder and faster, then turned to saw more of human agony and woe than I trust I will ever again be called to witness. The repitiless, blinding hail. This storm raged with treating host wound along a narrow and almost unrelenting violence for three hours. I passed impassable road, extending some seven or eight long wagon-trains filled with wounded and dymiles in length. Here was a long line of wag-ing soldiers, without even a blanket to shield ons loaded with wounded, piled in like bags of grain, groaning and cursing; while the mules plunged on in mud and water belly-deep, the water sometimes coming into the wagons. Next came a straggling regiment of infantry, pressing on past the train of wagons; then a stretcher borne upon the shoulders of four men, carrying a wounded officer; then soldiers staggering along, with an arm broken and hanging down, or other

them from the driving sleet and hail, which fell in stones as large as partridge-eggs, until it lay on the ground two inches deep.

"Some 300 men died during that awful retreat, and their bodies were thrown out to make room for others who, although wounded, had struggled on through the storm, hoping to find shelter, rest, and medical care.”

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6 April 19, 1862. 7o May 21.

*1 May 21.

struck it on the 30th, at Booneville, | had taken, with 159 prisoners, two

24 miles from Corinth, in the midst of an unexpected retreat of the Rebel army, which had commenced on the 26th. Beauregard had held Corinth so long as possible against Halleck's overwhelming force, and had commenced its evacuation by sending off a part of his sick and wounded. Elliott captured 20 cars, laden with small arms, ammunition, stores, baggage, &c., with some hundreds of Confederate sick, whom he paroled, burning the engine and trains. The evacuation was completed during the night of the 29th; the Rebel musketry-firing having ceased at 9 A. M. of the preceding day. Explosions and fires during the night gave plain intimations of the enemy's departure; so that some of our officers in the advance rode safely into town at 6 next morning, and reported no enemy present. Piles of provisions were found in flames, and one full warehouse undamaged; but never a gun. Beauregard retreated to Tupelo, pursued by Gen. Pope so far as Baldwin and Guntown, but without material results. Our army was disposed along the line of the Memphis and Charleston Railroad; which, by the falling of the Tennessee to a Summer stage, had become its line of supply.

hours before. Thus provided, he had uncontested possession of 100 miles of the Memphis and Charleston road before night, or from Stevenson on the east to Decatur on the west; seizing five more locomotives at Stevenson, and pushing on so far west as Tuscumbia, whence he sent an expedition so far south as Russelville, Ala., capturing and appropriating Confederate property on all hands, without the loss of a life. He took" Bridgeport, Ala., with a force of five regiments, by striking rapidly and attacking from a quarter whence he was not looked for, driving out a force nearly equal in number to his own, with a loss of 72 killed and wounded, 350 prisoners, and 2 guns; while his own loss was inconsiderable. He was soon compelled, by the gathering of Rebel forces around him, to abandon Tuscumbia and all south of the Tennessee, burning the railroad bridges at Decatur and Bridgeport, but holding firmly and peaceably all of Alabama north of that river. Had he been even moderately rëenforced, he would have struck and probably could have destroyed the great Rebel armories and founderies in Georgia, or have captured Chattanooga; which was assailed," under his orders, by Gen. Negley, who was driven off by Gen. O. M. Mitchel, with a division a Rebel force under Gen. E. Kirby of Buell's army, had left Nashville Smith. Mitchel's activity and energy simultaneously with his commander, poorly qualified him for a subordinate but by a more easterly route, advanc- position under Buell; so he was transing through Murfreesboro', Shelby-ferred, in June, to the command at ville, Fayetteville, to Huntsville, Port Royal, S. C., where he died." Ala., which he surprised at day- Gen. Halleck was likewise summonlight," capturing 17 locomotives and ed" from the West to serve as Gena large number of passenger and eral-in-Chief at Washington, leaving freight-cars, beside a train which he Gen. Grant in command at Corinth. April 9 73 April 29. July 23.

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74 June 6.

75 Oct. 20.

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GEN. BURNSIDE AT HATTERAS INLET.

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IV.

BURNSIDE IN NORTH CAROLINA.

GEN. AMBROSE E. BURNSIDE and | tle still deeper in the sand, until she

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Com. L. M. Goldsborough led an became a perfect wreck-her masts expedition, which had in good part and smoke-stack cut away, her crew, been fitted out in New York, and with life-preservers tied about them, which left Fortress Monroe at the lashed to the rigging to save themopening of the year; and, doub- selves from being washed overboard ling Cape Henry, moved southward by each succeeding billow; and at to Hatteras Inlet, whose defenses had last, after an endurance of 12 to 15 been quietly held by our troops since hours, the raging sea began to lift their capture by Gen. Butler and the deck from the hull with every Com. Stringham five months before. surge. Ere this, her fires had been The naval part of this expedition con- extinguished, her boats, all but one, sisted of 31 steam gunboats, mount-filled or stove, and her men utterly ing 94 guns; the military of about 11,500 men, mainly from New England, organized in three brigades, under Gens. Foster, Reno, and Parke, and embarked with their material on some 30 to 40 steam transports. The van of the expedition reached the entrance of the Inlet on the 13th; when it was found that, though care had been taken to select or obtain gunboats of such draft as could readily be worked over the bar at high water, yet a large proportion of the transports, through the incompetence or dishonesty of those employed to procure them, were of such draft as rendered them totally unfit for this service. Of these, the propeller City of New York, 600 tons, heavily laden with rifles, ammunition, tents, bedding, and forage, and drawing 16 feet water, when the greatest depth attainable on the bar was but 13, grounded, of course, in attempting to pass it;3 when the sea broke completely over her stern, every breaker lifting her, and causing her, as it subsided, to set

1 Jan. 11-12, 1862.

exhausted by long fasting and exposure to the cold waves which broke over them continually; while no attention was paid from the fleet to their signal of distress, or even their hail to the S. R. Spaulding, which passed out to sea. At length, two mechanics, W. H. and Charles A. Beach, of Newark, N. J., launched the yawl, and, aided by engineer Wm. Miller, steward Geo. Mason, and Hugh McCabe, fireman, pulled successfully through the surf, over the bar, to the fleet, whence boats were at once dispatched to take off the remainder of the crew, who were speedily rescued. The vessel and cargo were totally lost; as were the steam gunboat Zouave, the transports Louisiana and Pocahontas, and two or three others. Col. J. W. Allen and Surgeon S. F. Weller, 9th New Jersey, were drowned by the upsetting of their small boat in the breakers, as they returned to the transport Ann E. Thompson from reporting the arrival of their regiment to Gen. Burn2 See Vol. I., p. 599.

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9 Jan. 13.

4 Jan. 15.

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