Fort Donelson and Shiloh 87

rebel lines with their giant balls. Moreover, Nel-son’s division was crossing the river, Failure of the

and Ammen’s brigade, its first brigade, Confederates ° to take Pitts-

arrived upon the scene to support the burg- Land-Federal artillery. The Confederates were driven back, and presently orders from Beau-regard were passed along their advanced linesdirecting them to desist from further attacks andto retire out of range of the gunboats. By somesouthern writers Beauregard has been severelycensured for these orders; it is maintained that ifhe had ordered one last grand charge, it wouldsurely have routed or destroyed the Union army.This opinion is open to grave doubt. If Beaure-gard could at that moment have put 6000 or 8000fresh reserves into the fight against his weary an-tagonist, he might in all probability have routedhim. But here at nightfall, after more than twelvehours of desperate fighting, his own men were asweary as the enemy; and it was now Grant, notBeauregard, who could bring fresh troops into ac-tion, for the big steamboats were delivering Nel-son’s men by the thousand at Pittsburg Landing.

Thus, in spite of their magnificent valour anddash, aided by the initial advantage of the sur-prise, the Confederates at the end of the day felljust short of victory. Their utmost efforts left theline of communication between Grant’s army and