474

THE BATTLE OF SHILOH.

battle-field worthy of the best of veterans. McClernand was next to Sherman,and the hardest fighting was in front of these two divisions. McClernand told me on that day, the 6th, that he profited much by having so able a com-mander supporting him. A casualty to Sherman that would have takenhim from the field that day would have been a sad one for the troops engagedat Shiloh. And how near we came to this! On the 6th Sherman was shottwice, once in the hand, once in the shoulder, the ball cutting his coat andmaking a slight wound, and a third ball passed through his hat. In additionto this he had several horses shot during the day.

The nature of this battle was such that cavalry could not be used in front;I therefore formed ours into line, in rear, to stop stragglers, of whom therewere many. When there would be enough of them to make a show, and afterthey had recovered from their fright, they would be sent to reenforce somepart of the line which needed support, without regard to their companies,regiments, or brigades.

On one occasion during the day, I rode back as far as the river and metGeneral Buell, who had just arrived; I do not remember the hour, but atthat time there probably were as many as four or five thousand stragglerslying under cover of the river-bluff, panic-stricken, most of whom wouldhave been shot where they lay, without resistance, before they would havetaken muskets and marched to the front to protect themselves. Thismeeting between General Buell and myself was on the dispatch-boat used torun between the landing and Savannah . It was brief, and related speciallyto his getting his troops over the river. As we left the boat together, Buell’sattention was attracted by the men lying under cover of the bank. I sawhim berating them and trying to shame them into joining their regiments.He even threatened them with shells from the gun-boats near by. But it wasall to no effect. Most of these men afterward proved themselves as gallantas any of those who saved the battle from which they had deserted. I haveno doubt that this sight impressed General Buell with the idea that a line ofretreat would be a good thing just then. If he had come in by the frontinstead of through the stragglers in the rear, he would have thought and feltdifferently. Could he have come through the Confederate rear, he wouldhave witnessed there a scene similar to that at our own. The distant rear ofan army engaged in battle is not the best place from which to judge cor-rectly what is going on in front. Later in the war, while occupying thecountry between the Tennessee and the Mississippi , I learned that the panicin the Confederate lines had not differed much from that within our own.Some of the country people estimated the stragglers from Johnston’s armyas high as twenty thousand. Of course, this was an exaggeration.

The situation at the close of Sunday w T as as follows: Along the topof the bluff just south of the log-house which stood at Pittsburg Landing,Colonel J. D. Webster, of my staff, had arranged twenty or more piecesof artillery facing south, or up the river. This line of artillery was on thecrest of a hill overlooking a deep ravine opening into the Tennessee . Hurlbut,with his division intact, was on the right of this artillery, extending west and