534

SHILOH REVIEWED.

SCENE IN A UNION FIELD-HOSPITAL.

i- %-

6S5sfcy«s

yfi '(O'

was in our presence, as I considered him still to be ; and I make no attemptto excuse myself or blame others when I say that General Grant’s troops, thelowest individual among them not more than the commander himself, appearto have thought that the object of the battle was sufficiently accomplishedwhen they were reinstated in their camps; and that in some way that ideaobstructed the reorganization of my line until a further advance that daybecame impracticable.

Much harsh criticism has been passed upon General Lew Wallace for hav-ing failed to reach the field in time to participate in the battle on Sunday.The naked fact is apt to be judged severely, and the reports made a yearafterward by General Grant’s staff-officers — the report of Colonel Rawlinsespecially—are calculated to increase the unfavorable impression. But somequalification of that evidence must be made, on account of the anxiety pro-duced in the minds of those officers by their peculiar connection with theexciting circumstances of the battle. The statement of Rawdins is particu-larly to be received with reservation. They found Wallace on a differentroad from the one by which they expected him, and assumed that he waswrongfully there. Rawlins pretends to give the words of a verbal order thatwould have taken him to a different place. Wallace denies that version ofthe order, and the circumstances do not sustain it. [See page 607.] He was