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day morning, and was now about five miles distant; Crittenden’s division alsobad arrived on the morning of the 6th. So that Grant, with these threedivisions, may be considered as having about 22,000 men in immediate reserve,without counting the remainder of Buell’s army, which was near by. J
As General Johnston and his staff were taking their coffee, the first gun ofthe battle sounded. “ Note the hour, if you please, gentlemen,” said GeneralJohnston . It was fourteen minutes past 5. They immediately mounted andgalloped to the front.
Some skirmishing on Friday between the Confederate cavalry and theFederal outposts, in which a few men were killed, wounded, and captured onboth sides, had aroused the vigilance of the Northern commanders to someextent. Sherman reported on the 5th to Grant that two regiments of infantryand one of cavalry were in his front, and added: “I have no doubt thatnothing will occur to-day more than some picket-firing. ... I do notapprehend anything like an attack on our position.” In his “ Memoirs ” hesays: “ I did not believe they designed anything but a strong demonstration.”He said to Major Ricker that an advance of Beauregard’s army “could not bepossible. Beauregard was not such a fool as to leave his base of operations andattack us in ours,— mere reconnoisscmce in forces This shows a curiouscoincidence with the actual state of General Beauregard’s mind on that day.And Grant telegraphed Halleck on Saturday night: “ The main force of theenemy is at Corinth. . . . One division of Buell’s column arrived yester-
day. ... I have scarcely the faintest idea of an attack (general one)being made upon us.”
Nevertheless, some apprehension was felt among the officers and men of theFederal army, and General Prentiss had thrown forward Colonel Moore, withthe 21st Missouri regiment, on the Corinth road. Moore, feeling his waycautiously, encountered Hardee’s skirmish-line under Major Hardcastle, and,thinking it an outpost, assailed it vigorously. Thus really the Federalsbegan the fight. The struggle was brief, but spirited. The 8th and 9tliArkansas came up. Moore fell wounded. The Missourians gave way, andShaver’s brigade pursued them. Hindman’s whole division moved on, follow-ing the ridge and drifting to the right, and drove in the grand guards andoutposts until they struck Prentiss’s camps. Into these they burst, over-throwing all before them.
To appreciate the suddenness and violence of the blow, one must read thetestimony of eye-witnesses. General Bragg says, in a sketch of Shiloh madefor the writer: “ Contrary to the views of such as urged an abandonment ofthe attack, the enemy was found utterly unprepared, many being surprisedand captured in their tents, and others, though on the outside, in costumesbetter fitted to the bedchamber than to the battle-field.” General Preston says:“ General Johnston then went to the camp assailed, which was carried between7 and 8 o’clock. The enemy were evidently surprised. The breakfasts were
J General Grant takes no account of these in his narratives of the battle, and talks as though hewere outnumbered instead of outgeneraled. It was his business to get these troops there in time,especially if he was not surprised.—W. P. J.