THE CAMPAIGN OF SHILOH.

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By the 27th of March the last of General Hardee’s corps reached the vicinityof Corinth, —about 8000 men,—while Crittenden’s division of 5000 men washalted at Burnsville and Iuka, eastward of Corinth . The order of organiza-tion, signed by General Johnston, was published on the 29th of March. Basedon my notes, it had been drawn up by Colonel Jordan, and subdivided thearmies of Kentucky and Mississippi , now united, into three army corps,with reserves of cavalry, artillery, and infantry, the corps under Major-Gen-erals Polk, Bragg, and Hardee respectively, and the reserve (two brigades)under Major-General G, B. Crittenden. On the 30th of March, ColonelMackall having been promoted and assigned to the command of the riverdefenses at Madrid Bend, Colonel Jordan was formally announced as theadjutant-general of the “Army of the Mississippi,” and on the following dayBrigadier-General Breckinridge was substituted for General Crittenden in thecommand of the reserve.

So much longer time than I had anticipated had been taken in effectingthe junction of the “ Central Army ” with mine, agreed upon as far back asthe 23d of February, that we were scarcely as ready for assuming the offen-sive as I had hoped to be, at latest by the 1st of April.

However, on the night of the 2d of April, after 10 o’clock, a dispatch fromBrigadier-General Cheatham, in command at Bethel Station, twenty oddmiles north of Corinth , reached me through General Polk, to the effect thathe was being menaced by General Lew Wallace ’s division. Assuming that theenemy had divided his forces for an operation against the Mobile and Ohiorailroad at Bethel, I thus indorsed the dispatch: “ Now is the moment toadvance and strike the enemy at Pittsburg Landing.” Colonel Jordanwas then asked to carry it at once to General Johnston, who, after readingboth dispatch and indorsement, accompanied by Colonel Jordan, wentto General Bragg’s quarters near by. That officer, already in bed, imme-diately agreed with my recommendation. General Johnston presented objec-tions in effect that our forces were not as yet ready for the movement, andthat we could not move up our reserve in time. Colonel Jordan, however,was able to reassure him on these points by expressing my conviction thatwe were as ready now as we could hope to be for some time to come, whereasthe union of Buell’s forces with Grant, which might be anticipated at anearly day, would make any offensive operation on our side out of the ques-tion. Thereupon, General Johnston instructed Colonel Jordan to issue theorders for the movement. This was done in General Bragg’s bed-chamber,in a “ circular” to the three corps commanders directing them “ to hold theircommands in hand, ready to advance upon the enemy in the morning by6 a. m., with 3 days’ cooked rations in haversacks, 100 rounds of ammunitionfor small arms, and 200 rounds for field-pieces. Carry 2 days’ cooked sub-sistence in wagons and 2 tents to the company.” These orders reached thehands of Generals Polk and Hardee by 1:30 A. m., and General Breckinridgewas notified to the same effect by telegraph that night.

As it had been agreed between General Johnston and myself, the dayafter his arrival at Corinth , that all orders relating to our operations in that