SURPRISE AND WITHDRAWAL AT SHILOH.

BY S. H. LOCKETT, COLONEL, C. S. A. (AT SHILOH GENERAL BRAGG’S CHIEF ENGINEER).

! ,-j. ( ■ AT the time of the battle

all. i \ of Shiloh T was mi Gen-

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of Shiloh I was on Gen-eral Bragg’s staff as hischief engineer, with therank of captain. On thenight of April 5 th I ac-companied him to GeneralJohnston’s headquarters,where the last council ofwar was held. I was notpresent at the meeting ofthe generals, but with anumber of other staff-officers remained near by.We could hear the low, earnest discussion of oursuperiors, but could not distinguish the wordsspoken.

When the council closed, and General Braggstarted to his own bivouac, I joined him, andreceived the following instructions: That as theattack would be made at daylight, the next morn-ing at 4 o’clock I should proceed to the front alongthe Bark road, with Lieutenant Steel, of the engi-neers, and a squad of cavalry, until I came to theenemy’s camp; that I should very carefully andcautiously reconnoiter the camp from where Istruck it toward the enemy’s left flank; that Ishould by no means allow any firing by my littleforce, or do anything to attract attention ; that myduty was to get all the information possible aboutthe enemy’s position and condition, and send it backby couriers from point to point, as my judgmentshould suggest. Those orders I carried out thenext morning. Lieutenant S. M. Steel, now MajorSteel, of Nashville, Tenn. , had been a civil engi-neer and surveyor in that section of the country,had already made several daring and valuablereconnoissances of the Federal camps, and knewthe country thoroughly. He was a splendid scout,and as brave a man as ever lived. Under his skill-ful guidance I reached in safety a point which hesaid was not more than a few hundred yards fromthe Federal camps. Here our cavalry escort andour own horses were left, and we two, leaving theroad, passed down a narrow valley or gorge, gotbeyond the Federal pickets, and came within a fewrods of a sleepy camp sentinel leaning against atree. In front of us was a large camp as still andsilent as the grave ; no signs of life except a fewsmoldering fires of the last night’s supper. Notingthese facts and without disturbing the man at thetree, we returned to our cavalry squad, and I dis-patched a courier to General Bragg with a notetelling what I had seen. We then moved by ourright flank through the woods, from a quarter tohalf a mile, and repeated our former manoeuvre.This time we found the cooks of the camp astirpreparing breakfast. While we were watching theprocess reveille was sounded, and I saw one or tworegiments form by companies, answer to roll-call,and then disperse to their tents. Once more Ireturned to my cavalry and dispatched a courier.

A third time I made a descent from the hills,down a narrow hollow, still farther to our right,and saw Federal soldiers cleaning their guns andaccouterments and getting ready for Sunday morn-ing inspection. By this time firing had begun onour left, and I could see that it caused some com-motion in the camps, but it was evident that it wasnot understood. Soon the firing became morerapid and clearer and closer, and I saw officers be-gin to stir out of their tents, evidently anxious tofind out what it all meant. Then couriers beganto arrive, and there was great bustle and confu-sion ; the long roll was beaten; there was rapidfalling in, and the whole party in front of me wasso thoroughly awake and alarmed that I thoughtmy safest course was to retreat while I could andsend another courier to the rear.

How long all this took I cannot now recall, butperhaps not more than an hour and a half or twohours. When I reached my cavalry squad-I knewthat the battle had opened in earnest, but I deter-mined to have one more look at the Federal posi-tion, and moved once more to the right. Withoutgetting as near as our former positions, I had agood view of another camp with a line of soldiersformed in front of it. Meantime the Confederatetroops had moved on down the hills, and I couldplainly see from the firing that there was hot andheavy work on my left and in advance of my presentposition. I then began to fear that the division infront of me would swing around and take ourforces in flank, as it was manifest that the Federalline extended farther in that direction than ours.I therefore disposed my little cavalry force asskirmishers, and sent a courier with a sketch ofthe ground to General Bragg, and urged the im-portance of having our right flank protected. Howlong I waited and watched at this point it is hardto say. Finally, becoming very uneasy at the stateof affairs, I left Lieutenant Steel with the cavalryand rode to the left myself to make a personalreport. In this ride I passed right down the lineof battle of the Confederate forces, and saw somesplendid duels both of artillery and infantry.Finally, as I have always thought about 11o’clock, I came to General A. S. Johnston and hisstaff standing on the brow of a hill watching theconflict in their front. I rode up to General John-ston, saluted him, and said 1 wished to make areport of the state of affairs on our extreme right.He said he had received that report and a sketchfrom Captain Lockett, of the engineers. I toldhim I was Captain Lockett. He replied, “Well,sir, tell me as briefly and quickly as possible whatyou have to say.” When my report was finishedhe said, “ That is what I gathered from your noteand sketch, and I have already ordered GeneralBreckinridge to send forces to fill up the space onour right. Ride back, sir, toward the right, andyou will probably meet General Breckinridge ;lead him to the position you indicate, and tell him

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