SURPRISE AND WITHDRAWAL AT SHILOH.

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to drive the enemy he may find in his front intothe river. He needs no further orders.” Thewords are, as near as I can remember them, ex-actly the ones General Johnston used. I obeyedthe order given, met General Breckinridge, con-ducted him to the place where I had left mycavalry, but found both them and the Federaldivision gone. I rode with General Breckinridgea few hundred yards forward, and we soon receiveda volley which let us know that the Federal forceshad retired but a very short distance from theiroriginal position. General Breckinridge deployedBowen’s and Statham’s brigades, moved them for-ward, and soon engaged the Federal forces. Ibade the General good-day and good luck, andonce more rode down the line of battle until Ifound General Bragg. With him I remained, ex-cepting when carrying orders and making recon-noissances, until the close of the first day’s fight.

I witnessed the various bloody and unsuccessfulattacks on the “ Hornets’ Nest.” During one of thedreadful repulses of our forces, General Bragg di-rected me to ride forward to the central regimentof a brigade of troops that was recoiling across anopen field, to take its colors and carry them for-ward. “The flag must not go back again,” hesaid. Obeying the order, I dashed through theline of battle, seized the colors from the color-bearer, and said to him, “ General Bragg saysthese colors must not go to the rear.” While I wastalking to him the color-sergeant was shot down.A moment or two afterward I was almost alone onhorseback in the open field between the two linesof battle. An officer came up to me with a bullet-hole in each cheek, the blood streaming from hismouth, and asked, “ What are you doing with mycolors, sir ?” “I am obeying General Bragg’s or-ders, sir, to hold them where they are,” was myreply. “ Let me have them,” he said. “ If any manbut my color-bearer carries these colors, I am theman. Tell General Bragg I will see that these col-ors are in the right place. But he must attack thisposition in flank ; we can never carry it alone fromthe front.” It was Colonel H. W. Allen, afterwardGovernor Allen of Louisiana . I returned, miracu-lously preserved, to General Bragg, and reportedColonel Allen’s words. I then carried an order tothe same troops, giving the order, I think, to Gen-eral Gibson, to fall back to the fence in the rearand reorganize. This was done, and then GeneralBragg dispatched me to the right, and Colonel FrankGardner (afterward Major-General) to the left, toinform the brigade and division commanders oneither side that a combined movement would bemade on the front and flanks of that position. Themovements were made, and Prentiss was captured.

As Colonel William Preston Johnston says, thatcapture was a dear triumph to us — dear for themany soldiers we had lost in the first fruitless at-tacks, but still dearer on account of the valuabletime it cost us. The time consumed in gatheringPrentiss’s command together, in taking their arms,in marching them to the rear, was inestimablyvaluable. Not only that; the news of the capturespread, and grew as it spread ; many soldiers and

officers believed we had captured the bulk of theFederal army, and hundreds left their positionsand came to see the “captured Yanks.” But aftera while the Confederates were gotten into ranks,and a perfect line of battle was formed, with ourleft wing resting on Owl Creek and our right on theTennessee River. General Polk was on the left,then Bragg, then Hardee, then Breckinridge. Inour front only one single point was showing fight,a hill crowned with artillery. I was with GeneralBragg, and rode with him along the front of hiscorps. I heard him say over and over again, “Onemore charge, my men, and we shall capture themall.” While this was going on a staff-officer (orrather, I think, it was one of the detailed clerks ofGeneral Beauregard’s headquarters, for he woreno uniform) came up to General Bragg, and said,“The General directs that the pursuit be stopped;the victory is sufficiently complete ; it is needlessto expose our men to the fire of the gun-boats.”General Bragg said, “My God , was a victory eversufficiently complete?” and added, “Have yougiven that order to any one else?” “Yes, sir,”was the reply, “to General Polk, on your left;and if you will look to the left, you will see thatthe order is being obeyed.” General Bragg looked,and said, “My God, my God , it is too late!” andturning to me, he said, “ Captain, carry that orderto the troops on the right” ; and to Captain FrankParker, “You carry it to the left.” In a shorttime the troops were all falling back— and the vic-tory was lost. Captain Parker and myself were theonly members of General Bragg’s staff who werewith him at that time. Captain Parker, I think, isstill living in South Carolina , and will surely re-member all that I have narrated.

In this hasty sketch I have intentionally omittedeverything bxit the beginning and end of that day’soperations, to throw what light I can upon thetwo great points of dispute : Was the Federal armysurprised by our attack ? and whose fault was itthat the victory was not sufficiently complete onthe first day ?

In regard to the second day’s fight, I will touchupon but one point. I, as a great many otherstaff-officers, was principally occupied in the earlyhours of the second day in gathering together ourscattered men and getting them into some sort ofmanageable organization. In this duty I collectedand organized a body of men about a thousandstrong. They were composed of men of at least ahalf-dozen different regiments. The 7th Kentucky ,with a tattered flag, and the 9th Arkansas werethe most numerously represented. We had notone single field-officer in the command. When Ireported to General Beauregard that I had thetroops divided into companies, had assigned acaptain to duty as lieutenant-colonel and a firstlieutenant as major, he himself put me in com-mand of them as colonel. In order that my com-mand might have a name, I dubbed it the“Beauregard Regiment,”—a name that was re-ceived with three rousing cheers. Not long aftermy regiment was thus officered and christened, amessage came from General Breckinridge on our