The soldiers fought bravely to the last—bravely as ever men fought—but they were at a terrible disadvantage. Gradually they began falling back, making a determined resistance; occasionally they rallied and repulsed the enemy for a hundred yards, then were beaten back again, renewing the retreat to some new position for fresh defence.
By eleven o’clock the division was back in a line with Hurlbut’s. It still did some gallant fighting; once its right swept round and drove the enemy before it for a considerable distance, but again fell back; at last it brought up near the position of W. H. L. Wallace’s division.
Now Prentiss, Sherman and McClernand were driven back, and their camps were all in the hands of the enemy. The whole front line, for which Hurlbut and Wallace were but the reserves, was gone.
Sherman’s brigade, on the extreme left, was doubly left alone by the Generals. General Grant did not arrive on the field until each division General had been in action, and the respective Generals had in the best manner they could, carried on the battle; but this brigade was even left by its division General, who was four miles away, doing his utmost to rally his panic-stricken regiments there.
It was commanded by Colonel David Stuart, and was composed of the Fifty-fifth Illinois, Lieutenant-Colonel Malmbourg, commanding; Seventy-first Ohio, Colonel Rodney Mason; the Fifty-fourth Ohio (Zouaves), Colonel T. K. Smith. It was posted along the circuitous road from Pittsburg Landing, up the river to Hamburg, some two miles from the Landing, and near the crossing of Lick Creek, the bluffs on the opposite side of which commanded the position, and stretching on down to join Prentiss’ division on its right.
When the rebels marched out from Corinth, a couple of brigades (rumored to be under the command of Breckinridge), had without molestation reached the bluffs of Lick Creek, commanding Stuart’s position.
During the attack on Prentiss, Stuart’s brigade was formed along the road, the left resting near the Lick Creek ford, the right, Seventy-first Ohio, Colonel Rodney Mason, being nearest Prentiss. The first intimation they had of disaster to their right was the partial cessation of firing. An instant afterwards, muskets were seen glimmering among the leaves, and presently a rebel column emerged from a bend in the road, with banners flying, and moving at double-quick toward them. Their supports to the left were more remote than the rebels, and it was evident that, with but one piece of artillery, a single regiment could do nothing there. They accordingly fell back toward the ford, and were reinforced in an orchard near the other regiments.
The rebel column veered on further to the right, and for a brief space, though utterly isolated, they remained unmolested.
Before ten, however, the brigade, which stood listening to the wild roar of battle on the left, was startled by a shell that hurtled directly over their heads. In an instant the rebel batteries that had gained the commanding bluffs opposite, by approaching on the Corinth and Hamburg road, were in fiery play. The orchards and open fields in which they were posted, looking only for an attack in the opposite direction, were swept with the exploding shells and a hail-storm of grape.
Under cover of this fire from the bluffs, the rebels rushed down, crossed the ford, and in a moment were seen forming on the creek, in open fields, and within close musket range. Their color-bearers stepped defiantly to the front, as the engagement opened. The storm came in sharp and quick volleys of musketry, the batteries above supporting them with a destructive fire. The Union sharpshooters panted to pick off the audacious rebel color-bearers, but Colonel Stuart interposed,—crying out, “No, no, they are too brave fellows to be killed.” Almost at the first fire, Lieutenant-Colonel Barton S. Kyle, of the Seventy-first, was shot through the breast. The brigade stood firmly at least ten minutes, when it became evident that its position was untenable, and it fell rapidly back, perhaps a quarter of a mile, to the next ridge; a few of Stuart’s men, at great personal risk, carrying Lieutenant-Colonel Kyle, in a dying condition, from the field they were abandoning. Ohio lost no braver, truer man that day.