General Grant is an illustration of the fortune through which some men, in the thickest showers of bullets, always escape. He has participated in skirmishes and fourteen pitched battles, and is universally pronounced, by those who have seen him on the field, daring even to rashness; but he has never received a scratch. At four o’clock on Sunday evening, he was sitting upon his horse, just in the rear of the Union line of batteries, when Carson, the scout, who had reported to him a moment before, had fallen back, and was holding his horse by the bridle, about seven feet behind him. A six-pound shot, which flew very near General Grant, carried away Carson’s head, passed just behind Lieutenant Graves, volunteer aid to General Wilson, tearing away the cantle of his saddle and cutting his clothing, but leaving him uninjured. It then took off the legs of a soldier in one of General Nelson’s regiments, which was just ascending the bluff.
About the same hour, further up to the right, General Sherman, who had been standing for a moment, while Major Hammond, his chief of staff, was holding his bridle, remounted. By the prancing of his horse, General Sherman’s reins were thrown over his neck, and he was leaning forward in the saddle, with his head lowered, while Major Hammond was bringing them back over his head, when a rifle ball struck the line in Major Hammond’s hand, severing it within two inches of his fingers, and passed through the top and back of General Sherman’s hat. Had he been sitting upright it would have struck his head. At another time a ball struck General Sherman on the shoulder, but his metallic shoulder-strap warded it off. With a third ball he was less fortunate, for it passed through his hand. General Sherman had three horses shot under him, and ranks high among the heroes of that nobly won battle.
General Hurlbut had a six-pound shot pass between his horse’s head and his arm; a bullet hurtled through the animal’s mane, and one of his horses was killed under him.
The statement has gone forth that General Prentiss was made prisoner at the first early onslaught of the enemy, when his division was driven in upon Sherman’s lines. But this is an error. Prentiss’ men fought well even in retiring. They retired to reform, and pursued the conflict up to late in the afternoon, under Prentiss’ personal lead. They maintained a stand on McClernand’s left and Hurlbut’s right. In the thick underbrush where they made their last stand, almost every shrub and bush was struck by bullets; no spot on the entire field evidenced more desperate fighting. The last time General Prentiss met General Hurlbut, he asked him: “Can you hold your line?” General Hurlbut replied, “I think I can.” Not long after he sent a messenger to General Prentiss, to inform him that he was forced back, but the man was probably killed, as he never returned or delivered the message. About the same time, McClernand was forced back on his right, and Prentiss, without knowing that his supports on each side were gone, held his line. The enemy, both on his right and left, was half a mile in his rear before he discovered it, and his capture was inevitable.
Of General Buell’s conduct in battle, one of his men wrote, “I wish you could have seen the gallantry, the bravery, the dauntless daring, the coolness of General Buell. He seemed to be omnipresent. If ever man was qualified to command an army, it is he. He is a great, a very great General, and has proved himself so; not only in organizing and disciplining an army, but in handling it. He had his horse shot under him.”
LOSSES.
The official reports of losses are given in the following tabular statement:
| GRANT’S ARMY. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DIVISIONS. | KILLED. | WOUNDED. | MISSING. | TOTAL. |
| 1—General McClernand, | 251 | 1,351 | 236 | 1,848 |
| 2—General W. H. L. Wallace, | 228 | 1,033 | 1,163 | 2,424 |
| 3—General Lew. Wallace, | 43 | 257 | 5 | 305 |
| 4—General Hurlbut, | 313 | 1,449 | 223 | 1,985 |
| 5—General Sherman, | 318 | 1,275 | 441 | 2,034 |
| 6—General Prentiss, | 196 | 562 | 1,802 | 2,760 |
| Total, | 1,349 | 5,927 | 3,870 | 11,356 |
| BUELL’S ARMY. | ||||
| 2—General McCook, | 95 | 793 | 8 | 896 |
| 4—General Nelson, | 90 | 591 | 58 | 739 |
| 5—General Crittenden, | 80 | 410 | 27 | 517 |
| Total, | 265 | 1,794 | 93 | 2,152 |
| Grand Total, | 1,614 | 7,721 | 3,963 | 13,508 |
The official report of General Beauregard states the rebel loss to be 1,728 killed, 8,012 wounded, and 959 missing; which is far below the estimated losses of the enemy given by the Federal officers, who buried the dead on the field.
Bravely was that battle contested on both sides. We have described the way in which the Federal Generals fought and won a victory. But the South was gallantly represented—so gallantly, that a victory over such men was worth a double conquest over a meaner foe.