In the evening General Johnston called his corps commanders around his bivouac fire for a last talk before the battle. Although Johnston was commander-in-chief, Beauregard planned the battle. Johnston was Beauregard’s senior, but the battle-ground was in Beauregard’s department. He gave directions to the officers.
Mr. William G. Stevenson, of Kentucky, who was in Arkansas when the war broke out, was impressed into the Rebel service. He acted as special aide-de-camp to General Breckenridge in that battle. He escaped from the Rebel service a few months later, and has published an interesting narrative of what he saw.[8] He stood outside the circle of generals waiting by his horse in the darkness to carry any despatch for his commander. He gives this description of the scene:—
“In an open space, with a dim fire in the midst, and a drum on which to write, you could see grouped around their ‘Little Napoleon,’ as Beauregard was sometimes fondly called, ten or twelve generals, the flickering light playing over their eager faces, while they listened to his plans, and made suggestions as to the conduct of the fight.
“Beauregard soon warmed with his subject, and, throwing off his cloak, to give free play to his arms, he walked about the group, gesticulating rapidly, and jerking out his sentences with a strong French accent. All listened attentively, and the dim light, just revealing their countenances, showed their different emotions of confidence or distrust of his plans.
“General Sidney Johnston stood apart from the rest, with his tall, straight form standing out like a spectre against the dim sky, and the illusion was fully sustained by the light-gray military cloak which he folded around him. His face was pale, but wore a determined expression, and at times he drew nearer the centre of the ring, and said a few words, which were listened to with great attention. It may be he had some foreboding of the fate he was to meet on the morrow, for he did not seem to take much part in the discussion.
“General Breckenridge lay stretched out on a blanket near the fire, and occasionally sat upright and added a few words of counsel. General Bragg spoke frequently, and with earnestness. General Polk sat on a camp-stool at the outside of the circle, and held his head between his hands, buried in thought. Others reclined or sat in various positions.
“For two hours the council lasted, and as it broke up, and the generals were ready to return to their respective commands, I heard General Beauregard say, raising his hand and pointing in the direction of the Federal camp, whose drums we could plainly hear, ‘Gentlemen, we sleep in the enemy’s camp to-morrow night.’”
The Confederate General, the same writer says, had minute information of General Grant’s position and numbers. This knowledge was obtained through spies and informers, some of whom lived in the vicinity, had been in and out of Grant’s camp again and again, and knew every foot of ground.
Under these circumstances, with a superior force, with accurate knowledge of the position of every brigade in General Grant’s army, with troops in the best spirits, enthusiastic, ardent, expecting a victory, stealing upon a foe unsuspicious, unprepared, with brigades and divisions widely separated, with General Grant, the commander-in-chief, ten miles away, and General Buell’s nearest troops twenty miles distant, the Rebel generals waited impatiently for the coming of the morning.