War Stories for my Grandchildren

by John Watson Foster

"Our men tried to stand up to it, but everything was breaking to pieces all around us, and it was more than we could do, short of annihilation. We poured in a few well-directed volleys, and reluctantly left the field—many of our men firing as they fell back. The loss here was very heavy. All the field officers of the Twenty-fifth Illinois were killed instantly, and many commissioned officers; two of our lieutenants were killed and three wounded, and one of our captains is either killed or a prisoner. We will make thorough search for him on the field in the morning.

"We left dead on this field fifteen men killed almost instantly on the first fire, and a large number wounded. At the first fire Lieutenant-Colonel Morgan was wounded in the leg (not seriously), and was immediately carried off the field. From this time I led the regiment in person. I did all I could to make the men contest the ground firmly as they fell back, and on the first favorable ground, about one hundred yards from the first line of battle, I planted the colors and mounted a fallen tree, and, waving my hat with all my might, I cheered and called upon the men to rally on the flag—never to desert their colors.

"All of the left wing responded to my call most nobly, and rallied with considerable alacrity under a most galling and dangerous fire. I did not see Colonel Morgan fall, and supposed he had charge of the right wing; but the various captains collected a large number of their men, and as soon as I got under cover of the regiments on the left and rear, they brought their men up and joined me, and I thus had still quite a battalion, notwithstanding the killed and number wounded, and the straying or lost ones. The men who came to me at this time had been 'tried in the furnace,' and were true men, and during all the trying scenes of the rest of the day and of to-day, they never faltered in obeying my commands, and did most bravely.

"As soon as our brigade was collected, Colonel Veatch moved us over to the right to support General McClernand's division, which was being very hard pressed by the enemy, said to be commanded by Beauregard. The left, so our prisoners report, was commanded by Bragg, and the center by Johnston. They also report that the column that attacked our brigade in the morning, of which I have just spoken, numbers twelve thousand, under Bragg, and that the whole force was near one hundred thousand; but we do not know, only that it was very large, sufficiently so to attack the entire line of our extensive camp in heavy force.

"In the afternoon our pickets reported the enemy advancing against us, on the left of General McClernand. As soon as we had drawn them well up by our picket skirmish under Captain Rheinlander, the Fourteenth Illinois flanked them, and was just beginning to pour upon them a heavy fire, while we were moving up to the assistance of the Fourteenth in fine style, when the whole mass of our left, which had, for five or six hours, been steadily and stubbornly contesting the victorious advance of the enemy in that direction, gave way in all directions, about half-past three, and came sweeping by us in utter and total confusion—cavalry, ambulances, artillery, and thousands of infantry, all in one mass, while the enemy were following closely in pursuit, at the same time throwing grape, canister, and shells thick and fast among them.

"It was a time of great excitement and dismay—it appeared that all was lost; but I was unwilling to throw our regiment into the flying mass, only to be trampled to pieces and thoroughly disorganized and broken. So I held them back in the wash on the side of the road until the mass of the rout had passed, when I put my men in the rear of the retreat, and by this means fell into a heavy cross-fire of the enemy, but I preferred that to being crushed to pieces by our own army. Here we lost a number of our men killed, and many wounded.

"Among those who fell, wounded badly in the leg, was Sergeant-Major William Jones, who had stood right by me fearlessly through the whole day. This rout decided that day's work. We were driven back nearly to the river landing, but the enemy kept pressing us in all the time, and, if, at this time, they had made a bold and united charge all along their line, we would have been totally and utterly routed; but a half-hour's apparent cessation of heavy firing gave our scattered forces time to rally, while the first two regiments of Buell's long-expected advance took position on the hill in the rear, and our forces fell back and formed with them near the landing for a final stand.

"About five o'clock in the evening the enemy made a heavy charge and attempted to carry this position. The contest was most terrible—the roar of musketry was one continuous peal for near half an hour. All that saved us was two heavy siege-pieces on the hill and the firmness of our men on this last stand. Night closed in on us, with almost the whole of our extensive camps in the hands of the enemy. It was a gloomy night for us all, and to add to our discomforts we had a heavy rain with no shelter. But we had saved enough ground to make a stand upon, and during the night twenty thousand fresh troops from Buell's army were transported across the river, and Lew Wallace moved up his division from below on our right.

"This morning at dawn of day began one of the grandest and most terrific battles ever fought. Buell moved forward on the left and center, and Wallace on the right, with their fresh troops, while Grant's army steadily followed them up and held the ground firmly as it was gained. From early in the morning until three o'clock in the afternoon the roar of musketry and artillery was one almost continuous thunder. It was grand beyond description. I have not time to tell you of it in this letter, and you will have it fully described in the newspapers.

"The enemy fought with great desperation and steadiness, but Wallace continued to press them on the right, driving them to the left, and Buell pressing them on the left, driving them to the right, until they were getting completely outflanked, when at three o'clock our brigade was ordered up to the front and center, and directed to charge the retreating enemy, but they traveled too fast for us. Nothing but cavalry could reach them. We remained on the outposts till evening, and then came in to get a good night's sleep in the tents of our own camp after the fatigues of a two days' steady fight. The night is terribly disagreeable—rainy and chilly—and tens of thousands of troops are sleeping on the bare ground with no covering, just as we did last night.