From Fort Henry to Corinth

by M. F. Force

General Bragg, on arriving at Corinth, wished to attack the troops as they were beginning to land at Pittsburg and Crump's landings. General Beauregard forbade this, writing to Bragg: "I would prefer the defensive-offensive—that is, to take up such a position as would compel the enemy to develop his intentions, and to attack us, before he could penetrate any distance from his base; then, when within striking distance of us, to take the offensive and crush him wherever we may happen to strike him, cutting him off, if possible, from his base of operations or the river."

On March 25th, Johnston completed the concentration of his troops. Van Dorn was in person in Corinth, and was ordered to bring forward his command. Johnston determined to wait as long as practicable for it. Meanwhile, to hasten the organization and preparation of his army, he appointed Gen. Bragg chief of staff for the time, but to resume command of his corps when the movement should begin. Of him, Colonel William Preston Johnston says, in his life of his father—a valuable book, prepared with great industry, and written with an evident desire to be fair: "In Bragg there was so much that was strong marred by most evident weakness, so many virtues blemished by excess or defect in temper and education, so near an approach to greatness and so manifest a failure to attain it, that his worst enemy ought to find something to admire in him, and his best friend something painful in the attempt to portray him truly." A thorough disciplinarian and a master of detail, his merits found full play, and his defects were less apparent in his position on the staff.

Johnston was organizing his army; Grant was assembling his twenty-three miles away. On the other side of the Tennessee, ninety miles from Savannah, Buell, halted by Duck Creek, was building a bridge for his troops—a bridge which it required twelve days to construct. Johnston having completed his concentration, it was his obvious policy to attack before Grant should be further reinforced. General Beauregard, in his letter of March 18th to Bragg, said: "While I have guarded you against an uncertain offensive, I am decidedly of the opinion that we should endeavor to entice the enemy into an engagement as soon as possible, and before he shall have further increased his numbers by the large numbers which he must still have in reserve and available—that is, beat him in detail." Lee wrote to Johnston, on March 26th: "I need not urge you, when your army is united, to deal a blow at the enemy in your front, if possible, before his rear gets up from Nashville. You have him divided, and keep him so, if you can." It was Johnston's purpose, and expressed, to attack Grant before Buell should arrive. But he determined to continue organizing and waiting for Van Dorn as long as that would be safe.

At eleven o'clock at night of April 2d, Johnston learned that Buell was moving "rapidly from Columbia, by Clifton, to Savannah." About one o'clock in the morning of Thursday, the 3d, preliminary orders were issued to hold the troops in readiness to move at a moment's notice, with five days' rations and one hundred rounds of ammunition. The movement began in the afternoon. The army was arranged in three corps, commanded respectively by Polk, Bragg, and Hardee, and a reserve under Breckenridge. Beauregard was second in command, without a specific command. Major-General Hardee's corps consisted of Brigadier-General Hindman's division and Brigadier-General Cleburne's brigade. The division consisted of Hindman's brigade, commanded by Colonel Shaver, and Brigadier-General Wood's brigade. Wood's brigade comprised five regiments, and two battalions of infantry and a battery; Cleburne's brigade was composed of six regiments and two batteries. Major-General Bragg's corps consisted of two divisions, commanded respectively by Brigadier-General Ruggles and Brigadier-General Withers. The brigades of Ruggles' division were commanded by Colonel Gibson, Brigadier-General Patton Anderson, and Colonel Pond. Withers' brigades were commanded by Brigadier-Generals Gladden, Chalmers, and Jackson. The brigades of Chalmers and Gladden contained each five regiments and a battery; the other brigades contained each four regiments and a battery, with, in Anderson's and Pond's each, an additional battalion of infantry. Major-General Polk's corps had two divisions, commanded by Brigadier-General Clark and Major-General Cheatham. Clark's brigades were commanded by Colonel Russell and Brigadier-General A.P. Stewart; Cheatham's brigades were commanded by Brigadier-General B.R. Johnson and Colonel Stephens. Each brigade was made up of four regiments of infantry and a battery. Brigadier-General John C. Breckenridge's reserve comprised three brigades, commanded by Colonel Trabue, Brigadier-General Bowen, and Colonel Statham. Trabue had five regiments and two battalions, Bowen four regiments, and Statham six regiments of infantry. Each brigade had a battery. By the returns, Cleburne's brigade was the largest, having 2,750 effectives. Besides, were three regiments, two battalions and one company of cavalry. This force comprised 40,000 of the 50,000 effectives gathered at Corinth. Different returns vary a few hundred more and a few hundred less. General Johnston telegraphed to Jefferson Davis, when the movement began, that the number was 40,000. In forming for battle, the army was to deploy into three parallel lines, the distance between the lines to be one thousand yards. Hardee's corps to be the first; Bragg's the second; and the third to be composed of Polk on the left and Breckenridge on the right.

Hardee, moving out in advance, in the afternoon of Thursday, halted Friday forenoon at Mickey's house, about seventeen miles from Corinth. Bragg's corps bivouacked Friday night in rear of Hardee. Clark's division of Polk's corps followed in due order on its road. Cheatham's division, on outpost on the railroad at Purdy and Bethel, under orders to defend himself if attacked, otherwise to assemble at Purdy, march thence to Monterey, and thence to position near Mickey's, did not leave Purdy till Saturday morning, and reached his position Saturday afternoon. Breckenridge, who marched from his station at Burnesville through Farmington without entering Corinth, using a cross-road, could not pull his wagons through the mud, and failed to get as far as Monterey Friday night. While Hardee was lying near Mickey's house, his cavalry felt the National outposts, and a reconnoitring party from the National camp struck Cleburne's brigade.

The order issued at Corinth required the columns to be deployed by seven o'clock, Saturday morning, and the attack to begin at eight o'clock. Hardee began his movement at daybreak, Saturday, deployed about ten o'clock, and waited. His line being too short to extend from Owl Creek to Lick Creek, Gladden's brigade was moved forward from Bragg's corps, and added to Hardee's right. The rest of Withers' division moved into position behind Hardee's right; but Ruggles' division, constituting the right of Bragg's line, did not appear. Successive messengers bringing no satisfaction, General Johnston rode to the rear with his staff, till he found Ruggles' division standing still, with its head in an open field. It was set in motion, Polk followed; Cheatham arrived from Purdy; Breckenridge extricated his command from the deep mud, and, by four o'clock in the afternoon, the deployment and formation of the army was complete. It was too late to attack that day. Beauregard urged that it was too late to attack at all, that it would now be impossible to effect a surprise, that the expedition should be abandoned and the troops march back to Corinth. Johnston directed the troops to bivouac, and attack to be made next day at daylight.

Of the five divisions at Pittsburg Landing, the organization of four—the First, McClernand's; Second, C.F. Smith's, commanded by Brigadier-General W.H.L. Wallace, General Smith being ill at Savannah; the Fourth, Hurlbut's; and the Fifth, Sherman's—was completed. The Sixth, commanded by Prentiss, was still in process of formation. McClernand's First Brigade, composed of the Eighth and Eighteenth Illinois, Eleventh and Thirteenth Iowa, was commanded by Colonel Hare, of the Eleventh Iowa; the Second was composed of the Eleventh, Twentieth, Forty-fifth, and Forty-eighth Illinois, and commanded by Col. Marsh, of the Twentieth Illinois; the Third, of the Seventeenth, Twenty-ninth, Forty-third, and Forty-ninth Illinois. Colonel Ross, of the Seventeenth Illinois, the senior colonel, being ill and absent, the command of this brigade devolved on Colonel Reardon, of the Twenty-ninth. The Second Division comprised three brigades: the First, commanded by Colonel Tuttle, of the Second Iowa, contained the Second, Seventh, Twelfth, and Fourteenth Iowa; the Second, commanded by Brigadier-General McArthur, comprised the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Missouri, Ninth and Twelfth Illinois, and Eighty-first Ohio. The Fourteenth Missouri, at that time, went by the name of Birge's Sharpshooters; the Third, commanded by Colonel Sweeney, of the Fifty-second Illinois, comprised the Eighth Iowa, and the Seventh, Fiftieth, Fifty-second, Fifty-seventh, and Fifty-eighth Illinois. The Fourth Division contained three brigades: the First, commanded by Colonel Williams, of the Third Iowa, contained the Third Iowa, Twenty-eighth, Thirty-second, and Forty-first Illinois; the Second, commanded by Colonel Veatch, of the Twenty-fifth Indiana, contained the Twenty-fifth Indiana, Fourteenth, Fifteenth, and Forty-sixth Illinois; the Third, commanded by Brigadier-General Lauman, who reported for duty Saturday, April 5th, and was then assigned to this command, comprised the Thirty-first and Forty-fourth Indiana, and the Seventeenth and Twenty-fifth Kentucky. The Fifth Division contained four brigades: the First, commanded by Colonel McDowell, of the Sixth Iowa, was made of the Sixth Iowa, Forty-sixth Ohio, and the Fortieth Illinois; the Second, commanded by Colonel Stuart, of the Fifty-fifth Illinois, was made of the Fifty-fifth Illinois and the Fifty-fourth and Seventy-first Ohio; the Third, commanded by Colonel Hildebrand, of the Seventy-seventh Ohio, contained the Fifty-third, Fifty-seventh, and Seventy-seventh Ohio; the Fourth, commanded by Colonel Buckland, of the Seventy-second Ohio, contained the Forty-eighth, Seventieth, and Seventy-second Ohio. The Sixth Division was organized into two brigades: the First Brigade, commanded by Colonel Peabody, of the Twenty-fifth Missouri, contained the Twenty-first and Twenty-fifth Missouri, Twelfth Michigan, and Sixteenth Wisconsin. The Second, commanded by Colonel Miller, of the Eighteenth Missouri, comprised the Eighteenth Missouri and Sixty-first Illinois. The Sixteenth Iowa, assigned to this brigade, arriving fresh from the recruiting depot, without ammunition, on April 5th, reported to General Prentiss that day, but was sent by him to the landing early in the morning of the 6th, and was by General Grant assigned to duty that day in another part of the field. The Eighteenth Wisconsin arrived and reported on April 5th, and the Twenty-third Missouri arrived in the morning of the 6th, and reported on the field at nine o'clock.[2] But these two regiments were not formally assigned to either brigade. The Fifteenth Iowa, assigned to this division, arrived the morning of April 6th, and was assigned to duty in another part of the field. The Fourteenth Wisconsin, assigned to the division, arrived late in the night of April 6th, and served on the 7th with Crittenden's division of Buell's army.

[2] The Fifteenth Michigan arriving without ammunition, immediately before the attack began, marched to the rear for ammunition and, returning to the field, fought through the day between the Eighteenth Missouri and the Eighteenth Wisconsin.

The artillery was not attached to brigades, but was under the direct command of division commanders. The batteries of Schwartz and McAllister, and Burrow's Fourteenth Ohio Battery served with McClernand's division. Willard's Company A, First Illinois Artillery, commanded by Lieutenant Wood, and Major Cavender's battalion of Companies D, H, and I, First Missouri Artillery, were attached to W.H.L. Wallace's division. Mann's four-gun battery, Ross' Second Michigan, and Myer's Thirteenth Ohio batteries, were attached to Hurlbut's division. Behr's Sixth Indiana Battery, and Barrett's Company B, and Waterhouse's Company E, First Illinois Artillery, were attached to Sherman's division. Barrett's battery had formerly been commanded by Captain Ezra Taylor, promoted Major of the First Illinois Artillery, and was still commonly called Taylor's battery, and is so styled in some of the reports of the battle. Munch's Minnesota and Hickenlooper's Fifth Ohio Battery were attached to Prentiss' division. There was some change in the assignment of batteries on April 5th. The above gives their position as it was on April 6th. Bouton's Company I, First Illinois Artillery, and Dresser's battery, commanded by Captain Timony, though not assigned, were given positions on the field by Major Ezra Taylor, Sherman's chief of artillery, by direction of General Grant. Margraff's Eighth Ohio Battery served with Sherman, Powell's Company F, Second Illinois Artillery, served with Prentiss. Madison's Company B, Second Illinois Artillery, served at the landing. Captain Silversparre's four-gun battery of twenty-pound Parrotts, though assigned to McClernand, remained at the landing from lack of horses and equipage to pull them out to camp.

The Third Division, commanded by General Lewis Wallace, comprised three brigades: The First Brigade, commanded by Colonel Morgan L. Smith, of the Eighth Missouri, comprising the Eleventh and Twenty-fourth Indiana and the Eighth Missouri, was in camp at Crump's Landing; the Second Brigade, commanded by Colonel Thayer, of the First Nebraska, comprising the First Nebraska, Twenty-third Indiana, and Fifty-eighth and Sixty-eighth Ohio, was camped at Stony Lonesome, two miles out from Crump's Landing; the Third Brigade, commanded by Colonel Whittlesey, of the Twentieth Ohio, comprising the Twentieth, Fifty-sixth, Seventy-sixth, and Seventy-eighth Ohio, was in camp at Adamsville, three miles out beyond Stony Lonesome, or five miles from Crump's Landing. Buell's Battery I, First Missouri Artillery, commanded by Lieutenant Thurber, and Thompson's Ninth Indiana Battery, constituted the artillery of the division.