And before the battle ended we fought them hand to hand;
The carnage it was fearful and ten thousand men were killed;
All at the bloody battle of the famous Shiloh Hill.
And now my song is ended about those bloody plains,
I hope the sight by mortal man may ne’er be seen again;
And I pray to God the Saviour if it be His holy will,
To save the souls of all of those who fell on Shiloh Hill!”
We lay here on the field five days without shelter or rations, except what the other regiments, stationed here gave to us. On the 13th a detail was sent after our tents and camp equipage. It was still raining, but we had to move out and do something, as we could already hear the “graybacks” crawling in the leaves.
On the 16th we moved out to the front and went into a camp in a nice meadow. Here we had four hours’ brigade drill each day.
General Halleck soon took charge of this army and commenced to advance on Corinth, where Bragg had a force of 60,000 troops, well fortified. On the 20th a small squad of rebel cavalry ran into our picket line. Our lines were reinforced and we had to stand in line of battle from 4 o’clock until daylight.