"The enemy having forced the centre line to fall back nearly half way from their camps to the Landing, at a late hour in the afternoon a desperate effort was made by the enemy to turn our left and get possession of the Landing, transports, etc. This point was guarded by the gunboats, Tyler and Lexington, Captains Gwin and Shirk commanding, with four twenty-four-pounder Parrott guns, and a battery of rifled guns.
"As there is a deep and impassable ravine for artillery or cavalry, and very difficult for infantry at this point, no troops were stationed here except the necessary artillerists and a small infantry force for their support. Just at this moment the advance of Major-General Buell's column and a part of the division of General Nelson arrived, the two Generals named both being present. An advance was immediately made upon the point of attack, and the enemy was soon driven back. In this repulse, much is due to the presence of the gunboats Tyler and Lexington, and their able commanders, Captains Gwin and Shirk.
"During the night the divisions under Generals Crittenden and McCook arrived. General Lew. Wallace, at Camp Landing, six miles below, was ordered, at an early hour in the morning, to hold his division in readiness to move in any direction it might be ordered. At eleven o'clock, the order was delivered to move up to Pittsburgh, but owing to its being led by a circuitous route did not arrive in time to take part in Sunday's action.
"During the night all was quiet, and feeling that a great moral advantage would be gained by becoming the attacking party, an advance was ordered as soon as day dawned. The result was the gradual repulse of the enemy at all points of the line, from nine until probably five o'clock in the afternoon, when it became evident the enemy was retreating. Before the close of the action the advance of General T. J. Wood's Division arrived in time to take part in the action.
"My force was too much fatigued, from two days' hard fighting and exposure in the open air to a drenching rain during the intervening night, to pursue immediately. Night closed in cloudy and with a heavy rain, making the roads impracticable for artillery by the next morning. General Sherman, however, followed the enemy, finding that the main part of the army had retreated in good order.
"I feel it a duty, to a gallant and able officer, Brigadier-General W. T. Sherman, to make special mention. He not only was with his command during the entire two days of the action, but displayed great judgment and skill in the management of his men; although severely wounded in the hand on the first day, his place was never vacant. He was again wounded, and had three horses killed under him. In making this mention of a gallant officer no disparagement is intended to other Division Commanders or Major-Generals, Jno. A. McClernand, and Lewis Wallace, and Brigadier-Generals Hurlbut, Prentiss, and W. H. L. Wallace, all of whom maintained their places with credit to themselves and the cause."
A characteristic private letter of Sherman's will be read with interest at this point. It was written many years after the battle of Shiloh, and was addressed to Mr. Marshall P. Wilder, who had sent to Sherman a copy of a paper containing a sketch of Shiloh as seen from the rear of the army by a drummer boy. This is the letter:
"No. 75 West Seventy-first Street,
"New York, Jan. 1st, 1890."My Dear Friend: I thank you for sending me the printed paper containing the observations and experiences of our friend about the battle of Shiloh, or Pittsburgh Landing, April 6th and 7th, 1862. Having leisure this New Year's Day I have read every word of it, and from his standpoint as a boy in the rear of where the hard fighting was done his account is literally true. His father (a noble gentleman) and I were fighting for time—because our enemy for the moment outnumbered us, and we had good reason to expect momentarily Lew. Wallace's Division, only six miles off, and Buell's whole army, only twenty miles away. By contesting every foot of ground the enemy was checked till night. Our reinforcements came on the 7th, we swept on in front and pursued a retreating enemy ten miles, and afterwards followed up to Corinth, Memphis, Vicksburg, etc., to the end.
"That bloody battle was fought April 6th and 7th, 1862. After we had actually driven our assailants back to Corinth, twenty-six miles, we received the St. Louis, Cincinnati and Louisville newspapers, from which we learned that we were 'surprised,' bayonetted in our beds (blankets on the ground), and disgracefully routed. These reports were heard at the river bank and from steamboats under high pressure to get well away, and such is history.
"In the rear of all battles there is a mass of fugitives. We had at the time 32,000 men, of which, say, 5,000 or 6,000 were at the steamboat landing—but what of the others? A braver, finer set of men never existed on earth. The reporters dwell on the fugitives because they were of them, but who is to stand up for the brave men at the front? We had no reporters with us. Like sensible men they preferred a steamboat bound for Paducah and Cincinnati, whence they could describe the battle better than we who were without pen or ink.
"This to me is straw already threshed, for we have fought this battle on paper several times, a much more agreeable task than to fight with bullets. When in England some years ago, I was gratified to listen to veterans fighting Waterloo and Sebastopol over again. So I infer our children will continue the fight of Shiloh long after we are dead and gone. Wishing you a happy New Year, I am, sincerely yours,
W. T. Sherman."