Sherman's Own Story—How his Troops were Posted—The Attack—Troops in Disorder—Grant and Buell at the Bivouac—The Battle Resumed in the Morning—Death of General Johnston—Gallant Conduct of Individual Officers—Grant's Official Report—Special Mention of Sherman for his Gallantry as a Soldier and his Skill as a Commander.

Few battles have been more discussed, or more vigorously discussed, than that of Shiloh, or Pittsburgh Landing. In these often acrimonious controversies, Sherman himself took a leading part. It is doubtful if an agreement as to the facts in the case can ever be reached; certainly the flood of argument, narration and abuse that has been poured forth has not materially tended toward such a settlement. The chief point at issue is, whether or not the Federal officers, especially Sherman, were surprised by the enemy. That they were, and that they were not, have both been stated and restated with every possible accumulation of emphasis. Perhaps it will best serve the present purpose to rehearse here, side by side, two narratives of the battle, both written at the time and on the spot, the one giving, in his own language, Sherman's account of the battle, the other the account written by one of the ablest newspaper correspondents in the war. The gist of Sherman's own report, addressed to Captain Rawlins, Grant's Assistant Adjutant-General, was as follows:

"I had the honor to report that on Friday, the 4th instant, the enemy's cavalry drove in our pickets, posted about a mile and a half in advance of my centre, on the main Corinth road, capturing one First Lieutenant and seven men; that I caused a pursuit by the cavalry of my division, driving them back about five miles, and killing many. On Saturday the enemy's cavalry was again very bold, coming down to our front; yet I did not believe he designed anything but a strong demonstration. On Sunday morning, early, the 6th instant, the enemy drove our advance guard back on the main body, when I ordered under arms all my division, and sent word to General McClernand, asking him to support my left; to General Prentiss, giving him notice that the enemy was in our front in force, and to General Hurlbut, asking him to support General Prentiss. At this time, 7 A.M., my division was arranged as follows:

"First Brigade, composed of the Sixth Iowa, Colonel J.A. McDowell; Fortieth Illinois, Colonel Hicks; Forty-sixth Ohio, Colonel Worthington; and the Morton Battery, Captain Behr, on the extreme right, guarding the bridge on the Purdy road, over Owl Creek.

"Second Brigade, composed of the Fifty-fifth Illinois, Colonel D. Stuart; Fifty-fourth Ohio, Colonel T. Kilby Smith; and the Seventy-first Ohio, Colonel Mason, on the extreme left, guarding the ford over Lick Creek.

"Third Brigade, composed of the Seventy-seventh Ohio, Colonel Hildebrand; Fifty-third Ohio, Colonel Appler; and the Fifty-seventh Ohio, Colonel Mungen, on the left of the Corinth road, its right resting on Shiloh meeting house. "Fourth Brigade, composed of the Seventy-second Ohio, Colonel Buckland; Forty-eighth Ohio, Colonel Sullivan; and Seventieth Ohio, Colonel Cockerill, on the right of the Corinth road, its left resting on Shiloh meeting-house.

"Two batteries of artillery, Taylor's and Waterhouse's, were posted, the former at Shiloh, and the latter on a ridge to the left, with a front fire over open ground between Mungen's and Appler's Regiments. The cavalry, eight companies of the Fourth Illinois, under Colonel Dickey, were posted in a large open field to the left and rear of Shiloh meeting-house, which I regarded as the centre of my position. Shortly after seven A.M., with my entire staff, I rode along a portion of our front, and when in the open field before Appler's Regiment, the enemy's pickets opened a brisk fire on my party, killing my orderly, Thomas D. Holliday, of company H, Second Illinois Cavalry.

"The fire came from the bushes which line a small stream which rises in the field in front of Appler's camp, and flows to the north along my whole front. This valley afforded the enemy cover, but our men were so posted as to have a good fire at him as he crossed the valley and ascended the rising ground on our side.

"About eight A.M. I saw the glistening bayonets of heavy masses of infantry to our left front, in the woods beyond the small stream alluded to, and became satisfied for the first time that the enemy designed a determined attack on our whole camp. All the regiments of my division were then in line of battle, at their proper posts. I rode to Colonel Appler, and ordered him to hold his ground at all hazards, as he held the left flank of our first line of battle, and I informed him that he had a good battery on his right and strong support in his rear. General McClernand had promptly and energetically responded to my request, and had sent me three regiments, which were posted to protect Waterhouse's battery and the left flank of my line. The battle began by the enemy opening a battery in the woods to our front, and throwing shell into our camp.

"Taylor's and Waterhouse's batteries promptly responded, and I then observed heavy battalions of infantry passing obliquely to the left across the open field in Appler's front; also other columns advancing directly upon my division. Our infantry and artillery opened along the whole line, and the battle became general. Other heavy masses of the enemy's forces kept passing across the field to our left, and directing their course on General Prentiss. I saw at once that the enemy designed to pass my left flank, and fall upon Generals McClernand and Prentiss, whose line of camps was almost parallel with the Tennessee River, and about two miles back from it.

"Very soon the sound of musketry and artillery announced that General Prentiss was engaged, and about 9 A.M. I judged that he was falling back. About this time Appler's Regiment broke in disorder, followed by Mungen's Regiment, and the enemy pressed forward on Waterhouse's Battery, thereby exposed. The three Illinois regiments in immediate support of this battery stood for some time, but the enemy's advance was vigorous, and the fire so severe that when Colonel Raith, of the Forty-third Illinois, received a severe wound, and fell from his horse, his regiment and the others manifested disorder, and the enemy got possession of three guns of this (Waterhouse's) battery.

"Although our left was thus turned, and the enemy was pressing our whole line, I deemed Shiloh so important, that I remained by it, and renewed my orders to Colonels McDowell and Buckland to hold their ground; and we did hold these positions until about 10 o'clock A.M., when the enemy had got his artillery to the rear of our left flank, and some change became absolutely necessary. Two regiments of Hildebrand's Brigade (Appler's and Mungen's) had already disappeared to the rear, and Hildebrand's own regiment was in disorder. I therefore gave orders for Taylor's Battery, still at Shiloh, to fall back as far as the Purdy and Hamburgh road, and for McDowell and Buckland to adopt that road as their new line. I rode across the angle, and met Behr's battery at the cross-roads, and ordered it immediately to come into battery, action right. Captain Behr gave the order, but he was almost instantly shot from his horse, when drivers and gunners fled in disorder, carrying off the caissons, and abandoning five out of six guns without firing a shot.

"The enemy pressed on, gaining this battery, and we were again forced to choose a line of defence. Hildebrand's Brigade had substantially disappeared from the field, though he himself bravely remained. McDowell's and Buckland's brigades maintained their organization, and were conducted by my aids so as to join on General McClernand's right, thus abandoning my original camps and line. This was about half-past 10 A.M., at which time the enemy had made a furious attack on General McClernand's whole front. He struggled most determinedly, but finding him pressed, I moved McDowell's Brigade directly against the left flank of the enemy, forced him back some distance, and directed the men to avail themselves of every cover—trees, fallen timber, and a wooded valley to our right.

"We held this position for four long hours, sometimes gaining and at other times losing ground, General McClernand and myself acting in perfect concert, and struggling to maintain this line. While we were so hardly pressed, two Iowa regiments approached from the rear, but could not be brought up to the severe fire that was raging in our front, and General Grant, who visited us on that ground, will remember our situation about 3 P.M.; but about 4 P.M. it was evident that Hurlbut's line had been driven back to the river, and knowing that General Wallace was coming with re-enforcements from Crump's Landing, General McClernand and I, on consultation, selected a new line of defence, with its right covering a bridge by which General Wallace had to approach. We fell back as well as we could, gathering in addition to our own, such scattered forces as we could find, and formed the new line. During this change the enemy's cavalry charged us, but were handsomely repulsed by an Illinois regiment, whose number I did not learn at that time or since.

"The Fifth Ohio Cavalry, which had come up, rendered good service in holding the enemy in check for some time and Major Taylor also came up with a new battery, and got into position just in time to get a good flank fire upon the enemy's column as he pressed on General McClernand's right, checking his advance, when General McClernand's Division made a fine charge on the enemy, and drove him back into the ravines to our front and right. I had a clear field about two hundred yards wide in my immediate front, and contented myself with keeping the enemy's infantry at that distance during the day. In this position we rested for the night. My command had become decidedly of a mixed character. Buckland's Brigade was the only one that retained organization. Colonel Hildebrand was personally there, but his brigade was not. Colonel McDowell had been severely injured by a fall of his horse, and had gone to the river, and the three regiments of his brigade were not in line. "The Thirteenth Missouri, Colonel Crafts J. Wright, had reported to me on the field, and fought well, retaining its regimental organization, and it formed a part of my line during Sunday night and all Monday. Other fragments of regiments and companies had also fallen into my division, and acted with it during the remainder of the battle.

"Generals Grant and Buell visited me in our bivouac that evening, and from them I learned the situation of affairs on other parts of the field. General Wallace arrived from Crump's Landing shortly after dark, and formed his line to my right and rear. It rained hard during the night, but our men were in good spirits and lay on their arms, being satisfied with such bread and meat as could be gathered at the neighboring camps, and determined to redeem on Monday the losses of Sunday. At daybreak of Monday I received General Grant's orders to advance and recapture our original camps.

"I despatched several members of my staff to bring up all the men they could find, and especially the brigade of Colonel Stuart, which had been separated from the division all the day before; at the appointed time the division, or rather, what remained of it, with the Thirteenth Missouri, and other fragments moved forward, and occupied the ground on the extreme right of General McClernand's camp, where we attracted the fire of a battery located near Colonel McDowell's former headquarters.

"Here I remained patiently awaiting for the sound of General Buell's advance upon the main Corinth road. About 10 A.M., the firing in this direction, and its steady approach, satisfied me, and General Wallace being on our right, flanked with his well-conducted division, I led the head of my column to General McClernand's right, formed line of battle facing south, with Buckland's Brigade directly across the ridge, and Stuart's Brigade on its right, in the woods, and thus advanced steadily and slowly, under a heavy fire of musketry and artillery. Taylor had just got to me from the rear, where he had gone for ammunition, and brought up three guns, which I ordered into position to advance by hand-firing. These guns belonged to Company A, Chicago Light Artillery, commanded by Lieutenant P.P. Wood, and did most excellent service.

"Under cover of their fire, we advanced till we reached the point where the Corinth road crosses the line of General McClernand's camp; and here I saw, for the first time, the well-ordered and compact Kentucky forces of General Buell, whose soldierly movement at once gave confidence to our newer and less disciplined forces. Here, I saw Willich's Regiment advance upon a point of water-oaks and thicket, behind which I knew the enemy was in great strength, and enter it in beautiful style. Then arose the severest musketry fire I ever heard, and lasted some twenty minutes, when this splendid regiment had to fall back. This green point of timber is about five hundred yards east of Shiloh meeting-house, and it was evident here was to be the struggle. The enemy could also be seen forming his lines to the south. General McClernand sending to me for artillery, I detached to him the three guns of Wood's Battery, with which he speedily drove them back; and seeing some others to the rear, I sent one of my staff to bring them forward, when, by almost Providential decree, they proved to be two twenty-four-pounder howitzers belonging to McAllister's Battery, and served as well as guns ever could be.

"This was about 2 P.M. The enemy had one battery close by Shiloh, and another near the Hamburgh road, both pouring grape and canister upon any volume of troops that advanced from the green point of water-oaks. Willich's Regiment had been repulsed, but a whole Brigade of McCook's Division advanced, beautifully deployed, and entered this dreaded wood. I ordered my Second Brigade, then commanded by Colonel T. Kilby Smith, (Colonel Stuart being wounded,) to form on its right, and my Fourth Brigade, Colonel Buckland, on its right, all to advance abreast with this Kentucky brigade before mentioned which I afterward found to be Rousseau's Brigade of McCook's Division. I gave personal direction to the twenty-four pounder guns, whose well-directed fire first silenced the enemy's guns to the left, and afterward at the Shiloh meeting-house.

"Rousseau's Brigade moved in splendid order steadily to the front, sweeping everything before it, and at 4 P.M., we stood upon the ground of our original front line, and the enemy was in full retreat. I directed my several brigades to resume at once their original camps. I am now ordered by General Grant to give personal credit where I think it is due, and censure where I think it merited. I concede that General McCook's splendid division from Kentucky drove back the enemy along the Corinth road, which was the great centre of the field of battle and where Beauregard commanded in person, supported by Bragg's, Polk's, and Beckinridge's divisions. I think Johnson was killed by exposing himself in front of his troops at the time of their attack on Buckland's Brigade on Sunday morning, although in this I may be mistaken.

"My division was made up of regiments perfectly new all having received their muskets for the first time at Paducah. None of them had ever been under fire, or beheld heavy columns of an enemy bearing down on them, as this did on last Sunday. To expect of them the coolness and steadiness of older troops would be wrong. They knew not the value of combination and organization. When individual fear seized them, the first impulse was to get away. My Third Brigade did break much too soon, and I am not yet advised where they were during Sunday afternoon and Monday morning. Colonel Hildebrand, its Commander, was as cool as any man I ever saw, and no one could have made stronger efforts to hold his men to their places than he did. He kept his own regiment, with individual exceptions, in hand an hour after Appler's and Mungen's regiments had left their proper field of action.

"Colonel Buckland managed his brigade well. I commend him to your notice as a cool, intelligent and judicious gentleman, needing only confidence and experience to make a good commander. His subordinates, Colonels Sullivan and Cockerill, behaved with great gallantry, the former receiving a severe wound on Sunday, and yet commanding and holding his regiment well in hand all day; and on Monday, until his right arm was broken by a shot, Cockerill held a larger proportion men than any Colonel in the division, and was with me from first to last.

"Colonel J.A. McDowell, commanding the First Brigade, held his ground on Sunday till I ordered him to fall back, which he did in line of battle, and when ordered he conducted the attack on the enemy's left in good style. In falling back to the next position he was thrown from his horse and injured, and his brigade was not in position on Monday morning. His subordinates, Colonels Hicks and Worthington, displayed great personal courage. Colonel Hicks led his regiment in the attack on Sunday, and received a wound which is feared may prove fatal. He is a brave and gallant gentleman, and deserves well of his country. Lieutenant-Colonel Walcutt, of the Ohio Forty-sixth, was severely wounded on Sunday, and has been disabled ever since. My Second Brigade, Colonel Stuart, was detached near two miles from my headquarters. He had to fight his own battle on Sunday against superior numbers, as the enemy interposed between him and General Prentiss early in the day. Colonel Stuart was wounded severely, and yet reported for duty on Monday morning, but was compelled to leave during the day, when the Command devolved on Colonel T. Kilby Smith, who was always in the thickest of the fight, and led the brigade handsomely. I have not yet received Colonel Stuart's report of the operations of his brigade during the time he was detached, and must therefore forbear to mention names. Lieutenant-Colonel Kyle, of the Seventy-first, was mortally wounded on Sunday, but the regiment itself I did not see, as only a small fragment of it was with the brigade when it joined the division on Monday morning.

"Several times during the battle cartridges gave out, but General Grant had thoughtfully kept a supply coming from the rear. When I appealed to regiments to stand fast although out of cartridges, I did so because to retire a regiment for any cause has a bad effect on others. I commend the Fortieth Illinois and Thirteenth Missouri for thus holding their ground under heavy fire, although their cartridge-boxes were empty. Great credit is due the fragments of men of the disordered regiments who kept in the advance. I observed and noticed them, but until the Brigadiers and Colonels make their reports, I cannot venture to name individuals, but will in due season notice all who kept in our front, as well as those who preferred to keep back near the steamboat landing. "The enemy captured seven of our guns on Sunday, but on Monday we recovered seven—not the identical guns we had lost, but enough in number to balance the amount. At the time of recovering our camps, our men were so fatigued that we could not follow the retreating masses of the enemy; but on the following day, I followed up with Buckland's and Hildebrand's Brigades for six miles, the result of which I have already reported. Of my personal staff, I can only speak with praise and thanks. I think they smelt as much gunpowder and heard as many cannon-balls and bullets as must satisfy their ambition. Captain Harmon, my Chief of Staff, though in feeble health, was very active in rallying broken troops, encouraging the steadfast, and aiding to form the lines of defence and attack. I commend him to your notice. Major Sanger's intelligence, quick perception and rapid execution, were of very great value to me, especially in bringing into line the batteries that co-operated so efficiently in our movements. Captains McCoy and Dayton, Aids-de-Camp, were with me all the time, carrying orders and acting with coolness, spirit and courage.

"To Surgeon Hartshorn and Doctor L'Hommedieu, hundreds of wounded men are indebted for the kind and excellent treatment received on the field of battle, and in the various temporary hospitals created along the line of our operations. They worked day and night, and did not rest till all the wounded of our own troops, as well as of the enemy, were in safe and comfortable shelter. To Major Taylor, Chief of Artillery, I feel under deep obligations for his good sense and judgment in managing the batteries on which so much depended. I enclose his report and endorse his recommendations. The cavalry of my command kept to the rear and took little part in the action, but it would have been madness to have exposed horses to the musketry fire under which we were compelled to remain, from Sunday at 8 A.M., till Monday at 4 P.M. Captain Kossack, of the Engineers, was with me all the time, and was of great assistance. I enclose his sketch of the battle-field, which is the best I have seen, and which will enable you to see the various positions occupied by my division, as well as of the others that participated in the battle."

Said General Grant in his official report:

"It becomes my duty again to report another battle fought between two great armies, one contending for the maintenance of the best Government ever devised, and the other for its destruction. It is pleasant to record the success of the army contending for the former principle.

"On Sunday morning our pickets were attacked and driven in by the enemy. Immediately the five divisions stationed at this place were drawn up in line of battle to meet them. The battle soon waxed warm on the left and centre, varying at times to all parts of the line. There was the most continuous firing of musketry and artillery ever heard on this Continent, kept up until nightfall.

"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."