Part 5

"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.

"Indiana has borne an honorable part in the great battle. I know that the Ninth, Eleventh, Twenty-fifth, Thirty-first, Thirty-second, Forty-fourth, and Fifty-seventh Regiments were engaged, and I think the Twenty-third and Twenty-fourth, with several others, I have no doubt, though I have been too busy on the field to know much of it--have not even had time yet to see Colonel Morgan or our wounded officers and men. The Forty-second was busy here to-day, but I hardly think it was in the fight, though it may have been. Thomson's Battery is said to have done noble work. Aleck [brother of the writer] was busy with the trains and baggage--the enemy came right up to our tents--the camp was shelled; he had to move wagons and baggage to the landing. Did his duty well. But we are back again to-night.

"I tried in this terrible conflict to do my duty well, and I am willing to leave to my officers and men the judgment.

"I forgot to mention Colonel Veatch. He acted with great coolness and courage, always with his brigade in the thickest of the fight. He had two horses shot under him, but escaped unharmed.

"I have written this hurried letter to you for the family, not the public. My deliverance was almost miraculous and I am grateful for it."

After finishing the foregoing letter, I wrote a short one to my wife:--

"_My own dear Wife_:--

"Your husband is still safe and unharmed, though he has passed through a most terrible and deathful battle, the bloodiest ever fought on the continent. While it was terrible, it was grand.

"I have just written a long letter to father, which is for you all. I would write you at length, but it is now past midnight, and after two days of hard fighting and one rainy night of gloomy and fearful watching, I need rest. You will excuse me, will you not?

"My dear Parke, God, our merciful Father, has been my shield and my protector; let us give Him all the glory.

"Captain Dudley Smith [a relative of my wife] is badly (not mortally) wounded. His regiment fought next to us, and I shook hands of encouragement with him not five minutes before he fell. Both his lieutenants and first sergeant were shot.

"I believe, my dear, that God will continue to preserve my life for you and my dear child. Live in hope and faith. I will write a long letter soon."

In the letter to my father, given above, I refer in commendation to my brother Alexander H. Foster, the regimental quartermaster. He rendered a most valuable service in saving all our camp and personal baggage. When during the first day's fighting it became evident that the battle was going against us, he brought up the wagons and loaded up all the company and headquarters baggage and outfit, and took them to the rear. The rebels occupied our tents on Sunday night, and would have plundered everything but for our quartermaster's thoughtfulness. He also displayed great daring in keeping us supplied with ammunition during the first day's heavy fighting.

Another incident respecting our tents may be noted. When attending the Harvard Law School, I had formed a very close friendship with a classmate from Alabama, Walter Bragg. I corresponded with him for some time, but lost sight of him when the war began. Years after he came to Washington to fill an important official position. I learned from him then that on Sunday night of the Shiloh battle his regiment occupied the camp of the Twenty-fifth Indiana, and he slept in our headquarters tent.

General Grant in his "Personal Memoirs" says: "The battle of Shiloh was the severest battle fought at the West during the war, and but few in the East equaled it for hard, determined fighting." General Sherman, in his "Memoirs," characterizes it as "one of the most fiercely contested of the war."

The number of the Confederate forces engaged in the battle, as reported by Beauregard, was 40,955. Grant reports the Federal forces in the first day's fighting at 33,000, and that on the second day he was reinforced by General Lew Wallace with 5000 and from Buell's army with 20,000. The losses of the Federals were, killed 1754, wounded 8408, missing 2934. The Confederate losses were, killed 1728, wounded 8012, and missing 957. In my official report I placed the loss of the Twenty-fifth Indiana at 149.

While the battle was recognized as a distinct Union victory, it was followed in the North by severe criticism of the generalship displayed on the Federal side. Sherman says that "probably no single battle of the war gave rise to such wild and damaging reports"; and in his "Memoirs" Grant writes: "The battle of Shiloh or Pittsburg Landing has been perhaps less understood, or, to state the case more accurately, more persistently misunderstood, than any other engagement during the entire rebellion."

The main criticisms were three in number: first, that no intrenchments or fortifications of any kind were made to protect the encampment; second, that our army was surprised; and, third, that the retreating enemy was not pursued. It is generally conceded that the encampment was well located for defense, as three sides were protected by the river and creeks full of water. Sherman, in discussing the first criticism in later years, said, "The position was naturally strong; ... we could have rendered this position impregnable in one night." General Force, in reviewing the battle after the close of the war, wrote: "The army had many things to learn, and the use of field fortifications was one of them."

The charge that our camp was surprised was indignantly denied by both Generals Grant and Sherman, and they produce statements of fact, not generally understood at the time, which seem to sustain their contention. But a different impression was generally prevalent in the camp. One of the most intelligent and daring of the Civil War correspondents was a young man writing under the _nom-de-plume_ of "Agate," who became afterwards well known throughout the world, Whitelaw Reid. He was on the battlefield during the two days' fighting and wrote lengthy reports of the battle. His contention was that it was a complete surprise. Years afterwards he had a discussion on this matter with General Sherman, and in the course of it he cited my letter to my father, above quoted, to sustain his contention.

Doubtless the rebel army would have been much more demoralized and have sustained great loss in military equipment and supplies, if it had been vigorously pursued. The greater part of Grant's army was so reduced and fatigued as not to be able to make an effective pursuit of the retreating Confederates, but Buell's army was not in that condition. Publications made after the war by Grant and Buell make it plain that there was want of harmony, if not an unfriendly spirit, that prevented the cordial coöperation which might have made the battle much more decisive.

For some months previous to the battle of Shiloh General Halleck had been commanding the Department of the West, with his headquarters at St. Louis, from which place he was directing the movements of the armies. Immediately after this battle he came to Pittsburg Landing, arriving on April 11, and, assuming personal command, he began the reorganization and reinforcement of the army in the vicinity, for a march on Corinth, where it was understood the Confederates were concentrating. This step on his part had the effect of practically relieving General Grant from command.

The news of the battle and heavy losses suffered by the Union forces awakened throughout the country great interest and sympathy, and from all the leading cities of the West located on the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers steamers were chartered and dispatched to the battlefield, loaded with hospital supplies, volunteer surgeons, and friends of the soldiers. A boat was sent from Evansville, and among the passengers was my brother George, bringing letters from home and delicacies for the wounded soldiers of the Twenty-fifth and our mess. In a letter of the 11th, four days after the battle, I wrote to my wife:--

"I can assure you I was glad to see the _Bowen_ with a load of our kind friends after the terrible experience of the last week, and to know that the great patriotic heart of the Nation was going out in sympathy and in acts of mercy to our suffering wounded, who have been so sadly, cruelly neglected by our army general medical officers. I thank you and Eliza and Eleanor [my sisters] and our good friends at home for their presents. In our hard-fought battle of last Sunday the enemy drove us back clear behind our camp and rascally carried off or devoured all our eatables, and your delicacies came just in time to be fully appreciated.

"I haven't seen Captain Smith since he was wounded. I suppose he has gone down the river in the boats. You remember I wrote you we were on a court-martial together; I was finally excused from it to take command of our regiment. I saw Colonel Harlan [afterwards Justice of the United States Supreme Court; married Miss Shanklin, of Evansville] to-day. He was in good health. His regiment is lying near us, in the woods without tents. I meet a large number of acquaintances in the Indiana regiments of Buell's army.

"I send by George a copy of my official report of the Twenty-fifth. Tell father I cannot have it published yet, but I thought he and our home folks would want to read it, but don't circulate it too freely. As soon as I can get the necessary consent, I will have both Colonel Veatch's brigade and my regimental reports sent home for publication. I am anxious that our regiment should have a fair share of the honor, as it had of the fighting.

"Say to father and our friends that our regiment fought bravely and did itself and the State credit. I had the entire responsibility of the command. I believe I did my duty well; all assure me of it in the highest terms. I know I saved the regiment from disgrace and annihilation by a little daring exposure and vigorous encouragement of our men. This I write freely, but privately, to you and father. It is a great consolation to me as a citizen to know I have done my duty, but it is a further gratification to know that my friends at home give me credit for it."

On the 13th I write about the return of the steamer _Bowen_ to Evansville:--

"I was much out of humor because they let the boat be filled up with slightly wounded of other regiments, and left thirty or forty of our badly wounded Twenty-fifth in the hospitals at Savannah, to linger and suffer from neglect and bad treatment, and run the chance of getting home on the charity of other parts of the State. But I suppose the committee in charge did what they thought was for the best; still, we are naturally sensitive and jealous for the comfort of our own men."

In my letter of the 13th I speak of the difficulty of getting my letters. Officers and men of the regiment were constantly going and coming from Evansville on furlough or sick-leave, and they were often availed of to carry mail matter, as the mail was not regular, but I note one instance in which my letters by private hand did not reach me for thirty days. I tell my wife:--

"When you can't have opportunities of sending letters to me by private means, send them by mail; they will get here _afterwhile_, and they are never old. Your letter of Sunday was seven days in coming. I have just received your three letters sent by Schoenfield. They were a _little_ behind time, being dated March 14! but they were still very welcome. I received by him the 'Evangelist' and 'Independent.' I always like to get them, especially the 'Evangelist,' as it gives a little variety to my religious reading.

"Colonel Morgan's father arrived in camp to-day, expecting to find the colonel nearly dead, and found he had gone home only slightly wounded. These newspaper reporters ought to be severely punished for their wicked and foolish exaggerations. The idea of reporting twenty thousand of our troops and forty thousand of the rebels killed and wounded serves only to fearfully excite the country, and is so very grossly absurd. It was a terrible fight, but not such as was reported in the first dispatches. These reporters _see_ but little of the fight, hear a great deal, and tell all they hear and a great deal more.

"I have nothing new to write, but thought you would love to hear after this terrible battle. Be cheerful, hopeful and patriotic."

My letter of the 15th was in the most desponding tone since I had entered the service. It must be confessed it presented a sorry picture of the 1046 stalwart men who left Evansville eight months before for the war:--

"I enclose you an extract from a communication addressed to our brigade commander. You will see from it that our regiment is pretty well used up, between sickness and the bullets of the enemy, having suffered more than any other regiment from Indiana in battle. In this condition of affairs, I feel constrained to ask that the regiment be somewhat relieved.

"Aleck has been troubled with camp dysentery, and wants to resign soon but I have been doing all I can to keep him up and in good spirits, and to stay with us."

Col. James C. Veatch, Commanding Second Brigade, Fourth Division.

_Sir_:--

Permit me to call your attention to the present condition of the Twenty-fifth Regiment, Indiana Volunteers.

In the late action at Fort Donelson we sustained a loss in killed and wounded of one hundred and fifteen, and in the late battle of Pittsburg Landing of one hundred and forty-nine, making a total of _two hundred and sixty-four_. A number of the wounded have since died; a large number are entirely disabled for any military duty, and nearly all of the wounded will be unfit for duty for some time.

There are now absent from the regiment, sick, three hundred and nine enlisted men, and sick in the regiment one hundred and thirty, making a total sick of four hundred and thirty-nine.

I am left in sole command of the regiment, the lieutenant-colonel being wounded and the adjutant having resigned. Three of our most efficient officers were killed in the late action, and six of them severely wounded and disabled. Two of our captains absent; one of them badly wounded at Fort Donelson, the other sick. Three other of our captains broken down with continuous sickness and hard service, and are asking that they may be relieved or resign. We now report only three hundred and eighty-seven men for duty.

Under date of the 18th I write:--

"It is now nearly two weeks since the battle, and our camp is again resuming its quiet and accustomed ways, as if no terrible conflict had taken place over these grounds. All our wounded are gone, and are now in the hospitals at home. I hope they will be well cared for, as I am sure they will be.

"We don't know how long we will stay here, or what are the intentions of the generals; but I think we shall remain for at least ten days. General Halleck will hardly move till he has his army so disposed as to make victory certain. He says, so it is reported, that enough lives have been lost here, and that he will accomplish the rest without much fighting. I suppose you all hope this will be the case. General Hurlbut says he will not take his division into the next battle, if he can prevent it, owing to its heavy losses in the late battle. In our regiment and the brigade every third man was either killed or wounded.

"So you may rest in considerable quiet, as I think the probabilities of _us_ having much fighting is very remote. But if it becomes necessary and we are called upon, we will do our duty; you would want us to do nothing less. I never expect to witness such another battle in my life; it was most terrible and grand. I could not describe it; it is only to be seen and heard. I had no conception of what a battle was before. The Fort Donelson fight was a mere skirmish by the side of it. You will preserve all things of interest in the papers, especially relating to our regiment in the battle; but there were so many regiments in the fight we do not expect to get much notice, especially as we have no reporters in our employ. I trust, my dear Parke, you will have confidence in my continued safety and health, wishing for a happy termination of our troubles and my speedy return, remembering that I will not expose myself or our regiment more than is essential to our duty, safety, and honor. I send many kisses to my darling little daughter."

My letter of the 20th acknowledges the receipt of the first letter from my wife after the battle of Shiloh:--

"You cannot know how glad I was to receive your letter of the 12th. I have read it over many, many times during the last two hours since I received it. When I read your letter and knew with what feelings of joy you learned of my safety, I could not keep back the tears. I have something to live for and something to encourage me to do my duty bravely, when I am assured of so dear and loving a wife and such good relatives and friends. I was very anxious to hear from you after the battle, and this was the first letter. I knew there would be great anxiety at home both for myself and the regiment, so I sent full particulars and list of the killed and wounded by the first opportunity."