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SECOND DAY OF BATTLE
Before dawn on April 7 the combined armies of Grant and Buell began
to edge slowly forward in a massive counterattack. Lew Wallace's
division on Grant's extreme right flank, overlooking the broad valley of
Tilghman Branch, led off the combat with an artillery duel with
Ketchum's Alabama Battery posted in a portion of McClernand's camp in
north Jones field across the ravine. Positioned to Wallace's left were
the remnants of Sherman, then McClernand, along with the remainder of
William Wallace's (now under James Tuttle) and Hurlbut's commands
stretching the line eastward to the landing.
Deployed forward of Grant's left were Buell's troops—the
divisions of Nelson (left), Crittenden (center), and McCook (right).
First moving Nelson's troops across Dill Branch, Buell finished his
initial battle deployments by advancing Crittenden and McCook inland on
the Corinth road. With his left flank anchored on the river, Buell's
front extended westward for over a mile, where his right flank formed
astride the Hamburg-Savannah and Corinth road junction, one mile
southwest of Pittsburg Landing. In all, Grant had over 45,000 men in
line, nearly half of them in fresh units.
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BRIGADIER GENERAL THOMAS L. CRITTENDEN (LC)
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The Confederates were so badly commingled that little corps,
division, or in some cases even brigade organization and cohesion
existed. It took two hours for aides first to locate, and then mobilize,
General Polk and his command, which had unfortunately retired the
previous night to a point well south of the rest of the army, four miles
inland from the river. Therefore, as Beauregard hastily set about
locating and then deploying his scattered troops, only General
Breckinridge would manage to form all three brigades of his corps side
by side in line of battle. Meanwhile, Generals Hardee, Bragg, and Polk
would each again lead groups of commingled commands on different sectors
of the broad three-mile front. By 10 A.M., Beauregard had established a
stable front, which ran across the field from southeast to northwest,
about a mile and a half inland from the river. Hardee, with his forces
formed along the Hamburg-Purdy road, directed operations on the right,
where he met Buell's advance on the River road. On Hardee's left came
Breckinridge where the Southern front angled northward from the Eastern
Corinth and Hamburg-Purdy road junction. Breckinridge's corps held the
Confederate center along the old Hornets' Nest front. Further north
Bragg assumed command of the far left flank, anchoring the Southern
front on the bluffs overlooking Owl Creek. Once General Polk returned to
the field from the rear, he assumed command of the left center, between
Breckinridge and Bragg. On this front, Beauregard managed to deploy
about 28,000 men.
The sheer power of the Federal thrust jolted the unsuspecting
Southerners. "They appeared to me like ants in their nest, for the more
we fired upon them, the more they swarmed about; one would have said
that they sprouted from the ground like mushrooms," noted a member of
the Crescent Louisiana Regiment of New Orleans. For the first time,
Mississippi Private A. H. Mecklin recorded in his diary, "I began to
have doubts as to the issues [outcome] of this contest. I knew that the
enemy were reinforced and stoutly." Observed Pvt. Thomas C. Robertson of
the 4th Louisiana: "At daybreak our pickets came rushing in under a
murderous fire and the first thing we knew we were almost surrounded by
six or seven regiments of Yankees."
Nelson's division led the advance on the Federal left south along the
Hamburg-Savannah road. No serious opposition was encountered until his
troops arrived at the Widow Wicker's field after 8 A.M. Suddenly, Col.
William B. Hazen's brigade was fired on by General Chalmers's troops,
who had moved up from their bivouac in Colonel Stuart's captured camps.
Chalmers, joined by several other Southern detachments, blocked Nelson's
further advance along the road. Heavy skirmishing continued for the next
hour and a half as both sides awaited reinforcements. Crittenden's and
McCook's divisions, which moved southwest and west into the Hornets'
Nest thicket, astride the Eastern Corinth and Corinth roads, followed
Nelson's advance. By 10:00, troops from both divisions were heavily
engaged.
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GRANT COUNTER ATTACKS, APRIL 7:15 A.M.-NOON
Overnight, Crittenden and McCook ascend the river to the
battlefield. With Buell's men, Lew Wallace and veterans from Sunday's
battle, Grant assumes the offensive at dawn. The Confederates are taken
by surprise. Wallace crosses Tilghman Branch at 7 A.M., drives Pond from
Jones field, then halts to await Sherman and McClernand. Buell, with
Nelson (Hazen, Bruce, Ammen) left Crittenden (Smith, Boyle) center, and
McCook (Rousseau, Kirk) right, advances down the Corinth and
Hamburg-Savannah roads. As Beauregard patches together a hasty
battleline—with Bragg left, Polk left center, Breckinridge right
center and Hardee right—heavy fighting erupts. By late morning,
Crittenden carries the Hornets' Nest thicket, and Nelson enters Davis
and Bell field. Determined counterattacks by Breckinridge and Hardee
hurl Nelson and Crittenden back. On Grant's right, Wallace, Sherman,
McClernand, and Hurlbut advance, driving the Confederate left under
Bragg and Polk steadily south. Under renewed attack from Crittenden and
McCook, Breckinridge also retires. By noon, Beauregard's weakening
battleline parallels the Hamburg-Purdy road.
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Lew Wallace's division on the right had opened the day's fighting by
sparring with Col. Preston Pond's brigade in Jones field. Pond was soon
ordered to move his men to the opposite flank in the fight against
Buell. This movement allowed Wallace to advance his division across
Tilghman Branch into the north end of Jones field. In front of Wallace,
S. A. M. Woods's and Randall Gibson's Confederate brigades were
hurriedly thrown forward to contest further Union advance south through
Jones field. As on the Federal left, the Union advance here stalled as
Wallace was forced to wait out Grant's promised support from Sherman and
McClernand on his left. Those troops had not yet advanced over Tilghman
Branch. About 9:00 to 9:30 General Ruggles brashly ordered both Wood and
Gibson to counterattack Wallace's division. The Rebels were driven back
by the fire of Morgan L. Smith's and John M. Thayer's brigades, along
with the five guns of Thurber's Battery I, 1st Missouri Light Artillery,
which supported Wallace's hold on Jones field.
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BRIGADIER GENERAL ALEXANDER MCDOWELL MCCOOK (BL)
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Buell, meanwhile, began to make headway on the left. After 10:00 his
divisions advanced to the Sarah Bell peach orchard, the sight of such
heavy fighting the previous day. Here they encountered a reinforced
Confederate line under Hardee along the Hamburg Purdy road. Col. Sanders
L. Bruce's brigade of Nelson's division attacked south across the Sarah
Bell field but was driven back by musketry and a heavy right flank
enfilade (cross) fire from Hodgson's 5th Company, Louisiana Washington
Artillery, and McClung's Tennessee Battery, both positioned to the west
in Daniel Davis's wheat field. General Hardee ordered a counterattack,
which was spearheaded by Bowen's brigade (Breckinridge's corps) now
commanded by Col. John S. Martin, but they in turn were swept back to
the Hamburg-Purdy road by the advance of Colonel Hazen's brigade.
Hazen's Indiana and Ohio troops, joined by Col. William Sooy Smith's
brigade of Crittenden's division on their right, surged southwest into
Davis's wheat field, where they overran part of Captain Hodgson's
Washington Artillery. The Crescent Louisiana Regiment, along with the
19th Louisiana, rushed forward to assist the hard-pressed cannoneers. In
a frantic melee of hand-to-hand fighting, the Louisianans retook the
battery. With heavy Confederate pressure on both flanks, Nelson's entire
division was forced to retire to Wicker field and regroup.
Breckinridge's men had held firm on Hardee's left, therefore
Crittenden, like Nelson, was forced to retire Smith's brigade back into
the Hornets' Nest thicket, where he busied himself reforming his lines
within the thicket. As midday approached, the fighting along the
Confederate right seesawed back and forth.
Before noon, General Crittenden again attacked Breckinridge's front.
As his left pressed down the Eastern Corinth road, Crittenden's right,
along with McCook's division to their right, advanced west across Duncan
field. This drive captured Southern cannon and broke the back of
Breckinridge's resistance at Duncan field. Having lost a large number of
men, Breckinridge's corps retired fighting toward the southwest. From
noon until 2:00 the Northerners gained the upper hand astride the
Eastern Corinth Road, where Crittenden, reinforced by detachments from
Grant's army, advanced south to the junction with the Hamburg-Purdy
road. Meanwhile, General McCook pressed west along the Corinth road
toward Water Oaks Pond and Woolf field. On Buell's left, Nelson had also
been reinforced with small detachments from Grant's army. Once again,
Nelson's division entered Sarah Bell's field and attacked south toward
the junction of the Hamburg-Savannah and Hamburg-Purdy roads. By 2:00,
Nelson's men had pushed Hardee's front southward into Prentiss's camp
and seized the Hamburg-Purdy road. This time Nelson's men came to
stay.
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PERSONNEL OF THE 5TH COMPANY, WASHINGTON LOUISIANA ARTILLERY OF NEW
ORLEANS. (CONFEDERATE MEMORIAL HALL, NEW ORLEANS, LA)
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ROUSSEAU'S BRIGADE ENGAGES BRECKINRIDGE'S CORPS AT DUNCAN FIELD. (LC)
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Since midmorning, fierce fighting had raged on the Union right, where
Confederate forces under Bragg and Polk fought unsuccessfully to halt
the advance of Sherman, McClernand, and Hurlbut across Tilghman Branch.
By 11:00, the Southern left was retiring south from Jones field under
the mounting pressure from Grant's army. From his headquarters at Shiloh
Church, Beauregard worked frantically to form a new line north of Water
Oaks Pond. Beginning at noon, some of the heaviest fighting of the day
occurred in this sector. With Hardee starting to give way on the right,
most of the Southern resistance was located west of the Eastern Corinth
road, in a line extending west along the Hamburg-Purdy road to Owl
Creek. Just after noon, Brig. Gen. Lovell Rousseau's brigade, joined by
the brigades of Col. Edward Kirk and Col. William Gibson, all from
McCook's division, attacked westward through Woolf field astride the
Corinth road. Meanwhile, further west, Lew Wallace and Sherman continued
to apply pressure on the Southern left flank.
As the Federals swept forward through the center of McClernand's
recaptured camps, Beauregard committed his remaining
reserve—Preston Pond's brigade. Pond arrived at Shiloh Church with
only two regiments, but several other disorganized detachments were
pieced together to form a conglomerate attack force. Col. Robert Russell
stated that the assault was led by "General Beauregard, who bore the
colors (flag) in front of the line under the fire of the enemy." Several
times during the day, Beauregard exposed himself to great harm by
leading units into battle. Scolded by his aides, who argued that he was
unnecessarily endangering himself, the army commander bluntly fired
back, "The order must now be 'follow,' not 'go!'" Unfortunately, "the
fire and animation had left our troops," observed Col. Jacob Thompson of
Beauregard's staff. Many Southern soldiers were disconsolate and refused
to respond to further pleadings by their officers. Beauregard observed
this change in morale, and as the bitter contest wore on, he
increasingly attempted to rally his soldiers in person.
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GENERAL BEAUREGARD AND AIDES AT SHILOH CHURCH. (BL)
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A last-ditch Confederate counterattack proved momentarily successful.
Southerners surged back across Water Oaks Pond and entered the southern
portion of McClernand's camp, forcing McCook's men to give ground.
Riding up to Col. James Veatch's brigade of General Hurlbut's division,
which stood in support of McCook, General Grant personally ordered
Veatch forward to stabilize the faltering Union front. Moving steadily
forward, Veatch's men advanced across Review field past McCook's left
and struck the Confederate right flank. Caught within the Federal vise,
Colonel Russell remembered that despite the "courage" displayed by
Beauregard, "human endurance could stand no longer against such odds,
and our forces were compelled to fall back to the . . . church."
It was now evident to a troubled Beauregard that the Federals had
received heavy reinforcements and his exhausted Confederates would be
unable to prevail. Col. Thomas Jordan inquired of the general: "Would it
not be judicious to get away with what we have?" The Louisiana general
replied: "I intend to withdraw in a few moments." About 3:00, on the
ridge across the valley of Shiloh Branch, south of Shiloh Church, a
Confederate rear guard of some 5,000 men from Breckinridge's corps,
mixed detachments, and about a dozen guns was formed. This line held the
Federals at bay on the Corinth road, until 5:00, while the Southerners
conducted an orderly withdrawal.
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