They Met at Shiloh
They Met at Shiloh
Shiloh Series book 1
by Phillip Bryant
Cover photo:
Byrne’s Mississippi Battery marker (Ruggles’ Battery, facing the Hornet’s Nest) Shiloh National Battlefield Park, Hardin County, TN
© 2010 Phillip M. Bryant. All rights reserved.
Cover Photograph © 2011 Jennifer Bryant
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the author. Permission is granted for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review.
CAST OF PRIMARY CHARACTERS
Union Army
Army of the Ohio, 24th Ohio, Nelson’s Division, Ammen’s Brigade
Pvt. Philip Pearson: A Methodist minister turned infantryman
Pvt. Theo “Mule” Mueller: A Catholic Dutchman
Pvt. Samuel “Sammy” Henson: A farm boy born of New England stock
Pvt. Johnny Henderson: another of Philip’s pards
5th Sgt. Harper: A former member of one of Philip’s Methodist societies
Army of the Tennessee, 25th Missouri, Prentiss’ Division, Peabody’s Brigade
Pvt. Robert Mitchell: An American raised within the strongly German population in St. Louis, Missouri
Pvt. “Hube” Huebner: A young, simple lad of German stock
Pvt. “Hilde” Hildebrand: A Swede with military experience from his native land
Pvt. “Gus” Gustavson: A first-generation German immigrant
Confederate Army
Army of Mississippi, Polk’s Battery, Polk’s Corps, Bushrod R. Johnson’s Brigade
Cpt. Michael Grierson: A volunteer with the 5th Texas Artillery, later an officer in Polk’s Tennessee Battery.
1st Sgt. Mahoney: Michael’s subordinate and confidant
Cpt. Marshall T. Polk: A veteran of the early Indian Wars in the West
6th Mississippi, Hardee’s Corps, Cheatham’s Brigade
Pvt. Stephen Murdoch: A young boy turned man at the outbreak of the war
Pvt. William “Willie” Hawkins: Stephen’s pard and best friend.
EVENTS LEADING TO SHILOH
February 4, 1862:
General Ulysses S. Grant (US) begins operations against the river forts Henry, on the Tennessee River, and Donelson, occupying a junction between the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers.
February 4, 1862
: Admiral Foote (US) begins a river gunboat reconnaissance to Fort Henry on the Tennessee River.
February 6, 1862
: General Ulysses S. Grant (US) captures Fort Henry on the Tennessee River without firing a shot.
February 12–16, 1862
: General Ulysses S. Grant (US) begins a siege of Fort Donelson on the Tennessee River.
February 13, 1862
: General John B. Floyd (CS) assumes command at Fort Donelson.
February 14, 1862
: General P. G. T. Beauregard (CS) begins to concentrate all available Confederate forces in his department at Corinth, Mississippi.
February 15, 1862
: General John B. Floyd (CS) orders a breakout of Fort Donelson, which fails; General Nathan B. Forrest (CS) marches out of Fort Donelson under cover of night rather than surrender with his brigade of cavalry.
February 16, 1862
: General John B. Floyd (CS) turns command of Fort Donelson over to General Gideon Pillow (CS) and slips away; Pillow surrenders Fort Donelson to General Ulysses S. Grant (US).
February 23, 1862
: General Albert S. Johnston (CS) assumes immediate command of the Confederate Department of the West.
February 23–25, 1862
: Nashville, Tennessee, is evacuated by the Confederates and occupied by General Don C. Buell’s (US) Army of the Ohio.
March 5, 1862
: General Henry W. Halleck (US) relieves General Ulysses S. Grant (US) of command of the expedition into Tennessee, putting General Charles F. Smith (US) in command.
March 5, 1862
: General Braxton Bragg’s (CS) forces begin entering Corinth, Mississippi. He begins organizing his own forces, plus newly arriving regiments, into brigades and divisions.
March 6, 1862
: General P.G.T. Beauregard (CS) officially assumes command of all Confederate troops in Corinth, Mississippi.
March 14–17, 1862
: Tennessee Expeditionary Corps (soon to be christened the Army of the Tennessee, General C.F. Smith (US) commanding) expedition from Savannah, Tennessee, to Yellow Creek, Mississippi, and occupation of Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee.
March 14, 1862
: General Don C. Buell’s (US) Army of the Ohio ordered to cooperate in conjunction with C. F. Smith’s (US) expedition encamped at Pittsburg Landing on the Tennessee River.
March 15, 1862
: General P. G. T. Beauregard (CS) reports to General Albert S. Johnston (US) that he has concentrated 44,000 men of all arms at Corinth, Mississippi.
March 17, 1862
: General Ulysses S. Grant (US) is ordered to Pittsburg Landing to take command of forces consolidating there under C. F. Smith (US).
March 18, 1862
: General Don C. Buell’s (US) Army of the Ohio reports three divisions at Columbia, Tennessee, 100 miles from Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee, and slowed by heavy rains, high water, and bridge repair.
March 22, 1862
: General Albert S. Johnston’s (CS) Confederate force from Bowling Green, Kentucky, arrives at Corinth, Mississippi. Johnston assumes command of the Army of Mississippi (CS).
March 28, 1862
: General Don C. Buell’s (US) Army of the Ohio’s 6th Division is ordered to resume marching toward Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee.
March 29, 1862
: The Confederate armies of Kentucky and Mississippi are consolidated under the latter designation, General Albert S. Johnston (CS) commanding and General P. G. T. Beauregard (CS) second in command. Generals Leonidas Polk, Braxton Bragg, James Hardie, and George Crittenden are assigned to the First, Second, Third, and Reserve Corps, respectively.
April 3, 1862
: The Confederate Army of Mississippi marches out of Corinth, Mississippi, after dark, six hours later than intended.
April 4, 1862
: General Leonidas Polk’s (CS) Corps encamps for the night 10 miles from Corinth, Mississippi, owing to incessant rain, narrow roads, and inexperience of the troops.
April 4, 1862
: Skirmish between cavalry advance of General Braxton Bragg’s (CS) Corps and Union patrol, close by the Union camp at Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee.
April 4, 1862
: The day of General Albert S. Johnston’s (CS) intended attack on the Union camp, General Braxton Bragg’s (CS) Corps is still marching on Corinth Road. General Albert S. Johnston holds a council of war and postpones attack by 48 hours to April 6.
April 5, 1862
: General Nelson’s (US) division, Army of the Ohio, arrives at Savannah, Tennessee, at General Ulysses S. Grant’s (US) HQ; his division is a day’s march away.
April 6, 1862
: General Albert S. Johnston’s (CS) Army of the Mississippi’s corps moves out in the early morning hours and attacks General Ulysses S. Grant’s (US) encampment. The battle of Shiloh begins.
Polk’s Battery
East Corinth Road, April 3, 1862
M
ichael reached into his jacket pocket for his rag and dabbed his forehead and face. The early morning rains had cooled the long columns of marching soldiers for a time, but the temperature rose quickly again. A rhythmic cacophony surrounded him as his artillery battery rolled slowly through the drying mud. The creak of the wooden caissons, the tink of metal against metal, the heavy fall of hooves into the soft road, and noises of conversations lulled him. He needed a distraction from the aches and pains caused by too many hours in the saddle. Being in an artillery battery afforded him accommodations that the luckless infantry could only wish for, a ride. They wouldn’t envy us so much, he thought, if they knew how uncomfortable it is to ride in a saddle for nine hours.
Michael stood up in the stirrups to stretch his legs. Just ahead of him were his number two gun, “St. Peter,” and its half-asleep gunners riding on its caisson. Jones and Harper stared blankly back at Michael. Their heads nodded as the caisson dipped and rose with each undulation in the road. The heavy brass Napoleon had seen action in the invasion of Mexico with Winfield Scott’s army. It had stood sentinel at the San Antonio depot in Texas until “liberated” by secessionist volunteers after the Federal garrisons withdrew. Now it was on its way to engage the Federal forces encamped at Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee.
The heady days of secession were over, and the delusion of a short war was shattered after the battle of Manassas in Virginia and a bloody skirmish in Springfield, Missouri. Though both engagements ended with victories for the fledgling Confederacy, the early twin victories did not bring the fruit anticipated: international recognition to keep trade alive with Europe. Instead, they steeled the North’s resolve to re-unite the Union.
Southern strategists had hoped to quickly tire the North of the effort by fending off any incursions into its territory. Lincoln quickly called for 100,000 more volunteers to replace the 90-day men whose enlistments began to end even before the two armies met at Manassas. These new volunteers were to serve for three years or for the duration of the war. With this call, Jefferson Davis, newly elected President of the Confederate States of America, was forced to fashion a new war direction if the Confederacy was to survive. Victory would have to come by more than just a defensive policy. He made a similar call for volunteers from the Confederate “White House” for three-year volunteers. Like their opposite numbers from the northern states, volunteer regiments were sworn into the Confederate service and marched off to training camps after they were up to strength.
The men who would eventually become the 20th Texas Light Artillery mustered in Austin, Texas, amid much fanfare and attention from the local citizenry. Speeches by the mayor, prominent politicians, and others filled the men of the new regiment with pride and determination to throw the invaders back from the sacred soil of Virginia. Volunteers and private citizens alike dined on sumptuous dinners in open air parks, and ladies visited the encampment on the lawn of the state capital, laden with baskets full of sweets and food.
To some of the men, this was a cornucopia. Texas was mostly frontier settlements, farming, and ranching. From the surrounding counties came men and boys whose knowledge of weaponry and small arms was as great as their knowledge of grammar was poor. Ranchers’ sons and wealthy politicians volunteered along with city clerks and criminals. Although Texas was far removed from the theaters of the war, Texans had always answered the call to arms. Most families had relatives who had fought with the republic army against the Mexicans, had fought Santa Ana in the revolt, and had fought him again in the U.S. army as volunteers.
As a frontier state where most men served compulsory militia duties in the presence of an outlaw breed spawned by open spaces and anonymity, most families took it for granted that conflict was always a step away. The vaunted Texas Rangers operated alongside locally organized posses to rein in the lawless or to campaign against the still unconquered Apache in the New Mexico territory. From this mix of patriots, villains, and rough-cut citizenry, the 20th Texas Light Artillery was formed.
They also had a willingness to throw in their lot with Jefferson Davis’s cause. Texans, as a whole, owned few slaves, and its cotton economy was still young compared to the Virginian tobacco or Georgian and Carolinian cotton. Most men and boys knew nothing of the refinements of the infamous southern society that would produce such future leaders as Robert Lee, Thomas Jackson, Pierre Gustav Toutant Beauregard, and George Pickett. These men, born of influential plantation aristocracy, would have been derided as rich dandies by the rough-cut Texans.
In spite of their frontier ways, the Texans did possess a militaristic history and a desire to be free. The other commonality was the theory of continual westward expansion of “that peculiar institution.” Southern political thought preached that if the agrarian society was to survive, it would need to add new westward territories to the slave-holding fold. This doctrine would bring about the first foreboding of coming conflict after the Mexican–American war.