Like the other major Granite Forests – Gettysburg, Chickamauga, Chattanooga, Vicksburg -of the American Civil War, the story on the battlefield told through the monuments consists mostly of one told from the side of the Union. Here, the stories unfold about the main Federal force at Shiloh, the men of the Army of the Tennessee commanded by Ulysses S. Grant.

PEABODY’S BRIGADE

Everett Peabody was a Harvard graduate who came out west to St Joseph, Missouri to work in the railroad industry.  With the onset of war, he helped raise the 13^th Missouri Infantry becoming the regiment’s colonel. 

The 13th found themselves a part of a Federal force forced to surrender at the Battle of Lexington – September 1861 – when 3,500 Federals became overwhelmed by Sterling Price’s 15,000.  Peabody, among the Union wounded hit twice during the fighting, and taken prisoner along with everyone else. A new 13^th Missouri became raised while he was away.

 

Eventually, Peabody gained an exchange in December 1861 and rebuilt his lost regiment now as the 25^th Missouri.  The new regiment went to join Brigadier General Benjamin Prentiss’ division in March 1862 at Pittsburgh Landing where Prentiss made Peabody the commander of his first brigade. 

His command consisted of the 12^th Michigan, the 16^th Wisconsin, the 21^st Missouri and his 25^th Missouri.  Only his regiment had seen action before Shiloh.

peabody at shiloh

The divisions of Prentiss and Sherman lie occupying the most forward positions on the battlefields – the other divisions stayed scattered back into the rear towards Pittsburgh Landing.  Union pickets noted increased activity in the woods in front of their positions during the night of 5 April but both division commanders dismissed the reports.  Peabody did not, however, and sending out a patrol from the 25^th Missouri and 12^th Michigan under the command of Major James Edwin Powell.  The patrol ran promptly into the oncoming massed Confederate ranks and the Battle of Shiloh was on.  Peabody’s men had managed to give a little warning to the rest of Grant’s army.

The regiments of Peabody’s brigade had a very hard time of it in their first fight facing first against the Confederate brigade of S.A.M. Wood.  Both the commander and his successor at the 16^th Wisconsin became wounded; Colonel Benjamin Allen would resign from the army because of his wounds and Colonel Cassiair Fairchild eventually died from his in 1868. 

command control falters

Colonel David Moore leading the 25^th Missouri suffered three wounds, losing his right leg below the knee.  He would be back with his regiment at the Battles of Iuka and Corinth in October 1862, however.

Peabody suffered three wounds himself in the early going when, rallying his men, a shell hit him in the face killed him instantly. Major Powell also died early in the fight.  The Peabody monument marks the spot where he died.  His body first buried on the battlefield but later exhumed and moved to his native Massachusetts. 

With Peabody’s death and the brigade becoming flanked by ever increasing Confederate numbers, the brigade fell apart opening up the Federal center and leading to the fall of Sherman’s neighboring division on the right.

There are no individual regimental monuments remembering the actions the brigade.  Each of the regiments is noted on their respective State monuments:  Missouri, Michigan and Wisconsin.  Only the mortuary monument for Peabody exists to remind the casual visitor of the actions of the brigade.

MILLER’S BRIGADE

Madison Miller was another Missouri railroad man.  He organized the 1^st Missouri Light Artillery and became the commanding officer at the onset of the war.  After distinguishing himself at the Federal defeat at Wilson’s Creek – August 1861 – he went on to become the colonel of the 18^th Missouri Infantry in February 1962 after the original commander, W. James Morgan, suffered relief of command for shooting Confederate prisoners out of hand – the 18^th Missouri originally known as Morgan’s Rangers.

Given command of the second brigade of Prentiss’ division, his brigade took the field on the south side of Spain Field early on the morning of 6 April.  Attacked there by Confederates of Brigadier General Adley Gladden’s brigade, the men held out giving as much as they took, but more Confederate brigades came onto the scene eventually flanking Miller’s men and the brigade dissolved around 9:30 am.  Some of the men would find their way into the fighting at the Hornet’s Nest along the Sunken Road directly under Prentiss later during the day and it was here that Miller would fall prisoner – along with Lieutenant Colonel Isaac Pratt who was leading the 18^th Missouri – along with his division commander.

Exchanged later, Miller would briefly command a brigade again receiving a brevet promotion to brigadier general of U.S. volunteers for his service at Shiloh.  He returned to the railroads after the war, as well as real estate.

Miller’s men at shiloh

Here on the north edge of Spain Field – a position that the brigade slowly retreated toward – you can find the monument of the 61^st Illinois – the 18^th Missouri and 18^th Wisconsin remembered on their State monuments. 

Colonel James Alban fell leading the 18^th Wisconsin.  His successor, Gabriel Bouck would lead the 18^th Wisconsin on through battles at Corinth, Vicksburg and at Missionary Ridge before resigning early in 1864.  He eventually became a two-term congressman from Wisconsin starting in 1876. 

The 61^st Illinois was the only regiment to maintain its integrity following the early morning and would represent a good portion of the 500 or so men under Prentiss’ command at the Hornet’s Nest – augmented by another 575 men of the 23^rd Missouri.  Miller had another regiment, the 15^th Michigan, which arrived early in the morning of 6 April, but they showed up with no ammunition only bayonets, so Miller sent them back to the Landing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madison_Miller

HILDEBRAND’S BRIGADE

long roll regiment

To the west of Prentiss’ division were the men of Sherman, with Jesse Hildebrand commanding the all-Ohio 3^rd brigade on the left.  The regiment farthest in front was the 53^rd Ohio camped in Rhea Field.  Commanding officer Colonel Jesse Appler sent word to Sherman that he had to get his regiment in line of battle because of the activity on his front early in the morning of 6 April.   Sherman replied that “you must be badly scared over there.” 

The 53^rd Ohio was also known as the “Long Roll Regiment” – the long roll was the drum call that called a regiment into a battle line.  Appler was a very nervous individual and had called his men out onto a battle line several times in the previous days.  Sherman had become quite irritated with him and after one episode he told Appler, “Take your damned regiment back to Ohio!” 

53rd ohio at shiloh

On this day, however, Sherman rode over and changed his mind when he saw Appler’s situation.  Ordered to hold its ground, the 53^rd Ohio had support from the 57^th and 77^th Ohio further to the north on the right.  Two Confederate regiments – 6^th Mississippi and 23^rd Tennessee – came up out of the ravine on the west side of the field into a hail of bullets and artillery bursts – Waterhouse’s Battery E just north of Rhea Spring and Barrett’s Battery B next to Shiloh Church. 

The 23^rd Tennessee broke under the fire while the 6^th Mississippi tried two more attacks leaving 300 of its 425 dead or wounded in Rhea Field. 

Just as his regiment was winning the battle, Appler broke down crying out “Retreat, save yourselves!” and in the words of one of his men, he ‘travelled’.  Some of the regiment would reform again behind Raith’s brigade, but after ordered forward Appler, again panicked joining among the mob at Pittsburgh Landing done for the day.

hildebrand at shiloh

Jesse Hildebrand operated stagecoach lines before the war and had originally commanded the 77^th Ohio before gaining brigade command.  His other regiments continued to fight on even with the retreat of the 53^rd alongside Raith’s brigade which had been brought forward as a reinforcement at Shiloh Church, but as more Rebel brigades came forward and with the collapse of Prentiss’ division to the left, his brigade began to give way around 9:30 am and Sherman’s left flank was irreparably turned. 

One artillerist reported that Hildebrand “sat down on a long near me and cried like a child at the cowardice of his men whom he was unable to rally.”  He would finish the battle appointing himself to the staff of John McClernand.  After Shiloh, Hildebrand would go on to command the Federal prison camp at Alton, Illinois where he would die of pneumonia 18 April 1863.

The monument of the 53^rd Ohio is in the middle of Rhea Field while the 57^th Ohio and 77^th Ohio are across Peabody Road in the woods to the northwest.  Battery E’s monument is near the 57^th while Battery B’s monument is across the Sherman Road on the west side of the Shiloh Church.

BUCKLAND’S BRIGADE

Ralph P. Buckland was a lawyer from Fremont, Ohio where he also served as mayor and as a state senator.  One of his law partners for three years in the late 1840’s was one young Rutherford B. Hayes, a friendship that would stand Buckland well in the post-war years.  At the onset of the war, Buckland became the colonel of the 72^nd Ohio and the regiment attached to Sherman’s division within the Army of the Mississippi prior to the Shiloh campaign.  Sherman made Buckland the commander of his 4^th brigade and Lieutenant Colonel Herman Canfield took over the 72^nd.

buckland at shiloh

Buckland was quick to get his men out into a battle line on the morning of 6 April.  Early in the action, Canfield suffered a mortal wound. Buckland took over direct command of his old regiment having confidence that his two other regiments were in good shape with their commanders.  The brigade held the line until about 10 am when with Hildebrand’s troops to their left scattered, the brigade withdrew to the Hamburg-Purdy Road a quarter mile to the north.  Hardly had they reached the road when continued Rebel pressure forced Sherman to order Buckland – who had now joined with the troops of McDowell’s brigade from the right – to retreat further forming on the right of McClernand’s division.

Counterattacking out of Jones Field around noon, they knocked the by-now organizationally mixed Confederate left all the way back to the north part of Woolf Field before Confederate reinforcements brought things to a standstill. 

For the next hour and a half, both sides traded blows before lacking ammunition and reinforcements, plus occupying an exposed position that got more so as time went on, Sherman and McClernand withdrew to Jones Field and then to the east side of Tilghmann Branch ravine.  Confederates from Pond’s brigade and Wharton’s Texas Rangers threw some last attacks at the Federal right around 4 pm but they were easily repulsed. 

the next day

The brigade – Sherman’s only brigade to maintain its organization throughout the day’s fighting – overnighted in the fields near where the Pittsburgh Landing Road comes in off of Tennessee Route 22 near the Headquarters marker for McArthur’s Brigade. 

From here on the next day, the brigade attacked over Tilghman Branch and on across Jones field with Lew Wallace’s division on their right.  Waiting for Buell’s men to attack on the left, the attack on the Confederate right resumed around 10 am inexorably driving the Rebels back over ground they had won at such a high cost the day before. 

Buckland’s men advanced on the right of Rosseau’s attack through the Water Oak Pond around 3 pm drove the Confederates back to Shiloh Church. Beauregard felt the time to get what was left of his army off the battlefield had arrived.  Buckland’s men were back to their original camps.

aftermath

Sherman reported after the battle that Buckland had handled his brigade well “a cool, judicious, intelligent gentleman needing only confidence and experience to become a good commander.”  Buckland would continue to serve as a brigade commander under Sherman until early in 1865 when he resigned from the army to serve in the U.S. congress for 4 years.  He then resumed his law practice and becoming involved with railroads.  His home is in Fremont, Ohio just down the street from Rutherford Hayes’ Spiegel Grove.

A trail moves southwest off from the Corinth Road across from the Shiloh Church next to the monument of Taylor’s Battery B 1^st Illinois Light Artillery – commanded at Shiloh by Captain Samuel Barrett.  Through some woods you come to the monument of the 70^th Ohio standing next to that of the 2^nd Tennessee.  As you continue due west, you come across monuments of the 48^th Ohio and the 72^nd Ohio deep in the woods.  Next to the monument to the 72^nd Ohio is a marker noting the original burial ground of some of the 15 men of the 72^nd who died here.

RAITH’S BRIGADE

Julius Raith came with his family from Germany in 1836 to Illinois – he was 15.  His career as a flour millwright became interrupted during the Mexican War when he served as a captain earning distinction for his service.  With the onset of the Civil War, Raith became the colonel of the 43^rd Illinois Infantry in September 1861.  The 43^rd Illinois became assigned to the 3^rd brigade of McClernand’s division arriving just after the victory at Ft Donelson.

raith’s brigade on the scene

With the sounds of battle at hand on 6 April, Raith had his men’s’ tents struck and took command of the brigade with the absence of the regular commander who was back in Illinois on furlough.  Raith’s regiment was the only one of the brigade ready for the storm that quickly broke over them with the collapse of the 53^rd and then the 57^th Ohio.  The 49^th Illinois had only enough time to gather up their guns.  Supporting Sherman’s left, Raith’s men kept the Confederates at bay until Prentiss’ division fell apart around 9 am.

Johnston directed five brigades to attack northwest behind Sherman’s position hitting Raith in the flank.  Falling back to the Hamburg-Purdy Road, Raith’s men reunited with McClernand’s other brigades, but this line quickly fell apart, too.  Here that Raith suffered a hit in the leg just above the knee.  Left on the field, his men retreated.  He lay on the ground for 24 hours before Federal troops recovered him after the successful counterattack of the following day.  Evacuated by steamer, his leg was amputated but four days later – 11 April – Raith died of tetanus.

after raith

Brigade command next evolved to Lieutenant Colonel Enos Wood of the 17^th Illinois.  The men found themselves forced back along with the rest of McClernand’s division, counterattacking along with Sherman’s survivors from just south of Jones Field around noon.  Finally around 3 pm, they retreated, low on ammunition and with no reinforcements in sight.  They pulled back to the east side of Tilghman Branch ending the day at the west end of Grant’s “Last Stand” line on the north side of Dill Branch ravine.

On day two of the battle, along with the rest of McClernand’s division, they attacked on the left of Sherman in concert with Lew Wallace’s division.  By the end of the day, they had regained their original camps.

Colonel Raith’s mortuary monument sits at the crossroads of the Corinth and Hamburg-Purdy Roads.  His 43^rd Illinois monument is across the road on the south side while the monument of the 49^th Illinois is just to the east of Raith’s monument.  The other two regiments of the brigade have placed their monuments in the woods just south and east of the Shiloh Church – the 17^th Illinois and the 29^th Illinois.

http://www.shilohbattlefield.org/commission/Pages/Tennessee/McClernand/raith.htm

MARSH’S BRIGADE

Colonel C. Carroll Marsh gained command of the 20^th Illinois at the outset of the war as a result of his reputation as a part of the prewar Chicago Light Guard militia.  He and his men had gone to southern Missouri and were a part of Colonel Joseph Plummer’s command at the Battle of Fredericktown.

Soon afterwards, the 20^th attached to the brigade of W.H.L. Wallace – 2^nd brigade of John McClernand’s division – in time for the advance to Fort Henry and Fort Donelson.  The 20^th Illinois, placed on the right of the Union line, found itself hard pressed during the fighting at Donelson though the counterattack of their regiment was responsible for momentarily stopping the Confederate breakout attempt.

With the fall of Fort Donelson, Marsh became a brigade commander – Wallace had, in turn, taken over division command from C.F. Smith.  Marsh’s all-Illinois brigade – 11^th, 20^th, 45^th and 48^th – formed up just after 8 am along the Corinth Road with the right at the crossroads and the left in the Review Field. 

marsh’s men at shiloh

Attacked on the left flank by the brigades of S.A.M. Wood and Stewart, they withstood the onrush from 10 to 11 am retreating some 700 yards and then further back to Jones Field.  The brigade rallied around noon, and with others, counterattacked regaining their lost ground.  After about two hours their attack had run out of steam. They retreated back to Jones Field and finally withdrew from the action to a position on the Hamburg-Savannah Road around 2:30 pm.  Only three regiments strong by this time as the 11^th Illinois was down to a captain and 80 men.

On 7 April, as a part of McClernand’s division, Marsh’s men took part in the counterattack which regained all of the lost ground from the first day.  Marsh transferred to John Logan’s division after the battle and became a brigadier general temporarily during the opening stages of the Vicksburg campaign.  He resigned 22 April 1863 after his promotion was not upheld by the Senate.

48th illinois

An aside regarding the 48^th Illinois; commanded by Colonel Isham Haynie, an original organizer of the regiment known also as the Pharaohs since the regiment came from southern Illinois, an area nicknamed Egypt.  Haynie had fought in the Mexican War before returning to law and politics. 

A Democrat, Haynie was a colleague of both Stephen Douglas and, more importantly, John Logan.  Logan and Haynie fell out when it came time to command a regiment they had raised together – the 31^st Illinois.  Haynie eventually got the 48^th Illinois which he had led at Fort Donelson.

At Shiloh, Haynie became badly wounded during the early fighting.  Recuperating back in Illinois, he barely lost an election to gain Logan’s old congressional seat by 700 votes out of 12,000 cast.  He returned briefly to the army as a brigade commander in Logan’s division but soon returned to Illinois to become the Adjutant General for the State. 

With Governor Richard Ogelsby, he happened to be in Washington D.C. the day of Lincoln’s assassination.  Lincoln had seen the two walking across the White House lawn and invited them in for an hour of talk before dinner.  He even invited them along to Ford’s Theater, but they had made earlier plans.  With the assassination later in the evening, the pair went to and was admitted into the President’s room remaining there until Lincoln died.  Haynie was a part of the State delegation that brought Lincoln’s body back to Springfield.  He outlived Lincoln by only three years in 1867 at the age of 44.

regimental monuments

The brigade monuments lay west-east just south of the Corinth Road:  the 11^th and 20^th Illinois are on the immediate south side of the Illinois State monument while the 48^th and 45^th Illinois are in the woods to the east between the State monument and the Review Field.

HARE’S BRIGADE

Colonel Abraham Hare was the original colonel of the 11^th Iowa.  Elevated to brigade command by the time of Shiloh, with the onset of the battle, he arranged the brigade south of the Corinth Road between the Review and Duncan Fields. his men lined up to the left of Marsh’s brigade – with the 13^th Iowa, 18^th Illinois and 8^th Illinois forming a line from west to east – the 11^th Iowa detached to support Dresser’s Battery D 2^nd Illinois Light Artillery over by the Water Oaks Pond. 

hare’s men at shiloh

The brigade was attacked by Shaver’s brigade at around 10 am and after an hour’s fight, they were driven back across the road a hundred yards.  The brigade regained the lost ground advancing in McClernand’s general counterattack just before.  Shortly afterwards, they withdrew when units on their flanks retreated.  Defending ground now several hundred yards to the rear, they held their ground against enemy attacks during the afternoon. 

One such attack involved Wharton’s Texas Rangers around 4:30 which led to the wounding of Colonel Hare.  Command of the brigade fell subsequently to Colonel Marcellus Crocker of the 13^th Iowa.  Crocker had gone to West Point for two years before returning to Des Moines to practice law.  Starting the war as a captain in the 2^nd Iowa, Crocker was the colonel of the 13^th Iowa by the end of 1861. Marcellus Crocker: Grant’s Hammer in the Western Theater

11th iowa

The 11^th Iowa had fallen back with Dresser’s Battery Biography of Jasper M Dresser, Tippecanoe Co., Indiana during the morning fighting. That battery fought under the command of Captain J. Parker Timony – their former commander, Jasper Dresser having resigned to take a lieutenant colonel position within a Michigan regiment after Fort Donelson – and had also gone forward during the general counterattack, falling back when the attack ran out of steam.  They ended the day over to the left of the siege guns on the north side of the Dill Branch ravine supporting the two guns Timony had left.

after 6 april

On 7 April, the brigade attached to Tuttle’s command serving as a reserve for Crittenden’s division – Buell’s army.  They moved to the front as the day wore on and ended the day attacking in the area southwest of the Review Field.

For Hare, the war was over.  His wound was severe enough that he tendered his resignation returning to Iowa where he would live on into the next century dying in 1903.  Crocker would not be as lucky.  He commanded the “Iowa Brigade” at the Battle of Corinth in October 1862 – the 11^th and 13^th Iowa joined by the 15^th and 18^th Iowa – and became a brigadier general at the end of November. 

beyond

The brigade renamed as “Crocker’s Greyhounds” during the early stages of the Vicksburg Campaign and Crocker gained division command.  His division did well at the Battle of Champion Hill keeping the Rebel forces in Vicksburg from being relieved.  Success on the battlefield did little for Crocker’s health, however, and with a few ups, but mostly downs, he died in Washington DC the end of August 1865.

The monuments of Hare’s brigade lie hidden in the woods south of the Corinth Road and north of the Review Field:  the 13^th Iowa, 18^th Illinois and 8^th Illinois – west to east.  The original burial ground marker for the 8^th Illinois is found halfway between the latter two monuments.  The 11^th Iowa monument is just north of the Corinth Road in Woolf Field next the monument for Dresser’s Battery.

VEATCH’S BRIGADE

James C. Veatch had been a lawyer and State legislator in Indiana prior to the war.  With the onset, he gained command of the 25^th Indiana Infantry which he led into battle at Fort Donelson.  Subsequently, Veatch gained command the Second Brigade of Stephen Hurlbut’s division.  The 25^th Indiana became brigaded with the 14^th, 15^th and 46^th Illinois.  The brigade lost some 602 casualties over the two-day battle – over half of its total – and the only regimental commander not killed or wounded was Colonel Cyrus Hall of the 14^th Illinois. James C. Veatch Papers

veatch’s men come forward

Veatch’s men were called up out of their camps early on 6 April to provide a backstop to McClernand’s division.  The Confederate assault between 10:30 and 11 am on Sherman and McClernand soon rolled those divisions back sweeping on through Veatch’s men. 

The 15^th Illinois had the misfortune to have the 53^rd Ohio’s survivors on their right flank.  Those men took off at the beginning of the next assault and the 15^th took fire from the front and flank.  All of the field grade officers died, and the regiment fell back now under command of Captain George C. Rogers. 

Along with the 15^th, the 46^th Illinois retreated back to the right rear of the rest of the brigade and spent the rest of the day as a part of McClernand’s division.  The other regiments – the 14^th Illinois and 25^th Indiana – remained under Veatch’s control and fought the rest of the day on the left of McClernand’s division ending the day near the siege guns above the Dill Branch ravine.

7 april

The next morning, Veatch put Lieutenant Colonel William Cam – of the 14^th Illinois – in charge of the 15^th Illinois regiments in light of the grievous casualties suffered the day before.  About 10 am, the brigade moved forward serving as a reserve force on the Federal right until they went shifted to the left by General McCook. 

Later in the afternoon, Grant, himself, ordered the brigade forward in a late push that stabilized McCook’s line in the face of local Rebel counterattacks, helping Beauregard to decide it was time to get his army away.  Colonel Davis, leading the 46^th Illinois, fell mortally wounded in this last attack as the 46^th fought alongside Marsh’s brigade.

regimental notes

A couple of notes: One, Captain Rogers won promotion to lieutenant colonel post-battle taking formal command of the 15^th Illinois whom he led forward in the war. 

Two, the original commander of the 15^th Illinois had been Thomas J. Turner who had won a narrow election over Stephen Hurlbut.  Hurlbut went on to bigger things while Turner had become ill by the time of the Shiloh campaign, resigning his commission shortly afterwards. 

Three, the original commander of the 14^th Illinois was John M. Palmer. He gained a promotion and was commanding one of John Pope’s brigades fighting at New Madrid on the Mississippi River at the time of Shiloh.  Palmer rose to division command in the Army of the Ohio/Cumberland by the Battle of Stones River and corps commander after Chickamauga – 14^th Corps – leaving that position in early August 1864 over a conflict dealing with rank with Sherman and John Schofield.  He went on to become an Illinois governor, a U.S. Senator and potential Presidential candidate for the Democratic Party in both 1892 and 1896.

The brigade monuments lay found along Corinth Road with the Illinois regiments on the south side – the 15^th Illinois is just west of the Illinois State Monument, the 46^th Illinois on the east side and the 14^th Illinois is another fifty yards further east.  The 25^th Indiana is on the north side of the road yet another fifty yards to the east.

MCDOWELL’S BRIGADE

John A. McDowell was the younger brother of Irwin McDowell, the Federal general who was in command at the Battle of the First Bull Run/Manassas.  John was not a graduate of West Point like his brother, but he had studied military tactics from a teacher at Kenyon College who had previously taught at the Point.  Following graduation in 1847, he studied law for a year before joining in the California Gold Rush.  After opening a law practice, he gained election as the mayor of Monterey in 1852, but later in the same year, McDowell was back in Iowa – Keokuk – launching into a new career as a civil engineer involving himself with the local railroad industry. 

With the war, McDowell helped to raise the 6^th Iowa Infantry becoming the regimental colonel.  In early March 1862, McDowell and the 6^th Iowa went up the Tennessee River joining Sherman’s division at Pittsburgh Landing.  Sherman elevated McDowell to brigade command – Lieutenant Colonel Francis Cummins took over command of the 6^th Iowa – and placed the brigade on the far-right side of the Federal army on the north side of Shiloh Branch – 40^th Illinois, 46^th Ohio and 6^th Iowa left to right in alignment.

mcdowell’s men atshiloh

At 8 am on 6 April, the brigade advance to the top of the ravine overlooking Shiloh Branch – the 40^th Illinois forming on the right of Buckland’s brigade.  Pond’s brigade skirmished with McDowell’s men but did not push their attack because of the terrain.  Events on the right of the brigade forced them to retreat around 10 am and they had to fight their way through Confederate forces to rejoin the rest of Sherman’s division.

The brigades were now reshuffled:  40^th Illinois, 13^th Missouri – borrowed from McArthur’s brigade – 6^th Iowa and the 46^th Illinois – left to right.  They advanced with Sherman and McClernand’s counterattack just before noon being attacked, in turn, on the right flank by Trabue’s brigade.  Fighting in the woods to the west of Sherman Road where their regimental monuments lie today, they held their ground until they ran of ammunition.  The brigade withdrew in some disorder around 2:30 in some disorder behind Hurlbut’s division.  McDowell was knocked unconscious after thrown from his horse just before the retreat. 

6th iowa

He had spent most of his time in the vicinity of the 6^th Iowa that day for the regimental commander Lieutenant Colonel Cummins had showed up on the field too drunk to command.  McDowell had relieved him placing senior Captain John Williams – who became wounded – in command but also keeping a close eye on things himself. 

Cummins suffered dismissed from the army a month after Shiloh but resurfaced a few months later as the lieutenant colonel of the 124^th New York Infantry.  With that unit, he served from December 1862 until wounded in the leg at the Battle of the Wilderness 6 May 1864. Afterwards, when he gained an honorably discharged.  He assumed command of the 124^th New York on the second day at Gettysburg when the commanding colonel died.  Promoted to colonel, he continued to lead the regiment until his wounding.

The regimental commander of the 40^th Illinois, Colonel Stephen G. Hicks, would also leave the battle after suffering a wound to the left shoulder. 

46th ohio

McDowell’s other regiment, the 46^th Ohio, was under the command of Colonel Thomas Worthington Jr. – the son of the 4^th governor of Ohio, nephew of the 1^st and an 1827 graduate of West Point.  He had served as a brigadier general in the pre-war Ohio militia and had seen action during the Mexican War.  Worthington had helped raise the 46^th Ohio in late 1861 and Shiloh was the regiment’s first action. 

Before the battle, Worthington had managed to insult other officers far and wide, his division commander Sherman being the most important.  Sherman alleged that Worthington “claimed to know more about war than all of us put together.”  After the battle, Worthington published his account of the battle asserting Sherman had been totally surprised at the battle’s onset despite Worthington’s warnings.  He included McDowell and Grant in a general neglect of duty in his battle writings gaining a court martial for his troubles in September 1862.  Resigning his commission shortly thereafter, Worthington would continue snipping with Sherman in the post-war years.

beyond 6 april

The brigade had been badly bruised in the first day’s fight.  The 6^th Iowa and 40^th Illinois attached to Garfield’s brigade on 7 April seeing no further action.  McDowell would continue to lead the brigade after Shiloh until illness forced him to resign in 1863.

The monuments of McDowell’s brigade lie along a trail leading west off Sherman Road opposite the regimental monument of the 81^st Ohio – just north of Woolf Field.  First is the 40^th Illinois, then the 13^th Missouri/22^nd Ohio (McArthur’s brigade) which fought along with McDowell’s men this day, followed by the 6^th Iowa and the 46^th Ohio.  Next to the 6^th Iowa, there is a mass Confederate grave and a marker noting the former regimental burial ground.  Originally, 52 soldiers of the 6^th Iowa lay buried in a mass grave here before their reinterring in the National Cemetery above Pittsburgh Landing.

STUART’S BRIGADE

Colonel David Stuart sought redemption for his tattered reputation on the battlefields of the Civil War. A graduate of Amherst, he had practiced law in Detroit and had served one term in the U.S. Congress during the mid 1850’s. Defeated in a re-election bid, Stuart moved to Chicago to become a lawyer for the Illinois Central Railroad.

His downfall came when he became a figure of interest in a prominent divorce trial where he reputedly cuckolded the president of the Illinois Central. He became ostracized from most of Chicago society as a result. When he went to the State of Illinois at the war’s onset, he was denied permission to raise a regiment for the Federal cause. He went instead to Washington where finally gaining approval to raise two regiments – one being the 55th Illinois of which he became the colonel. Assigned to Sherman’s division, Stuart gained brigade command with the 55th Illinois joining with the 54th and 71st Ohio. The brigade detached from the rest of Sherman’s division in order to protect the far left of the Union line near Lick Creek.

johnston’s push on the federal left

In the early going of the fight, a message came to General Johnston that the Federals had a whole division far to the left threatening the Confederate right flank which was just then pushing through Prentiss’ division. Johnston’s original plan had been to overload his right and cut the Federals off from their base on the Tennessee River at Pittsburgh Landing, but with the stubborn defense of Sherman’s division, he had shifted men in that direction after dealing with Prentiss.

Johnston thought by getting around Prentiss, he already gained the Federal left. With this new information, Johnston ordered two of the three brigades from Brigadier General Jones Withers’ division – Chalmers and Jackson – plus the last two brigades of Breckinridge’s reserve corps – Bowen and Statham – to redeploy and attack the Federal left anew.  Breckinridge’s troops would face the men of Hurlbut’s division plus McArthur’s brigade at the Bell Farm while the other brigades attacked the isolated ‘division’ of Stuart – 11 am.

stuart’s men 6 april

Stuart’s problems became more acute early on when at about 10 am, Confederate artillery pulled into position against the 71st Ohio – which took up a position on Stuart’s right. Colonel Rodney Mason, commanding the 71st mentioned to Stuart that he didn’t think his men could stand more than 10 minutes if artillery came to bear. True to his words, after no more than two or three rounds were fired, Mason said “Then we must be getting out of this.” The regiment fell back in chaos over a half mile, abandoned by their colonel. A few groups would turn and fight – one such led by Lieutenant Colonel Barton Kyle who died – but most ended up back at Pittsburgh Landing – one group catching a ride on a Union gunboat.

This left Stuart with the 800 men of the 55th Illinois and 54th Ohio. Some of the Illinois men began to flee as well, but Stuart was able to rally most of them before taking a bullet to a shoulder knocking him, too, out of the fight.

enter malmborg

Brigade command fell to Lieutenant Colonel Oscar Malmborg, a Swedish emigrant who had some experience in the Mexican War and antebellum militia. Malmborg formed the 55th into a square – a military position normally reserved for defense against cavalry attacks. This formation had not been seen before by the attacking Rebels and they paused thinking it to be some sort of trap.

The 55th then settled back to the ridgeline where their monument sits. With the 54th Ohio, they fought mostly against the men of Chalmers’ brigade. Jackson’ s men also penetrated between Stuart and McArthur’s brigade which had come up to try and support Stuart and the Federal left.

After about two hours, Stuart’s men began to withdraw across the ravine on their north side – here the Confederates caused many casualties shooting down into the milling Federals below. With ammunition finally depleted, the brigade withdrew to the Landing with the Rebels letting them go, drifting themselves to the sound of the guns at the Hornet’s Nest further to the west.

Malmborg gathered the men up at the Landing along with a contingent from the 71st and other stragglers he could coerce – some 3,000 men in all – and formed up the backbone of Grant’s “Last Line” along the northern edge of the Dill Branch ravine. Late in the day, the Confederates made a couple half-hearted attacks on this line – again Chalmers’ and Jackson’s men involved – but the Confederates were short of men, ammunition and artillery by this time and the attack quickly fizzled out.

7 april

During the second day of fighting, the brigade was led by Colonel Thomas Kilby Smith, the commander of the 54th Ohio – a Zouave-dressed unit. Reunited with the rest of Sherman’s division, they fought on the division’s right, driving across the Tilghman Branch on through Jones Field to the Shiloh crossroads by the end of the afternoon.

Stuart became appointed a brigadier general by Lincoln in December 1862. He commanded a division temporarily in the early stages of the Vicksburg campaign. Too many enemies from his old scandal brought about a Senate refusal to confirm his promotion to his new rank and he resigned from the army in March 1863. Malmborg – never popular with the men of his regiment – suffered a wound at Vicksburg. He returned briefly as an engineering officer for Sherman. Thomas Kilby Smith would remain as a brigade commander and eventually even see division command during the Red River campaigns. Failing health sidelined him from the field army in early 1865. He would go on to a career in journalism and serve as a consul in Panama after the war.

The regimental monuments lie just off the Hamburg Road on the north side of Larkin Bell’s Field. The 71st, most prominent sited just behind Tour Stop 14: Field Hospital – while the other two regiments that fought the hardest – the 55th Illinois and the 54th Ohio – are off in the woods to the east along the ridge where they stood for two hours. The markers for the original burial grounds for their fallen are located next to their monuments.

SWEENY’S BRIGADE                                                                                               

The brigade of Thomas W. Sweeny was one of the largest on the fields of Shiloh – six regiments, five from Illinois. With the onset of the fighting, W.H.L. Wallace’s division came forward from their camps to try and salvage the situation that had developed when Prentiss’ division collapsed. Sweeny’s men followed Wallace’s 1st brigade – Tuttle’s Iowans – halting in a reserve position along the Corinth Road. The brigade was then split apart with regiments going to different parts of the battle as the need arose. Only the 7th Illinois and the 58th Illinois fought together as a unit all day, sent forward to extend Tuttle’s line to the north across the Corinth Road – 9:30 am.

50th illinois

Next, the 50th Illinois went to the far left, extending McArthur’s line deep in the woods east of the Peach Orchard. The 50th entered the fight with old flintlock muskets which jammed after firing only a few rounds complicating their struggle.

Stuart’s defeat further threatened this line and the 50th was forced to withdraw with the 12th Illinois to whom they were joined with fighting just east now of the Bloody Pond. Holding on – joined now by the 57th Illinois – for about an hour late in the afternoon, this force was finally forced to retreat to the landing when they ran out of ammunition and were in danger of being enveloped on their left flank.

8th iowa

Around 11 am, the 8th Iowa – the lone non-Illinois regiment of the brigade – was inserted to the left of Tuttle’s men between them and the survivors of Prentiss’ division along the Sunken Road. The fight of the 8th Iowa, as well as the 7th and 58th Illinois, was the same as Tuttle’s men as they defended their positions along the Sunken Road on the east edge of Duncan Field. Helped by the gunfire from Hickenlooper’s battery, the line held strong against repeated frontal assaults until about 5pm when the whole Hornet’s Nest-Sunken Road position began collapsing as the Confederates finally succeeded in flanking and surrounding the Federals. Many from the 8th Iowa and 58th Illinois were captured.

52nd illinois

The last regiment of the brigade was the 52nd Illinois, a group that Sweeny, himself, had started with. Around 3 pm, the 52nd was posted to the far right of the Federal line. They would help repel late Rebel attacks by Wharton’s Texas Rangers and Pond’s brigade around 4:30 pm before retreating to the Landing.

Brigade notes

Sweeny was an Irishman whose family had emigrated to the U.S. when he was 13 years old. At 26, he became an officer in a New York volunteer unit fighting in the Mexican War. Wounded at Cerro Gordo and again at Churubusco, Sweeny lost his right arm. Even one-armed, he continued to serve in the army taking part in several engagements against Native Americans.

At the onset of the Civil War, Sweeny served as commander of the arsenal in St Louis. He proved helpful in keeping Missouri from declaring for the South. At Fort Donelson, he commanded the 52nd Illinois and afterwards gained promotion to brigade command. And at Shiloh, Sweeny became wounded in his remaining arm and could not command the second day.

He would return to brigade command later and rise to division command during the Atlanta campaign. After the war, he commanded the ill-advised Fenian invasion of Canada in 1866 for which he was arrested. After release, he retired from the army as a brigadier general in 1879.

7th illinois

The 7th Illinois became the first Illinois volunteer unit raised in Illinois for the Civil War. Six regiments previously became raised during the Mexican War.  Out of deference to those units, the numbering began with seven this time. During the fighting in Duncan Field, the 7th’s commander Lieutenant Colonel Richard Rowett received permission from General McClernand to form on his division’s right and becoming a part of his line. This let the 7th Illinois survive the eventual collapse engulfing their neighbor, the 58th Illinois – 450 casualties with 218 taken prisoner. They fought the second day with McClernand’s division losing more men.

After the war, Rowett figures prominently introducing the beagle to this side of the Atlantic.

TUTTLE’S BRIGADE

Colonel James Tuttle’s brigade comprised of four Iowan regiments – he had been in part responsible for raising the 2nd Iowa. As a part of W.H.L. Wallace’s division on the morning of 6 April, the somewhat experienced men of Tuttle’s brigade were called out and forming a line along the Sunken Road on the eastern edge of Duncan Field – the 14th, 12th, 7th and 2nd lined up left to right.

tuttle’s fight

From 9:30 am until 5 pm the brigade held nine separate attacks. It wasn’t until General Daniel Ruggles pulled together a grand battery of some 60 or so guns to pound away at the Federals – and the fact that the Confederates had seeped around the Federal flanks – that Wallace ordered a retreat. The 2nd and 7th Iowa were under Tuttle’s direct attention and were able to withdraw, but the 12th and 14th Iowa were not so lucky. Surrounded, they were forced to surrender with the remnants of Prentiss’ command at about 5:30 pm.

With Wallace’s death, Tuttle assumed divisional command and gathered together the remnants to serve as a reserve the next day for Don Carlos Buell’s attack – both the 2nd and 7th Iowa getting in on the action.

brigade notes

Tuttle went on to become a brigadier general, serving through the Vicksburg campaign. He then tried to exchanging battlefield success for victory at the ballot box, but as a Democrat found it difficult. Eventually he switched to the Republican Party finding more success in post-war politics.

The commander of the 2nd Iowa, Colonel James Baker, would continue to lead his regiment after Shiloh, falling at the Second Battle of Corinth on the first day of that battle – 3 October 1862.

Elliott Rice of the 7th Iowa also saw action with his regiment at Corinth. He would survive, becoming a brigade commander by the time of the Atlanta campaign and gain the brevet rank of major general by the war’s end.

Colonel William T. Shaw – an NCO veteran of the Mexican War – of the 14th Iowa would rise to division command by the end of his time in the Union army resigning at the end of three years in 1864. But here at Shiloh on the end of 6 April, he managed to knock himself out on a tree branch. He and 236 others from his regiment found themselves prisoners of the Confederates.

12th iowa

The commander of the 12th Iowa, Colonel Joseph Woods – another Mexican War veteran where he served as a lieutenant – also found himself a prisoner, as well as suffering a wound. A West Point graduate, Woods became the next man chosen from the same congressional district after Ulysses S. Grant.

He had recruited the 12th Iowa at the start of the war. Only 150 of his men escaped capture or death at Shiloh – more than 400 surrendering. The regiment would reorganize and serve again at Corinth, Vicksburg and beyond. Woods was recaptured by the Federals the next day – 7 April. He went on to lead his men again after recovering from his wounds. After the war, Grant appointed Woods to West Point before he retired.

The monuments of Tuttle’s regiments stand on the east side of Duncan Field where they held up the bulk of the Confederate army giving time for the rest of the Federal army to regroup around Pittsburgh Landing with the help of Munch’s Battery – 1st Minnesota Light Artillery.

http://www.civilwarhome.com/tuttleshilohor.htm

LAUMAN’S BRIGADE

Jacob Lauman helped to recruit the 7th Iowa at the onset of the war becoming the regiment’s colonel. He led the regiment at Belmont where he suffered a severe wound in the left thigh. At Fort Donelson, Lauman elevated to brigade command. His troops were among the first to storm the fort. Promoted to brigadier general afterwards, Lauman gained the 3rd brigade of Hurlbut’s division the day before the battle of Shiloh – 5 April. This brigade, formerly led by Colonel Charles Cruft – who returned to command his 31st Indiana regiment – had belonged to Don Carlos Buell’s Army of the Ohio before reinforcing Grant at Fort Donelson.

Laumann’s fight

On 6 April, the men moved to form up on the west side of the Peach Orchard extending into the woods west from there – 17th Kentucky, 25th Kentucky, 44th Indiana, 31st Indiana left to right. They were attacked from 9 am on. Around 2 pm, the brigade shifted by division commander Hurlbut to the far left of the Federal line to try and stabilize the deteriorating situation made dire by Stuart’s defeat. They held there for two hours before retiring to the Dill Branch line. The brigade served alongside Sherman’s division on 7 April.

Lauman would from Shiloh rise to division command during the Vicksburg campaign. Here, he would run afoul his corps commander Edward Ord who had to blame someone for a failed charge at Jackson, Mississippi. Relieved of command by Sherman – Ord’s roommate at West Point, Lauman returned home to Iowa awaiting orders which never came. He died shortly after the war in 1867 from complications from his old wound from Belmont, never able to clear his name.

brigade notes

Of the brigade regiments, the two Indianan regiments have monument placed in the woods along the Sunken Road – the 31st Indiana directly on the road and the 44th sits a short distance deeper into the woods.

The 31st Indiana commander, Colonel Charles Cruft, led his men in repulsing four separate attacks before moving to the far left. After Shiloh, the 31st transferred to the Army of the Ohio. Cruft, wounded twice at Shiloh, eventually became a brigade commander and onto a division by the end of the war.

The two Kentucky regiments – the 17th and the 25th – are remembered on the Kentucky State Monument by Cloud Field. The two regiments combined shortly after Shiloh – the 25th ceased to exist – due to the high number of casualties suffered from battle and disease. As the 17th Kentucky, the regiment served on to the end of the war taking part in the Chickamauga and Atlanta campaigns.

WILLIAMS’ BRIGADE

Nelson Williams had attended West Point for a year in 1839 before flunking out the following year. He worked for awhile in New York before moving to Iowa in 1855. With the onset of war, Williams became the colonel of the 3rd Iowa, leading them into battle first in Missouri at Blue Mills Landing near Kansas City on 17 September 1861. The regiment, a part of Stephen Hurlbut’s command, became added to Grant’s force in February 1862 with Williams assuming brigade command just before Shiloh.

The brigade moved south on the Hamburg-Savannah Road forming along the south side of the Peach Orchard – the 41st Illinois, 28th Illinois, 32nd Illinois and 3rd Iowa, left to right.

williams’ men in action

Early on in the battle, Williams was put out of action when his horse was shot out from under him. Brigade command fell to Colonel Isaac Pugh of the 41st Illinois. After the initial Confederate attack, Pugh pulled the brigade back to the center of the field near where the regimental monuments lie today.

28th Illinois

Colonel Amory K. Johnson led the 28th Illinois at Shiloh. A farmer before the war, Johnson first served as a lieutenant colonel with the 14th Illinois but came over becoming colonel of the 28th soon after. Both the 14th – Veatch’s brigade – and the 28th suffered nearly 50% casualties in the fighting here at Shiloh.

Johnson served as a brigade commander for Sherman during much of the rest of his wartime career. He resigned for reasons unknown in June 1864, his resignation accepted personally by Lincoln. A tax collector in New Orleans after the war, Johnson fell off a ferryboat and drowned in 1876.

Attacked by two Rebel brigades at 1:30 pm, the men pulled further back to the north side of the field an hour later. Further to the left, things were getting more desperate for the Federals. The 32nd Illinois went to the east side of the road to try and help McArthur’s two regiments.

THE OTHER JOHN LOGAN

John Logan was colonel of the 32nd. Here, a lot of people get a bit confused. John Logan was also the colonel of the 31st Illinois. The two were not the same men, though some sources confuse the two. Both men hailed from southern Illinois, though Logan of the 32nd came from Sainte Marie, a little town close to Vincennes, Indiana.

John Alexander Logan of the 31st called Murphysboro, Illinois home, located in the far southern reaches of Illinois – the region known as Little Egypt – maybe 150 miles apart. Both Logan’s raised their respective regiments. Both regiments fought with U.S. Grant. John A. Logan suffered three wounds during the fighting at Fort Donelson and had not returned by the time of the battle at Shiloh. He went on to become a major general and serving in Congress and the Senate after the war. The other John, continued to lead the 32nd Illinois until his discharge in late 1864.

Confusing matters more was both John’s were cousins. But where John A. was a lawyer and politician, John of the 32nd practiced medicine after a stint as a carpenter. John A. was a Jacksonian Democrat who supported Stephen Douglas before the war. John of the 32nd was an abolitionist voting for the abolitionist Liberty Party candidate James Birney for president in 1844. He would return to his home in Carlinville, Illinois – a little northeast of St Louis – continuing to practice medicine after the war.

The 32nd Illinois started the day with 540 men suffering 205 casualties from the battle.

retreat – 3rd iowa

With the left pushed back, Pugh pulled his men back to Wicker Field where they held out until withdrawing to the Landing around 4 pm out of ammunition. The 3rd Iowa, on the right, held their position along with Prentiss’ men on the sunken Road until about 5 pm.

Withdrawing just as the Confederates surrounded the Hornet’s Nest position, many of the men of the 3rd Iowa suffered Prentiss’ fate, falling captured, including the commander Major William Stone – a future governor of Iowa who ironically defeated James Tuttle in his first election. The ranking officer by day’s end was a lieutenant who took. What was left into battle the next day. Along with the remains of the 3rd Iowa, the rest of the brigade fought on 7 April on McClernand’s left until around noon.

The 3rd Iowa would eventually through battle, disease and non-reenlistment would combine with the 2nd Iowa in 1864. They both became involved in heavy fighting at the Second Battle of Corinth and during the Vicksburg campaign before that time. Badly bruised at the Battle of Jackson, their failed attempt on entrenched positions cost Jacob Lauman his divisional command.

The Atlanta command would be the end for the regiments with the survivors becoming the 2nd/3rd Iowa Veteran Consolidated Infantry regiment. In this new structure the men would go on with Sherman through Georgia and the Carolinas taking part in the Grand Review in Washington D.C. in May 1865.

41st illinois

Pugh started 6 April commanding the 41st Illinois which he would command throughout his wartime career. He had previously served as an officer in the Mexican War and had served as a private during the Black Hawk War before that – an affair that Lincoln, himself, served briefly as a soldier. After leading the brigade through most of Shiloh, Pugh returned to the 41st as Lauman replaced Williams, disabled from his Shiloh wounds.

The 41st saw Lieutenant Colonel Ansel Tupper, a prewar lawyer, take over command. As he went about organizing his companies Tupper was shot through the head dying instantly. One of two officers from the 41st to die that day, the 41st suffered a total of 97 casualties at Shiloh.

Inspired by his brother’s sacrifice, Nathan Tupper, another lawyer, helped raise the 116th Illinois – even with a crippled arm – serving as the regiment’s colonel. He died of disease after serving in the campaigns with Sherman’s Army of the Tennessee in March 1864.

Pugh gained elevation to brigade command again before the Vicksburg campaign and it would be his command that Lauman – as divisional commander – would set off against the entrenched Confederates at Jackson. The brigade suffered heavy casualties and Lauman’s career was over. Pugh eventually mustered out 20 August 1864 with those of the 41st who did not re-enlist – they were three-year volunteers. He went on to serve as a postmaster after the war.

Williams would not return to the army after Shiloh as a result of his wounds. He returned to farm in Iowa until appointed as deputy collector of customs in New York by Grant in 1869 holding that position for 25 years – his boss was one Chester A. Arthur.

MCARTHUR’S BRIGADE

Brigadier General John McArthur was an emigrant from Scotland in his early 20’s coming to Chicago where he eventually set up an iron works before the war. At the outbreak of the war, McArthur became the colonel of the 12th Illinois though because of his prior experience in the Chicago Highland Guards – a militia unit – he gained elevation to brigade command. Men of his brigade wore Scottish caps earning themselves the nickname of the Highland Brigade.

mcarthur’s men at shiloh

At Shiloh, his five regiments were dispersed and only the 9th and 12th Illinois fought together as a unit under McArthur’s direct supervision.

The 13th Missouri went early on to help Sherman – engaging in the 11 am fight in Jones field. You find their monument in the woods off the Sherman Road along the trail with the monuments of McDowell’s brigade with whom they fought alongside. The 13th Missouri was led by Colonel Crafts James Wright, an Ohioan and West Point graduate of 1828 whose prewar career included editing, law and helping run the first telegraph company in the West. They fought with Sherman’s men the second day of the battle, as well.

Both Missouri regiments were later adopted by the State of Ohio and, as such, have their own regimental monuments here on the field at Shiloh as well as being placed together on the more general State of Missouri monument near Wicker Field.

The 14th Missouri and 81st Ohio went detached to guard the Snake Creek Bridge to the north. The 14th Missouri was a somewhat special unit.

81st ohio

The 81st Ohio saw little action during the battle, not getting into the fight until ordered by Grant to the intersection of the Corinth and Hamburg-Savannah roads. It was here that the original monument was to be placed but two former officers protested successful and go the monument placed just north of Woolf Field where they saw brief action on 7 April.

12th illinois

The monuments of the 9th and 12th Illinois lay east of the Hamburg-Savannah Road in the woods on the north side of a ravine from where they tried to hold down the Federal left flank on the afternoon of 6 April. Augustus Mersy led the 9th Illinois. He came from a military background gained in the Duchy of Baden before 1849. Wounded twice at Shiloh, he nevertheless took over brigade command when McArthur became a casualty when his horse fell on him late in the afternoon of 6 April.

Trying to help Stuart’s men who were further south on the other side of the ravine and out more to the left, neither group really knew where the other was, though McArthur’s men quickly became aware of an increase in pressure on their position after 2 pm with Stuart’s retreat.

The monument of the 12th Illinois is furthest into the woods. They held on until about 4 pm near where their monument stands. On Monday they fought alongside McClernand’s men.

Augustus L. Chetlain served as the colonel of the 12th. From Galena, Illinois, along with U.S. Grant, Chetlain helped raise a company of volunteers in their hometown. At Shiloh, he suffered a wound to his face and a serious bruising of his chest. Surviving the battle – the 12th lost about 25% of their men – and the war, Chetlain served as a tax assesor in Utah and then as a consul in Brussels before returning to a strong business career in Chicago.

9th illinois

The 9th Illinois fell back earlier when they ran out of ammunition. They suffered a 58% casualty rate serving with Tuttle’s command on 7 April. They are the only regiment here at Shiloh with more than one monument placed here at Shiloh. The other monument stands next to their fallen at the Shiloh National Cemetery.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McArthur

66TH ILLINOIS VOLUNTEER INFANTRY REGIMENT

sharpshooter organiZATION

This regiment was known as the 14th Missouri Volunteers here at Shiloh. A multistate specialized regiment of sharpshooters, the 14th originally started as Birgie’s Western Sharpshooters. Berdan’s sharpshooters was their better-known reflection in the Army of the Potomac. Mustered into being in St Louis, in November 1861, with companies from Illinois (3), Ohio (2), Michigan (1), and Missouri (4) plus detachments representing each of the other western States, the Sharpshooters were a personal project of General John Fremont, the Federal commander of the West early in the war.

John Ward Birgie a St. Louis eye physician was the initial colonel. The men had to hit a target two hundred yards with no three shots to measure more than 10 inches – that meant a shooter had to put three shots into a target of no more than three and one third inches from the center with an open sighted sporting rifle.

Initially, they got a special uniform, but beyond the hat with three squirrel tails, the special uniform did not survive Fremont’s ouster in November 1862. The men were supplied with specialized highly accurate Dimick Plains rifles – Dimick’s firm could only supply some 150 on their own and Dimick had to scurry about to other gun manufacturers to fulfill his contract of over 1000 rifles.

Fremont wanted the men used as skirmishers. Skirmishers ere used out in front of the main battle line. They were responsible for first contact with the enemy and would evaluate the particular nature of the threat to the main battle group. The regiment saw service in Missouri early on before going to Grant’s army at Fort Donelson.

sharpshooters atshiloh

By the time of Shiloh, Birgie had left – overheard denigrating the removal of Fremont in favor of Henry Halleck – and Lieutenant Colonel Benjamin S. Compton was commanding. The regiment was known as the 14th Missouri at the time of Shiloh. During the battle, the regiment saw very little action, detached to guard the Snake Creek Bridge.

They gained their individual monument here in the woods north of Tennessee Route 22 as a result of Illinois governor Richard Yates pushing for the regiment to become an Illinois regiment which it was on 20 November 1862 – the 66th Illinois. Every Illinois regiment has its own monument here at Shiloh, whereas the Missouri regiments are all placed together on a common State monument north of Wicker Field.

The 66th Illinois would go on to many more engagements – Corinth and Kennesaw Mountain being two such. Their monument sits hidden in the woods off the highway. The Trailhead Graphics map is an invaluable in finding it. As the war went on, men of the sharpshooters realized that the range of engagement – 100-200 yards – was far inside the range of the Dimick Rifle – 600-1000 yards – and volume of fire was more important than accuracy. Many members – over 250 – rearmed themselves with the Henry repeating rifle. As a result, the regiment would also play a role as shock troops – a role they played at both Resaca and Dalton.

SMITH’S BRIGADE

Now we come to the three brigades of Lew Wallace’s division. The First Brigade was led by Colonel Morgan L. Smith who had raised the 8^th Missouri Volunteers.  Raised to brigade command at Fort Donelson, he would go on to command a division and even temporary corps command, but would leave active field command during the Atlanta campaign due to complications of wounds he received at Chickasaw Bayou  in the early stages of the Vicksburg campaign.  After the war, he served as U.S. Consul in Honolulu.  The brigade attacked across Tilghman Branch on 7April and then on into the Crescent Field. 

Smith’s regiment, the 8^th Missouri, was known as the American Zouaves.  They had been a special project of General Nathaniel Lyon.  Supposedly ‘native-born’, the 8^th was mainly comprised of Irish Americans who worked the St Louis docks – early on, most Federal Missouri units were made up of German Americans.  Volunteers from Minnesota and Illinois also filled the ranks.

11th indiana

The 11^th Indiana was Lew Wallace’s original regiment which he raised as “Wallace’s Zouaves”.  As Wallace elevated in rank, command fell to Colonel George McGinnis – he had started the war as a mere private but had had experience during the Mexican War – who would go on to brigade command after Shiloh.

24th indiana

Commander of the 24^th Indiana, Colonel Alvin P. Hovey, practiced law before the war. He gained appointment – at 34 years of age – as the youngest justice of the Indiana Supreme Court in 1854.  Political maneuverings took him from the Democratic Party just before the war to the GOP. He became the colonel of the 24^th.  Hovey went on to brigade and division command earning special praise from Grant as a result of his leadership at the Battle of Champion Hill during the Vicksburg campaign.  After the war, he went on to become the governor of Indiana at the age of 68 – the oldest man to serve in that position until that time.

The monument of Smith’s regiments sit on the south side of the Crescent Field off of Tennessee Route 22 where they fought on 7 April – the 11^th and 24^th Indiana monuments with the 8^th Missouri remembered on the general Missouri State monument near Wicker Field.

THAYER’S BRIGADE

John M. Thayer, a native of Massachusetts, had moved to Nebraska before the war becoming a farmer near Omaha.  He was active in both GOP circles and the local militia and became the colonel of the 1^st Nebraska with the war’s onset. 

He rose to brigade command at Fort Donelson and would continue in that role through the Vicksburg campaign.  His brigade served as Wallace’s reserve during the fighting on the far Federal right on 7 April. 

Thayer would go on after the war to become a U.S. Senator from Nebraska, a governor for the Territory of Wyoming – appointed by Grant – and a two-term governor of Nebraska.

regimental monuments

There is no Nebraska monument at Shiloh, so his regiment is without a memorial here.  Of the other regimental monuments, you will find the 23rd Indiana and the 58^th Ohio on the south edge of Crescent Field off Tennessee Route 22 – Trailhead Graphics map is very helpful here – while the 68^th Ohio is on the far right of the monuments at Pittsburgh Landing showing the reserve nature of their activity here at Shiloh.

WHITTLESEY’S BRIGADE

Charles Whittlesey was an 1831 graduate of West Point.  He resigned from the army after the Black Hawk War in 1832.  After a stint as a lawyer and a journalist, Whittlesey became a geologist known for studying Native American burial mounds – appropriate for here at Shiloh.  With the war, he became the colonel of the 20^th Ohio.  He would resign shortly after leading his brigade at Shiloh because of failing health, resuming his work as a geologist.

The brigade formed the extreme right of the Federal line on 7 April helping to push the Rebels back.  The monuments of the brigade lie mostly on the south side of Crescent Field – the 20^th and 78^th Ohio found to the west of Tennessee Route 22 and the 76^th Ohio is in the woods on the southeast corner of the field – the Trailhead Graphics map may be necessary to locate these monuments. 

20th ohio

Lieutenant Colonel Manning Force would lead the 20^th Ohio on through the Atlanta campaign where a wound disfigured him for life and also receive the Medal of Honor.  He would go on to be a judge, author and lecturer. 

75th ohio

William Burnham Woods, lieutenant colonel of the 76^th Ohio, would go on to brigade and divisional command under Sherman.  He stayed on in the South after the war, named as a Federal circuit judge. Eventually Woods became named to the Supreme Court named by Rutherford B. Hayes in 1880.

The colonel of the 76^th Ohio, Charles R. Woods, a West Point graduate of 1852 and brother of William, had been in charge of reinforcements heading to Fort Sumter at the war’s onset, but was unable to land his men due to Confederate artillery fire.  Leading the 76^th Ohio, he would go on to brigade command after Shiloh and eventually also lead a division under Sherman.  He remained in the army after the war, as well.

78th ohio

The monument of the 78^th Ohio is at Pittsburgh Landing showing the reserve role that this regiment played.  Their commander, Mortimer Leggett would go on to brigade and division command and resume a successful law practice after the war.  His son would – in 1873 – at Cornell become the first person to die of a college initiation prank when he fell striking his head walking along a railroad trestle with other initiates.

REGIMENTS NOT BRIGADED AT SHILOH – 16^TH IOWA/15^TH IOWA/23^RD MISSOURI

Three regiments made it to the Army of the Tennessee too late to for inclusion into a brigade.  All three saw plenty of action inserted into the points of greatest need. 

15th and 16th iowa

Alexander Chambers – a West Point graduate of 1853 and classmate of John Schofield and Philip Sheridan – had been a captain in the antebellum army but jumped up to colonel to lead the 16^th Iowa. 

He led his regiment along with the 15^th Iowa as they attempted to counterattack the Confederates in Jones Field around 10 am on 6 April.  The regiments were straight out of training camp and found themselves quickly flanked from the east.  They made it to the point where their regimental monuments stand before forced to withdraw – both regimental commanders suffering wounds – to the north edge of Jones Field and eventually back to Pittsburgh Landing. 

Chambers returned to lead his regiment again at Iuka where he was wounded once more.  Recovering, he went on to brigade and division command.  At the end of the war, he reverted back to his regular army rank of captain.  He would continue to serve in the army until his death in 1888 at the rank of colonel.  Both the monuments of the 15^th and 16^th Iowa sit in the south part of Jones Field.

23rd missouri

The 23^rd Missouri arrived late in the morning at Pittsburgh Landing on 6^th April.  The regiment went forward to help Prentiss form his line at the Hornet’s Nest.  Their commander, Colonel Jacob Tindall, would fall late in the day and most of the regiment would fall captive.  They are remembered on the Missouri State monument near Wicker Field.

SIEGE GUNS AND GRANT’S “LAST LINE”

Grant had brought along a battery of 24-pound siege guns to use later at Corinth, if needed.  The guns – Battery B 2^nd Illinois Light Artillery sat just above Pittsburgh Landing as the battle began.  It was these guns that Grant’s artillery chief, Colonel Joseph Webster, used as a centerpiece for a grand battery of some 20+ guns – according to Grant though Beauregard claims there were more than 60 – solidifying his ‘last line” position late on 6 April. 

There are guns and markers for Schwartz’s Battery E 2^nd Illinois Light Artillery (McClernand), Richardson’s Battery D 1^st Missouri Light Artillery (W.H.L. Wallace), Stone’s Battery K 1^st Missouri Light Artillery (W.H.L. Wallace), Dresser’s Battery D 2^nd Illinois Light Artillery (McClernand), and Mann’s Battery C 1^st Missouri Light Artillery (Hurlbut) alongside the siege guns above the Dill Branch ravine.  Additionally, you will find markers for Powell’s Battery F 2^nd Illinois Light Artillery (Prentiss) across the road south of the Park bookstore; the monument for Silversparre’s Battery H 1^st Illinois Light Artillery (Prentiss) is on the south side of the bookstore. 

The marker for Munch’s Battery 1^st Minnesota Light Artillery (Prentiss) and the monument for Markgraf’s Battery 8^th Ohio Light Artillery provided enfilade fire from the left side directly down the ranks of those Confederates brave enough to cross over the Dill Branch.  The last two are on the Brown’s Landing Road – one-way direction from Cloud Field – on the rise above the Dill Branch confluence with the Tennessee River.