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Show divided into six divisions under command, com-mand, respectively, of Generals J. A. McClernard, 12 rcglmenta; W. H. L. WaJlaco, 1G regiments; Lew Wallace. 11 rejiments; 8. A. Hulbut, 12 regiments; regi-ments; William T. Sherman, 12 rogi meats, and Prentiss, 7 regiments. These divisions were encamped without with-out the slightest regard for a possible , attack, with Johnson and his rebel ; army only 20 miles away. The divisions divis-ions of Prentiss, Sherman and Me Clernard were encamped about two miles from the landing, separated half a mile from each other, and more than that distance from the other divisions. "Pickets were kept out In front, but absolutely nothing was known or attempted to be known of what was "going on in Corinth. General Grant's headquarters were In Savannah, eight mileB down the river. He was there when the battle commenced, "General Johnson had collected a large rebel army of 50,000 at Corinth, and knowing of the proposed combination combina-tion of Grant and Buel, he resolved to attack Grant's army before Buel' array could arrive. Sunday morning, entirely entire-ly unheralded, Job neon, with an army of 40,000, appeared before the forces at Pittsburg Landing. The divisions were commanded by Genoral Polk, Bragg, Hardy and Breckenrldge, with Beanregard as second In command. Some skirmishing had taken place, j but no one thought a general attack possible. Saturday, General Sherman wrote General Grant, 'I have no doubt nothing will occur today except some plckot firing.' "The same day General Grant dispatched dis-patched to General Halleck: 'I have j scarcely the faintest Idea of an attack being made upon us-' "At that very time the rebels were already deployed preparatory to a general gen-eral engagement, and, as Beauregard boasted, 'Drive Grant into the Tennes-I Tennes-I see river. The Union army was pre-' pre-' paring for the ueual Sunday inspection I when aboot 6 a. m. the desultory j ploket firing was supplemented with I heavy musketry and artillery. The rebel advance under Genoral HarJy had attacked General Prentiss's lines. The long roll calling to arm6, beating in every camp, echoed and re-echoed through the Umber and the great battle bat-tle of ShUoh was on! "General Prentiss's division, with, j incomplete organization, composed j largely of men fresh from recruiting ! stations, was located In the most ex- i posed position. It received the first attack and as was to be expected, was unable to withstand the shock and gave way. A second stand held tho l rebels for nearly an hour, but they were finally driven bock in disorder. "The rebel host swept on to the right and engaged Sherman's division. Hlldebrand's brigade, the first to receive re-ceive the onslaught, went to pieces. Buckland's brigade made a stubborn resistance for nearly, if not quite, an ' hour, and destroyed several rebel regl-' regl-' ment8, but finally, outflanked and out- numbered, gave way. They attempted I to reform on the Purdy road, where I Sherman proposed to establish his new line. The rapid advance of tho rebel left, however, forced both Buck-, Buck-, land's and McDowell's brigades back, and Sherman's division practically i lost its Identity for the day. "McCIernard's division endeavored to stay the rebel advance and fought desperately to hold Its original position posi-tion and camp, but there was an absence ab-sence of unity of purpose among the ( division commanders, in fact, it might I as well bo plainly stated, there was a j lacking of a head, a commanding gon-j gon-j oral who had tho situation well in hand "Thus you have the condition ot the rlqht and left wing of the armv at 6 p. m. Where waa W. H. L. Wallace arid Prentice with their men? The , lrlnclpal purpose of this address is to teli you. So far I have spoken from information gained largely from ofll-clil ofll-clil reports, both Union and Confederate, Confed-erate, of division and brigade coin-1 manders and all other available Knurcos. Now I shall speak from perron per-ron al observation, "On that Sunday morulas, tho dl-, virion of W. IL L. Wallace of three br'gides was camped nearest to the ! landing and was part of tho reserve. 0n6 of the brigades, callod 'The Iowa biigade,' waa composed of tho 2nd, 7th, I2th, and 14th Iowa regiments, commanded com-manded respectively by Colonels Tut-tle. Tut-tle. Lieutenant Colonel J. C. Parrot t, Cclonol Wood and Wm. T. Shaw. "I was a color guard in the 14th Iowa. Colonel Turtle commanded tho brigade. Sunday morning the brigade was preparing for Inspection as was customary, when a marked -Increaso was noticed in tho distant firing. Soon the roar of musketry and boom of cannon can-non told lis too well that serious work was at hand. Many of us that knew w'lat would be next, rolled our blankets blan-kets and strapped seme crackers, not to carry, but to leave. We filled our canteens and chucked some crackers and bacon Into our haversacks, to take with us wherever we might go, and then waited. The thought that j crowded through our minds were not i of the rao6t pleasant, as the 'long roll' I could be heard In 'distant camps, com-1 I lug nearer and nearer. Suddenly Drummer Clark stepped from his tent and beat what proved to be the death knell to many, many, many or tho boys of our brigade. I 'In loss thaa live minutes we were In line and In twenty minutes more were on our way to the tronu Although we wore of the reserve and General Wallace had received no orders, or-ders, he knew that men were needwd on the battle line. Ho took the responsibility re-sponsibility to order the Iowa bngado tj take the lead for the sceno or action, ac-tion, two miles away. Scarcely had we smarted, when we met the neuin? Lajments from Prentlfls' and Sherman's Sher-man's brigades ruehing for the protection protec-tion of the river bank. This is a simple sim-ple statement, but oh, It contains an experience that a lifetime Is too brier to efface. Tho painter that could picture pic-ture it or the writer who could describe des-cribe it has never beeg produced- That stream of demoralized, discouraged and terrified soldiers, whom the first whistle of bullets and crack or shell, had unmanned, fled for their lives, regardless re-gardless of honor or duty. Many oi them wero wounded but the bulk ot them were utterly soared. No entreaty, en-treaty, no command or force could slay them, much less return them to the front'. All agreed that their regiments regi-ments had been cut to piece3 and t at tho rebel hordes were at their heelo. "Was .not our brigade fresh trom the battlefields of Fort Donaldson? Did not the words of Grant's general order read after the surrender of the fort, commending the Iowa brigade 1 for their gallant and successful as-panlt as-panlt upon the rebol works, still ring in our ears? It would seem Irapos-; slble that we could have kept on our wny to apparent slaughter. "Grant's order praising our. action had been dearly earned, t'ebruary 13th our brigade charged the works or Fort Donaldson and were repulsed i with heavy loss. Five of the color I guards, of which I was a member, wont down almost in a heap and ali wounded. On the 15th, after two days of constant desultory fighting, we again stormed the workjs and succeeded suc-ceeded hi taking and holding a portion por-tion until the surrender the next day. In this last charge, the 2nd Iowa led allh bayonet and empty muskets and lost 41 killed and 167 wounded. So you sec we had been tried by fire. Wo had discovered that 'war Is hell,' before be-fore Sherman published It. It was a wonderful relief, when after hair an hour of crowding through this mass or frenzied men, yes, boys mostly, wo hod passed them "Colonel Shaw, from bohind a large tree at the center of tho regiment, commanded the situation. The rebels, without a musket being fired, came up and formed .behind the brush and trees on the ota fence line, preparatory prepara-tory to a charge on the battery' n our rear. Orders given by the rebel officers offi-cers in lining up their men. were plainly heard by us all. Perhaps you con Imagine the feelings or the boys that lay in the old road, with a death dealing foe six rods In their front, all 1 were well and sound then, but reaming ream-ing fully that in the next few moments mo-ments some must die and many be wounded. I cannot describe it. "Just as the rebel order, 'Forward' was givon, Colonel ShaWs 'Up boys and give them hell! Charge! sent a leaden bail among t them that rainy mowed them down, and in a moment we were upon them with bayonet, j Never was rout more complete. Without With-out firing scarce a gun. they broke to the rear. Many, of us followed them nearly to the creek and here we lost many men, as under cover of the brueh, the rebels reformed and wo were under a heavy fire while returning return-ing to our position. We had scarcely reformed, when tbey wore upon ua again, this time to stay longer. The firing was fleroe for some time and they made a desperate effort to dislodge dis-lodge us. They followod our example and took advantage of every cover, trees, stumps and stones, but all la ; vain. The bullets from our muskets and cajinlatcr from the cannon was more than they could long stand. They I finally gave way. badly demoralized. I Simultaneous with the second charge I upon ua. a strong body of rebel Infantry In-fantry deploysd across th field In front of the 2nd and 7th Iowa. They formed in two Imes and advanced in , fine form under a storm of musketry J and cannister from the battery, which thinned their ranks at every step. Bravo raon were they, to stand that deadly bail of lead and iron and still go forward eo gallantly. Although, hotly engaged. "Many more must die that day and many more be maimed before the taps. "We still held our position In the old road. Heretofore the boys had dismounted the disabled howiuers and laid them on the edge of the road, firing them with good results. Now they were brought fronvall directions where cannon had been disabled and abandonod. We laid tbera along the edge of the road and loaded them with aoythiis we could find; fixed ammunition If to be had: if not. a sleeve from the coat of a dead sol- dler made a good powder bag and the i coat was a wad; then, sticks, stones, I and best of all. harness stripped from i dead artillery horees, and tbey were ' plenty. The homes and tugs or a har-' har-' ness, folded and sUiffed In a cannon, made an ideal and deadly chain-snot at ten or twenty rods. . . . . I "One of the most affecting events ot my war experience happened at this time. The officers of the battery had with him his son, a boy about 9 years old. He was mounted on a fine horse, but was too small to got on and off his horse as quickly as was sometimes necessary, and so, while all the rpst of the men dismounted, he remained in the saddle and only a few feet In front of where I lay, for we were all as close to the ground as possible. Suddenly, at the crack of a shell, this little hero was lifted from the saddle and rolled to tho ground. I Jumped forward and drew him away from his horse's heels. He was dead. A fragment frag-ment of the shell had crushed into his chost. Do you think I ever will forget that? What of the father and waiting mother? At that same tlmo the soldier lying next to me gave a groan and was still forever. A gTape shot, glancing from an overhanging limb, had struck him between the shoulders. These are two of the 4.000 killed In the two days' battle. The battery was no drawing fire from many directions and well directed and timed shells warned them to change position for their safety as well as ours. They limbered and went to tho rear, minus several men and horses. The boy was carried away on a caisson. cais-son. "Now was to come the tug of war.' Now indeed were we to meet a foe that would test our obllity to "hold the Corinth road.' "Once again we wore hurUd against the rebel .barrier. But now It was outturn out-turn to be repulsed. As we retreated wo ran Into the very arme of Oh&i-mer"s Oh&i-mer"s rebel brigade and the gome wa up. "It was hard fr the rehala to bHiwre that the handful of men they hod captured, cap-tured, about 2,200 Including- the three Iowa regiments and rrtxmezits of Prentiss's Pren-tiss's division, was all thai was left of tho men that, since 8 o'clookhad held the Corinth road' against the constant attack of tho flower of the Confederate Confed-erate army. "General Hardy fairly daneod with rage on tho cannon upoo which he stood when he heard the number stated. "So long wre they in Borting out and deploying ths regiments that had surrounded us that ntght overtook them. Buel and his army had come and Grant's army had been saved. The Hornet's Nest' hAd paeeed . Into history." THE "HORNET'S NEST OF SHILOH" At the campflre given by the members mem-bers Dlx-Logon post Saturday evening. even-ing. Comrade Hadle gave on Interesting Interest-ing description of. the "Hornet's Nest at Shiloh." He said, in part: "I have been assigned to talk to you tonight of 'The Hornet's Nest of Shiloh.' The name 'Hornet's Nest' was one applied by the rebels to that part of the original line In the battle of Shiloh. or Pittsburg Landing, which was tenaciously held, from morning till night, on the first day of that gTeat battle, by the 'Iowa Brigade.' of W. H, L. Wallace's division, and which undoubtedly saved the army from defeat I was one of the hornets, and shall speak largely from personal observation. A few words in regard to. the situation at the time of that battle will be of service to you. , "The rebel stronghold, Fort Henry, on the Cumberland river, and Fort Donaldson, on the Tennessee, had fallen. The next stand of the Confederates Confed-erates was to be at Corinth, an Important Im-portant railroad center, near the north line of the state ot Mississippi. There the rebol general, Albert Sidney Johnson, John-son, Western Confederate commander, was coilcctins large force with which to oppose the further progress of the Union army. "To attaek that point, the army of the Tennessee, under General Grant, and th army of the Ohio, under General Gen-eral Buel, were to unite at Pittsburg Landing, and move upon Corinth. The army under Grant was first on the ground. "The location for a great camp was Ideal. It waa a section of high rolling land on the western bank of the Tennessee Ten-nessee river, eight miles above Savannah. Savan-nah. It wo protected on the east by tho river which ran nearly north and south. On the north by Owl creek; on the south by Lick creek. At the time of the battle. April 6 and 7. 1862. on account of high water, these streams were unfordable; To the west, toward Corinth, the position was unprotected, but could easily have been made so by log or earth works. Nothing of the kind was done. In fact, the things that were left undone by both the Union and Confederate army, in the light of subsequent events, was stupendous. "The true history of the battle of Shiloh has never been written, nor never can be. The wonderful efforts made by division and brigade commanders, com-manders, and by General Grant himself, him-self, to explain and cover up -the blunders made on that field render it Impoesrble. This applies equally to the rebels. "Grant's army at the time of the battle consisted of about 40,000 men. |