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Part Eight, Page Five
The Battle of Shiloh
22nd Alabama Infantry Regiment
(06 April 1862, 2:00 P.M. to Dusk)
Colonel Adams was preparing his brigade for
Johnston's bayonet charge when the brigades of Cheatham and Breckenridge converged in his
immediate front. About 2:30 o'clock, Adams was ordered to hold back until
a space in line became available. While riding along the line of his
brigade, he was struck in the head by a rifle-ball and taken from the field. 41
He would survive the wound and continue to serve the Confederacy. Command
of the brigade then fell upon Colonel Zack C. Deas of the 22nd Alabama, leaving
the 22nd under the charge of Lieutenant-Colonel J. C. Marrast. 42
Earlier that morning, Colonels George Maney and Nathan Bedford Forrest were ordered to guard Greer's Ford on Lick Creek against a possible Federal assault on the Confederate right flank. This position left them three miles south of the rear lines and completely out of the battle. About 11:00 a.m., Colonel Maney determined that there was no threat on this position and left for the battlefield. Colonel Forrest, hearing the sounds of battle, turned to his men and exclaimed that he wasn't going to guard a %@&^#% creek while their friends and brothers were dying by the hundreds. His men agreed and they too left to join the battle. 43
Colonel Maney arrived on the battlefield around 2:00 p.m. and was ordered by Cheatham to reassume command of Stephen's brigade (originally Maney's) and attack Ross's battery in his front. Maney pressed the attack at 2:30 p.m. and gained the woods to the west of the Sarah Bell Field, where his men came under a heavy crossfire. Here they lay down and exchanged fire with Lauman's brigade.44
After
assuming command of Adams' brigade, Colonel
Deas brought his men forward to offer assistance wherever he could. He
soon came
upon General Breckenridge, engaged on his right, and was ordered to
support Maney's left flank.45 In his
report of 25 April
1862, Deas states that he "immediately advanced to his
assistance." Finding the fire to be very severe, Deas called forward
the 26th Alabama, which failed to respond, and a battery, who responded promptly
and offered great assistance. Here, the brigade was engaged in a
"hard and long-continued struggle," but succeeded in driving the
Federals back. 46
Colonel Forrest approached the field around 2:30 p.m. near Deas' brigade amid heavy artillery fire. Forrest asked permission from General Cheatham, who was nearby, to charge the battery, but was refused. He charged anyway under his own orders with the 26th Alabama, from Deas' brigade, in support on his right. This might explain why the 26th failed to respond to Deas' order. Forrest's cavalry advance was slowed by the thick woods, but the 26th overran the enemy's battery and gained the Manse George cabin, pushing the 3rd Iowa back from their position. They quickly found themselves under heavy fire with little support and, sometime between 4:00 p.m. and 4:30 p.m., returned to their original line. 47
Colonel Maney, supported by the remainder of Deas' brigade, now began his charge across the open field. The retreating 26th Alabama drew most of the enemy fire and Maney was able to gain the cover of the woods. Here, he commanded his men to lie down just as the Federals began firing over their heads. 48 After ascertaining the enemy's position from the direction of their fire, Maney ordered his men to charge. They rose with a cheer and pushed the Union forces, who broke in disarray and fled before them. Maney moved forward and occupied the ravine where the Federals had been positioned through most of the day. 49
At some point during these engagements, General Bragg approached Colonel Deas' while his brigade was lying down about one half mile behind the front line and ordered him "forward, nothing but forward." Deas marched the remnants of his brigade in a left oblique towards the Manse George cabin and the 3rd Iowa. 50
The brigades under Chalmers and Jackson had been successful in breaking the left side of the Union line. What had once been a long, sweeping arc was now doubled back into a tight "U." About 4:30 p.m., General Hurlbut found the 3rd Iowa, under Major William M. Stone, in the southwest corner of Wicker Field. Hurlbut warned Stone that the Union left had broken and, expressing surprise that the 3rd Iowa had not been captured, ordered the regiment to the rear. 51
Deas' charged the cabin just as the 3rd Iowa began its retreat. After moving about three hundred yards through the woods, the Iowans turned about and again faced their enemy. The Confederates' charge came so close that the officers of the 3rd Iowa began using their revolvers. One Iowan noted that they "beheld the enemy's hated flag floating above the house behind which we had rested most of the day." 52
Deas'
brigade had become separated in the woods and only remnants of the 1st Louisiana
and the 22nd Alabama, numbering 101 and 123 men respectively, remained under his
command. 53 The Iowans, though few in number themselves, were
able to hold Deas' regiments at bay until Confederate reinforcements forced them
into another retreat. The retreating Iowans ran into Prentiss' makeshift
line and formed on his extreme left. 54
The Hornet's Nest began to collapse around 5:00 o'clock and by 5:30 p.m., over 2200 Union soldiers, including General Prentiss, were forced to lay down their arms and surrender. Of the Union forces who had so obstinately held their ground that day, only the 3rd Iowa and the7th Illinois escaped capture. 55
Encouraged by the success of the day, Generals Bragg and Polk were anxious to press forward and push Grant's Army into the Tennessee River. However, Bragg was frustrated again by the time wasted in organizing for his final assault. It took time to separate prisoners and arrange for escorts to carry them back to Corinth. The Confederate soldiers, nearly famished, were raiding the abandoned Union camps, some looking for food and others for souvenirs. Finally, the troops were gathered and placed in line of battle on the ridge to the south of Dill Creek. 56
While the
Confederates were reorganizing for another attack, Grant was assembling his army
for one last stand. The Federal line began at
Pittsburg Landing on the
cliffs above the Tennessee River with the 36th Indiana on the extreme
left. Extending nearly a mile and a half along the Pittsburg-Corinth Road,
the line ended with the 14th Missouri positioned just past the intersection with
the Hamburg-Savannah Road. General Sherman later estimated that the line
numbered nearly 18,000 men. Grant had also assembled as many pieces of
artillery as could be found. Ten guns from the batteries of Margraf and
Munch were placed on a high ridge near the mouth of Dill Creek, facing west, so
as to provide enfilade fire on the enemy advance. The remaining guns were
placed in front of the infantry lines, facing south along the Pittsburg-Corinth
Road. 57
Throughout the day, thousands of Union troops ran in fear and gathered under the protection of the cliffs on the banks of the Tennessee River. General Nelson and the 36th Indiana arrived at Pittsburg Landing by boat from Savannah about 5:20 Sunday afternoon. As he approached the landing, his ship's Captain began to stop so as not to run over men attempting to swim towards safety on the opposite shore. Angered by what he considered an extreme show of cowardice, Nelson swore, told the Captain what he thought of the swimming men, and ordered the boat to continue on. As the prow touched the shore, some of the men jumped off and cleared space on the shore at the point of the bayonet. Nelson, weighing over three hundred pounds and standing six feet tall, mounted his horse, said to stand seventeen hands high. He ordered his aides to position themselves on either side of his horse and his other mounted officers immediately behind. He drew his saber and shouted, "Gentlemen, draw your sabers and trample these [cowards] into the mud!" Then, the 36th Indiana, with Nelson leading the way, charged up the steep slope shouting "Buell" to encourage Grant's disheartened men. 58
Chalmers' brigade fell in on the far right of the Confederate line at the Tennessee River bottoms, facing the Federal forces across Dill Creek. Jackson's brigade, on Chalmers' left, took the center, followed by remnants of the 22nd Alabama and the 1st Louisiana. Anderson's brigade held the Confederate left. The remaining troops were formed behind in lines of support. Bragg believed that with one more charge, his front line of barely 4,000 men would capture them all. 59
At 6:00 p.m., amid a barrage of fire from the Union gunboats, Tyler and Lexington anchored in the Tennessee River, Chalmers' brigade descended a sixty-foot-deep slope into a shallow backwater. The Confederates then began climbing the slope on the far side of the ravine. As Chalmers' skirmishers reached the top of the hill, the Federal guns opened fire and completely checked their advance. The brigade made several charges, with but minimal effect. Unlike Chalmers' brigade, many of Jackson's men were without ammunition and had to make their charge with fixed bayonets. As they reached the crest of the opposite slope, they lay down to shelter themselves from the enemy artillery fire. 60
As dusk approached, General Withers rode off in search of support, but found that Jackson's men were retreating from the field of battle. He sent aides to arrest the officer who ordered the retreat, but was informed that the order came from General Beauregard himself. General Bragg was observing Chalmers' repeated attacks when Major Augustin, volunteer aide-de-camp, delivered Beauregard's order to stop the pursuit. Bragg was taken completely by surprise and asked if the order had been given to anyone else. Augustin replied that it had and pointed to Jackson's retreating brigade. Bragg exclaimed "My God it is too late!" and dispatched several aides to go and disengage the remaining troops. As the sun set and darkness fell, fighting came to a gradual halt. 61
41 Official Records, Chapter XXII pages 536, 537
42 Official Records, Chapter XXII pages 541, 542
43 Wiley Sword, Shiloh: Bloody April, page 300
44 Larry J. Daniel, Shiloh, The Battle That Changed the Civil War, page 219
45 Larry J. Daniel, Shiloh, The Battle That Changed the Civil War, pages 221
46 Official Records, Chapter XXII pages 538
47 Larry J. Daniel, Shiloh, The Battle That Changed the Civil War, pages 221
48 Wiley Sword, Shiloh: Bloody April, page 302
49 Official Records, Chapter XXII pages 454, 455
50 Wiley Sword, Shiloh: Bloody April, page 287
51 Larry J. Daniel, Shiloh, The Battle That Changed the Civil War, page 225
52 Wiley Sword, Shiloh: Bloody April, page 287
53 Official Records, Chapter XXII pages 538
54 Wiley Sword, Shiloh: Bloody April, pages 287, 288
55 Larry J. Daniel, Shiloh, The Battle That Changed the Civil War, page 236
56 Wiley Sword, Shiloh: Bloody April, pages 343, 343, 344, 345
57 Larry J. Daniel, Shiloh, The Battle That Changed the Civil War, pages 245, 246, 247
58 Wiley Sword, Shiloh: Bloody April, pages 358, 359
59 Larry J. Daniel, Shiloh, The Battle That Changed the Civil War, pages 253, 254
60 Larry J. Daniel, Shiloh, The Battle That Changed the Civil War, pages 253, 254
61 Wiley Sword, Shiloh: Bloody April, pages 363, 366
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