The Nashville daily union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, 1862-06-22
Fho Union Prisoners Captured nj
shiloh

- ut lo' loD-s
EDiroR ST.. LOUIS REruRL1cAN-S
| esteem it my duty 10 furnish the publ,
with such information relating 10 tn,
Union soldiers captured by the Southern
rebels at the battle Of Shiloh or Pitts
burg Landing, on the 9th of April last
az may be in my possession. Having
myself been prisoner / am unable {,
say how far the facts which will be en-.
bodied in this letter are already known
but if ] shall be able to relieve one of tn,
thousands now suffering the agonies q
suspense and uncertainty as to the fat,
of their friends, my reward will be am.
pie
Very brief notice of the trip of the
Shiloh prisoners from the battle field
through the domains of the cottonocracv
may not be unacceptable.
trust also, that | shall be pardoned,
If | attempt to correct some of the mis-.
representations and misqppyehsnSjons of the
operations of portions Of the army al
Shiloh, which seem, from the perusal OF
the Northern newspapers, to be currently
received as truths by the Northern people
lst 1t is not true that any regiment or
organized portion of Gen. Prentiss' Di
vision, or any portion of the Iowa Brig
AIDE, belonging to Wallace's Division sur
rendered " IN the molninq"
I'd. 1t is not true that Gen Prentiss or
any considerable number of Union SOL
diers were captured "lR the p7oy,,i,1g" or
"beJqre 5hree o'clock an the Afternoon, on
| Sunday" '
The great body of Federal soldiers
taken at Shiloh, including the remnants
of the Eighth, Twelfth and Fourteenth
Iowa, the Eighteenth Wisconsin and the
| IWenty-third Missouri, were not taken
until after five o'clock The Twelfth and
| Fourteenth Iowa and Twenty Mis-
| souri, did not surrender until nearly G. p
NJ The writer of this article saw and
| talked with Gen. Prentiss as late as 3
o'clock, and he was then on horseback
actively engaged in supporting a portion
of his division. He did not retire from
the conflict to a safe distance, as MANY
officers who escaped must have done. but
remained on the field encouraging his di-
vision until the very last, and was can
tured about the time the last regiment
surrendered
Nor IS d true as stated by cores
pendent of the Cincinnati Times, in an
article copied by the Harpers, that Cup
to three O'clock the enemy found every
attempt to break our lines unavailing.b
Captured officers concur in testifying
that the left Of the Federal line was broll-
en- long before three o'clock; and that
the enemy did not avail himself of the
circumstances is due to his ignorance
that a portion Of our forces on that part
of the line had retired TO the river. By
twelve o'clock the left wing had retired
from the line occupied during the morn.
ing and by 2 p. NJ, both wings had been
driven from their positions, as was but
too apparent from the sound of conflict
receding towards the river.
The Iowa Brigade, composed of the
Second, Seventh, Twelfth and Fourteenth
Iowa regiments, under w. H. Tuttle act
ing Brigadier- General, formed the left of
General W. II. Wallace's division. and
occupied that portion Of the Federal line
next to Gen. Prentiss' division. This no.
sition they held under heavy fire of
shot, shell, grape and canister from one
OF the rebel batteries, repulsing two at
tacks OF his infantry until about or quite
live o'clock, P. NJ, when, with no enemy
in sight in front, they were ordered TO
fall slowly back This they did, march
ing in line by the rear rank, but had not
proceeded more than two hundred wards
before The enemy was discovered at the
distance Of one fourth Of mile between
them and the river having broken
through the left
About this time the Fourteenth Iowa
went to the support of the Twenty
third Missouri, while the Twelfth en-
gagged a force Of the enemy advancing
upon them from the right After sharp
conflict the enemy were driven back, and |
the Twelfth marched towards the river,
the Fourteenth Iowa and Twenty third |
Missouri retiring about the same time. |
They proceeded only a short distance |
before they overlook a mass of troops |
who had surrendered. Here Col Woods. |
of the Twelfth, received two wounds, and !
the regiment, after continuing the con-
Hlct, which was renewed at this point !
until the enemy i'll great force, with Gen
erals Bragg and Polk in command, had
closed upon every side to within one
hundred yards, surrendered--the Eighth.
Twelfth, and Fourteenth Iowa. and
Eighteenth Wisconsin and Twenty third
Missouri all yielding 10 superior num-
bers, within few minutes Of each other.
So near, indeed, had the hostile lines
drawn the circle around US, that their
balls took effect Ia their own ranks. This
circumstance only saved the two thou
sand Union soldiers thus surrounded
from almost total annihilation, for had
hc enemy poured in his whole fire con-
'entrated upon one point, men must have
gone down by hundreds. As il was. il
was a fatal circle to many a brave man
who had passed unscathed through the
ieadly conflict which for eight hours had
swept that portion of the field in which
hey had been posted
TREATMENT or THE PRISONERS.
All the barbarities which have been
harged as committed by the Southern
cbels upon their prisoners / am prepar-
ID to believe from the facts coming to my
knowledge during our sojourn in Dixie.
The first three days the authorities is
ued but one small cracker and a halfto
ach man, and but for the contributions
# the middle classes, those without
loney must have suffered. Stinted IA
Ious were issued from Memphis to Mo-
ilc, and from that city, upon the boat
the officers, decaying and alb
olutely ictid corn beef and some mouldv
hackers were about the only rations is
ucd
AT Montgomery, the whole body. (GlO) ,
'as put into a cotton shed, within [
'hich were the sinks, filling the whole I
lace with a fedd smell, which could y
OF fail 10 produce rapid development of