Charles City Republican intelligencer. [volume] (Charles City, Iowa) 1861-1864, 1862-05-01
of the Charles City Tntelligencer.
The Battle of Shiloh.

ed at this place, within the last three
or four days, which may be interest
ing to some of your readers, l will
give you short sketch Of the part
the Iowa 7th took in the battle
that has just been fought, on what
Bcaurcgard calls the Plains of Shiloh
We landed at this place on the 10th
of March, and camped here, until the
morning Of the 9Th inst, without any
thing occurring of special Importance.
During the time, however, our Colonel
81. q. Lauman) was promoted to a
Brigadier General, which left our Reg.
iment under the command of Leuit.-
Col. PARROT. Among the Regiments
in our Brigade at this time, were the
Iowa I'd, It'll, 18th and l4th, command.
cd by Gen. Lauman, and forming the
first Brigade in the second division.
On the 4th inst. Gen. Lauman was
transferred to some other Brigade,
and Gen. Wallace, formerly Colonel of
the Illinois llth, took command of our
Brigade.
On Sunday morning, the 9th inst,
while our Regiment were quietly pre-
pairing for the usual Sunday morning
inspection, heavy firing began on our
extreme left, about two miles from
where our Regiment was camped.
We were Immediately formed into line
and marched off toward the scene Of
action. We marched about one and a
half miles, when we took our position
in line of Battle, the Iowa I'd on our
right the 18th on our left, and the l4th
on the left of the 10Th. BY this time,
about 9 A. NJ, the engagement had be-
come general on the left wing. The
roar of artillery and musketry was
terrific.
Our position was a little to the
right of the centre of the whole line
The 7th was stationed on ridge be-
hind an open field, some forty rods
across, and on the opposite side of
this field the enemy were posted. We
were not long in our position before
they commenced throwing shot and
she'll across the field, which fell thick
all around us, tearing off tree tops and
blowing mp the earth in every direc-
ton at the same time the 18th and
l4th were attacked, but the enemy re.
ceivcd such aoarm reception, that they
had to fall back. BY this time we
could sec the enemy collecting in
large numbers beyond the field, when
one of our Batteries was placed in po
sition on the left of our Regiment, and
threw some shells among them which
made them scatter like flock OF
frightened sheep. Other troops would
Immediately come up and supply their
place, but none of them ventured into
the open field, where they would have
been within reach Of our guns and
thus it happened that the 7th did not
take as active a part in the battle Oh
Sunday as they otherwise probably
would have done.
We held our position in line in thi.
manner until some time after 3 p. NJ
BY this time we had lost, as near as
have been able to learn, five killed ant
a number wounded. Then the orde
came to retreat, and soon our Brigad,
commenced doing SO, each regimen
taking. its own course. The It'll fcl
back in good order for about mile
when it became apparent that on
whole line was falling back, som,
Regiments in good order, while other.
were in utter confusion. In some in
stances, men, horses, ambulances ant
wagons were all moving back TOWARD
the landing in one confused mass
Our Regiment attempted to reform
but the backward current was 81
strong that it was impossible to form
a line. We confined to retreat, bu
were soon fired upon from boil
sides by the advancing foe, and lost O
number of men, among them Lieut.
Dillon of Company G, who was pierced
by no less than four balls. Our mel
kept their places remarkably well
considering the critical position in
which we were placed and if the
emergency had required it, would
have made a desperate struggle te
cut their way through, before surren
dering When we arrived near GU,
camp the Regiment formed in line oil
battle, the Iowa I'd coming up abou,
the same time formed on our right
and shortly aftcrward other Regi
ments coming up, formed on our left,
thus forming line strong enough .n
keep the rebels in check when they
made their appearance.
We now received the news that
Gen. Buel was landing with a large
force, and would soon come to our re.
lief This was cheering news indeed,
and inspired the men with new hope
of final success. We held our position
until dark, then received orders to
sleep on our arms but heavy thun.
der shower coming up, we were ex-
posed to drenching rain nearly all
night, which gave US very little oppor-
tunity for sleep or rest. During the
night Gen. Bnell's forces landed and
took position Oh our left and Gen. Lew
Wallace's division, 10000 strong, who
were stationed at Crumps' Landing,
some six miles below us, and constitu-
tcu lic OMH yeSeTtc VIC Ildu Ou OuHudy,
also arrived and took position on our
left.
On Monday morning Gen. Buell.
opened the battle by attacking and
driving back the enemy on our left /;
and shortly after, our whole line ad-
vanccd and battle ragged fiercely along
the whole line, our forces generally
driving the enemy back but in some
instances were again driven back by
overwhelming numbers. The battle
lasted without intermission until
about 4 2. NJ. By noon our forces
had regained the ground lost the day
before. BY 3 P. NJ, the enemy had
been driven about three miles from
the position he occupied in the NOR
ming, and by 4P. NJ, was completely
routed.
Our loss is very heavy. Onr Kill
led, wounded and prisoners will not
fall short of 10000, and some csti-
mate our loss, still heavier. The loss
Of tho npnn,u 10 v,.,,h rrroo tnp ~ Ill