New-York daily tribune., 1862-05-05
THE REBEL LOSS,


II is impossible to learn the exact ots OF the ene-
N.Y. but from our soldiers and surgeons who were Tor
Q time in his hands, his wounded who are In ours,
and the number of Rebel dead burned by our troops
we can form an intelligent estimate. Gen. McCler.
nand division buried the remains Of 63S Rebels left
upon the field, Gen. Shermans &c., Gen. Nelson's
263, and Col. Thayer's Brigade Of Gen. Lew. Wal
laces division, 1913. These are the only commands
from which returns have been received; but the
most of the other divisions and brigades buried
proportionate number. The Rebels must have lost
4OCO killed, by the moet moderate estimate. After
the battle Capt. Russell of the 9th Ohio counted the
bodies of l26 Rebels lying where they fell, upon a
strip of land less than oneou,th Of mile long, and
80 wards in width. Eleven Of them, in front, had
fallen nearly in line, about five PAGES apart, and
were evidently skirmishefs Col. Thayer Of the let
Nebrasks, in another portion of the field opposite
Gen. Sherman's division, counted 81 dead Rebels,
side by side, who had evidently been killed while in
line of battle, by single volley. Sxty-eight were
counted in front of the ground held by the 18th Ohio,
and 81 in front of the I'D Ohio. A detail of men
from Gen. McCook's division, buried in single
trench l47, including three and
four Majors
The Rebel wounded number less than ours. The
superior efficiency Of ourweepons here as elsewhere
caused much the lager proportion OF deaths on their
side. The surgeons report that the wounds Of the
Rebel soldiers who have fallen into our bands are
generally much more serious than those Of our
troops. Our loss in prisoners is twice as large AZ
theirs. In artillery there is not much difference
.koIl hove int finp a IuVO Or We.
WAS TIE ATTACK 4 suRPRISEf
In tho strict military sense it was not In spite OF
all reports to the contrary, every division was drawn
up in line of battle in front of lis camps before sny
fighting took place, except preliminary skirmlshmg
with the pickets. Gen. Shennans Division was
thus drawn up, and waiting for more than an hour
before the attack upon it, though ii held the advance
After all that has been said abou: bayoneed in
their tents, have been unable 10 learn authtnti-
c,lly of any bayone, wounds whatever, on either
SIDE, except that in the confusion an Ohio Colonel
had a bayonet thrust through bis leg by one Of his
own men, and another Of our soldiers bore marks OF
bavonetinc received after he had been shot. II any
were killed or wounded in their tents, il was probs'
bly, in hospital tents, which was frequently between
the two nes, as they swayed back and forth, and
fought the ground over three and four times
In the ordinary acceptaton Of the word, it ird'
mrprise. Neither Gen. Grant nor Gen. Buell. seems
to have su,pected that Gen. Beauregsrd might adopt
the Napoleonic tactics which 50 nearly proved fatal to
ma Even ON Sunday morning, when the mnsketry
commenced among the pick,,s, our leading division
and brigade commanders thought It false alarm.
In front Of Gen. Shermans divison, one regiment
was on picket duty and the roads were lokcted for
a mile and half from the camp. In trout of Gen.
Prentiss four compauies were thrown ont, pcketing
the uoodo for n uo and quarter. 1her- fvrvrs
were az large, If not larger, than the orders TO the
division commanders called for; but unmlitary oS
servers are Impressed with the idea that our army
within one day march Of q strong and en,erprsing
enemy, should have had q much larger picket force
extending much further from the camps. IL is a.so
unfortunate that Tawest troops-plen who had
obtained their muskeis only two three weeks be-
fore-should have occupied the extreme advance :
but of this materia the division of General
plentiss was almost entirely composed. Finally,
il Is greatly TO be regretted that after the
repulse Of the enemy on Monday night Gen. Buell.
did not pursue. Though the Rebel army had a
strong rear guard and apparently fell back in good
orier the pursuit made by General Sherman and
Genera. Lew. Wallace Oh Tuesday morning found
abundant evidence that they fed in great confusion.
six deserted CAMPS, with all the tents and equiIage
lett behind, immense quantities Of cartridges projec
tiles, -four and other ammunition and commssary
stores, hundreds of tire dead and wounded, abarr
doued guns cassons, and small arms, supply wagons
and ambulances left in the road with the tongues cut
out all indicated a teTor.sricken fight One Of our
officers, who was prisoner in their hands, ftates
that when they were Lalting Fix miles out the scei-
dental discharge Of musket by one of their rear
guard caised Il general stampede, in which grsa;
quantities of arms were thrown away. A prompt
and vigorous pursuit with cavalry and artillery i'm
mediaely after the battle would probably have scat
tered the demoralized army so thoroughly that it
never could have rallied again, and given US posses.
sion OF Corinth, with " valuable stores
GEN. GRANT AND HIS ARMY.
Attempts have been made TO claim the entire credit
of the victory for Gen. Buells army, which, indeed
did admirably; but the relative losses of the two
corps, given above, show the injustice Of tlis. To
my mind, the most oredltabe feature of the whole
battle is the tenacty with which Gen. Grants troops
on Sunday, disputed the ground, inch by incb against
the overwhelming numbers Of the enemy, and final
ly, on their lost line Of battle, made so obstnaie Il
stand as to eiectually check him. before the reen-
forcements had fired gun No ttle-leld in the
West has given evidence Of such terrific, determined
Sighting as there ridges and valleys,
shot-sown, and blsded Thick with steel
where through two long days, these soldiers Of tie
Northwest fought tie flower Of the Rebel troops
Several regiments fought until nearly half Tie men
were killed or wounded; aud in more han ore bh-
gade division the loss exccoos 80 PER cent Of The
effective force at the beginning OF the battle.