The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1862-04-19

the BATTLE At PlTTSBuRo
was &c Defeat or . Victory
[From the Correspondence Of the Cincinnati Gazette
RxBsLs ABANDONING PROVISION TRAINS AMI
THROWING AWAY ARxs.
The rebels abandoned large quantities of pro
perty. A mile or two from Shiloh (the church
on the edge Of our lines, where Beauregard had
bis headquartersl long trains Of wagons-most
ly;loaded with provisions-got fast In the mud
They abandoned them, but took care to 20 alone
before leaving and break OF al the tongues
They seemed 70 imagine that that would serve
like spikiDg gun, to disable it eifectually. The
amount Of provisions abandoned was immense.
The rebels had evidently como TO stay. Floul
was scattered over acres on acres on either side
Of the road, till in places it looked as IL 1t had
showed -four, and that the storm was heavier
than had ever been seen before by the Oldest
inhabitant
There were some signs, too, of rapid retreat
Monday evening. In one place sabres, muskets
and accoutrements could be picked up in any
quantity. Elsewhere, through the woods and
along the road, were abandoned blankets, clothes
and arms Of every description.
At one point, in the fields mile or two be-
yond our lines, they seemed TO have carried oul
most of their dead, who were killed in the battle
on Sunday, for burial. Acres were thickly dot.
ted with the bodies.
FUTURE MOVEMENTS.
There are no present Indications that We are
to follow up our victory with the vigor many
will doubtless expect. The army has passed
through very severe battle, in which some Of
its brigades and regiments, and nearly all it's di
visions, were more or less disorganized. Weeks
will be required to put the army in as good
shape AZ it was before the battle. The roads
too, just now, are impossible. And it is under
stood that Gen. Grant is not permitted by bis
orders to pursue, or to move from his present
positions. It is said he couldn't have moved out
to attack Johnston if the latter had even come
and leisurely pitched his tents within three miles
Of our lines.
We are expecting Gen. Haleck by Friday
night or Saturday morning. to take the command
in person. He may 60 into things with dash
but should doubt it yet. He is taking com
mand of somewhat disorganized army. He
will hardly risk his first movemen Mt with it till il
Is again in good condition to meet the enemy
1t will take some time, too, for him to ia.
miliarize himself with the minute details of hit
position, to learn his officers, and, in general
get his bearings. At any rate there is no posi-
bility now of our moving till he comes.
ABOUT BULLS FORCES
Gen. Nelson's Division, forming the advance
arrived at Savannah Saturday night and Sunday
morning Crittenden's followed soon after
McCook marched all day Sunday to get up in
time for the fight on Monday. Woods got in
just as the battle was closing. Gen. Garfield now
has brigade in it. Thomas Division brought
n n tho and pot in nm Tuoodsy
Thus all the divisions of Buell's army are here,
excepting Mitchell's You doubtless know bet.
ter where it is than we do
MAI. GEN. C. +. SMITH.
1t was matter of universal regret that this
brilliant officer was not able to participate in the
battle. For several weeks he has been confined
to his room, and sometimes to bis bed, by a Sc.
we're attack of govt and combination of other
diseases. HIS distinguished GOODNESS on the bat
tle-feld, his more than third of century's &C.
tive experience, would have gone largely to pre-
venting the disasters of Sunday.
THE GUNBoArs.
1t is barely possible there may be some COM
plant about the gunboats killing our own men
in the cannonade on Sunday night. 1t is true, I
believe, that they did An officer of one OF
them informs me that he estimates the number
thus killed at twenty; but it was better to lose
those twenty than to lose the cannonade. Firing
in the dark, and in the general confusion Of
our lines, and the advance and change of posi-
tioDs during the night, it is only wonderful that
they did not do more of this unavoidable dam.
age than they did.
UNDER WHAT NAME
There is no tom of Pittsburgh where the bat.
tie was fought. There is simply tolerably good
place for boats to land. at which much of the
freight for the lower Tennessee, coming from
Memphis and Corinth by rail, seems to have
been shipped. The place is known to the PEG.
pie OF the country simply as Pittsburgh Landing,
and Pittsburgh Landing should be the name Of
the battle. As the greatest ever fought on this
continent, with ten times as many troops en-.
gagged as at New Orleans, thirteen times as many
as at Buena Vista, and nearly twenty thousand
more than the Allies had at Alma, it deserves at
least its proper name.
WHAT IT ALL AMOUNTS TO.
Was it defeat? Certainly not If man
attempts to knock me down, and the matter ends
in Dy knocking him down, I'm not defeated
At the same time, must know how much I've
hurt him, and how badly I'm hurt myself, before
l can determine whether I'd better gloriiy over
it much or not.
Johnston and Besuregard attempted to drive
US into the river, and the matter ended in our
a defeat. But was it decisive victorys We
are yet without facts sufficient to form satis
factory opinion. If they were defeated so bad.
~ on Monday as to turn their retreat into
rout; or if the killing of Johnston, the repulse
OF the great army on which their last spasmodic
efforts have been concentrated, and the defeat
OF the pet Beauregard whom they looked upon
as invincble, should produce Encouragement
and decentralization enough in their ranks to
prevent their making a firm stand at Corinth ;
then the victory was--or might be nade-the
most decisive of the war. But if (as is insisted
by those who ought to know best, and as seemed
to me, judging from all could see and learn, to
be the case) their retreat was conducted in good
order and without confusion, and if they are
able to perfect their defences 1T Corinth and
prepare for vigorous resistance before we attack
them, the greatest battle OF the war, instead of
deciding anything, will become mainly success
in regaining camps from which we had been
driven by surprise.
As to the fighting, the case is greatly in our
favor The rebels selected their time and place
of attack, bounced upon far inferior force, and
performed feat that military writer's declare
is impossible in well.disciplined army-effected
a complete surprise. A stronger combination
of circumstances against US could hardly be i'm
agined. Yet we finally repulsed them
LossEs-KnLED, WOUNDED, ARTIL-
LERY, PRISONERS, ETC.
Nor do the books post so badly. We all be-
lieve here that their loss in killed and wounded
is considerably larger than ours. Certainly it is
no less. They took good many guns from US,
but we got them all back again on Monday, and
a few of theirs beside, including at least one
fine steel riAed piece.
The balance of prisoners is against US. They
took at one swoop the chief portions of three
regiments. At various other times they picked
isolated fragments of companies and squads
Altogether they must have from three 10 four
Or five Thousand of our men. And to head the
list, they have one of our Division Generals
We, on the other hand, took comparatively few.
nessee; and the opening to the advance Of 1907
600 Union soldiers, flushed with victory, the
States of Mississippi Alabama, Louisiana and
Texas.
All this has been accomplished by men who,
until they were brought together before Fort
Donelson, had never faced the peril of SOL
der's life; men $50 hastily drawn together from
the -four quarters of the Northwest that hardly
any two regiments had ever met under the same
brigade organization" These raw leves have
been hurled against the moat formjdobIa for,;6