The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1865-01-19

ened as we were by the absence of Buell.:
army, long expected, of Lew. Wallace
division, only four miles off, aud the flu.
gitives from our ranks, we had beaten of
our assailants for the time. At the same
time, our Army of the Tennessee have
INDUCED in severe criticisms at the slow
approach of that army which knew the
danger that threatened us from the con-
centrated armies of johnson, Beauregard
and Bragg, that lay at Corinth. In war
like this, where opportunities for person
al prowess are as plenty as blackberries,
to those who seek them at the front, all
such examinations should be frowned down;
and where it not for the military charac-
ter of your journal, l would not venture
to offer correction to very popular er
ror.
will also avail myself of this occasion
to correct another very common mistake
in attributing to Gen. Grant the selection
of that battle field. 1t was chosen by that
veteran soldier, Major-Gen. Charles f.
Smith, who ordered my division to disem-
bark there, and strike for the Charleston
Railroad. This order was subsequently
modified by his ordering Hurlbut's divis-
ion to disembark there, and mine higher
er up the Tennessee to the mouth of Yel-
low Greek, to strike the railroad at Burns
vile. But foods prevented our reaching
the railroad, when Gen. Smith ordered
me in person also to disembark at Pitts
burg Landing, and take post well out, SO
as to make plenty Of room, with Snake
and Lake creeks the fanks Of a camp for
the grand army of invasion.
1t was Gen. Smith who selected that
field field of battle, and it was well chosen.
On any other we surely would have been
overwhelmed as both Lick and Snake
creeks forced the enemy to confne his
movements to direct front attack, which
new troops are better qualified to resist
than where fanks are exposed to real or
chimerical danger. Even the divisions
of that army were arranged in that camp
BY Gen. Smiths orders, nay division for
ming, as it were, the outlayng pickets,
while McClernand's aud Prentiss' were
the real line of battle, with W. Il. l..
Wallace in support Of the right wing g,and
Hurlbut of the left; Lew. Wallace's di-
vision being detached. All these subor-
dinate dispositions were made by the or
der of Gen. Smith, before Gen. Grant
succeeded him to the command of all the
forces up the Tennessee-headquarters,
Savannah. If there were any error in
putting that army on the west side of the
Tennessee, exposed to the superior force
of the enemy also assembling at Corinth,
the mistake was not Gen. Grant's-but
there was no mistake. 1t was necessary
that a combat, fierce and bitter, to test
the manhood Of the two armies, should
come off, and that was as good as any
1t was not then a question OF military
skill and strategy, but of courage and
pluck, and am convinced that every life
lost that day to US was necessary for
otherwise at Corinth, at Memphis, at
Vicksburg, we would have found harder
resistance, had we not shown our enemies
that, rude and uDtutored as we then were,
we could fight as well as they.
Excuse SO long letter. which is very
unusual for me; but Of course my life is
Liable to cease at any moment, and hap
pen to be a witness to certain truths
which are now beginning to pass out OF
memory, and form what is called history.
| also take great pleasure in adding that
nearly all the new troops that at Shiloh
drew from me official censure have more
than redeemed their good name; among
them that very regiment which first broke,
the SD Ohio, Col, Appen. Under an
other leader, Col. Jones, it has shared ev
cry campaign aud expedition of mine
since, is with me now, and can march and
bivouac and fight as we'll as the best regi
ment in this or any other army Its rep
utation now is equal to that of any from
the State Of Ohio.
am, with respect, yours truly,
w. T. SHERMAN, or-General.