Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1880-01-23

well. Yanks," said one Of our sol
diers, "you got Us at Fort Henry and
Donelson, but we are too much for
you this time
"You are mistaken, returned one
of the prisoners. You haven't whip
ped us-by a id sight; but we
haven't got a general who is worth a
d-nl'
Where's Grant2p returned the
Confederate.
"Grant?' replied the prisoner +;
Grant is up the river on a gun boat
drunk as hill"
In his official report of the battle of
Shiloh, General Beauregard recited
the splendid victory of the first day,
and closed by the statement that
might stopped the pursuit" A true
soldier will do justice, not to the
leaders of an army alone, but to the
privates and subordinates as we'll,
During the summer of 1864, while
General Hood was holding Atlanta, |
met and conversed with the governor
of Tennessee, Isham G. Harris, now
Senator Harris from that State. Sena-
tor Harris stated that before and dur
ing the battle of Shiloh he was a vol
unteer aide on the staff of General
Johnston and Beauregard-reporting
TO the latter after the former fell. Re
ferring to the blunder committed by
our troops in not following up our vic
tory on the first day, | asked Cover
nor Harris as to his impression of the
time of day when the Confederate
troops were called off. 1.-THE sun was
at least an hour and a half or two
hours high" he replied, when |
noticed one division of our soldiers
falling back and stacking arms. |
asked the officer in command why in
Gods name he was performing the
~retrograde movement. He replied
that he had his orders to do so from
General Beauregard. / begged Of
him to hold until | could see General
Beauregard (then in command) and
told him there must be some mistake.
/ at once hunted up General Beaure-
gard and asked . him If he had
sent such an order when he said
that he had. | begged of him to let
our men press on-gather the fruits of
the victory while in TOUR grasp. | told
him the Federals, about 10000 and
unarmed, were covering under the
banks of the river, and that all we
had to do was to press on and make a
clean sweep. | reminded him that
Buell. was on the further side of the
river with 10000 men; that if he were
permitted to come up and join Gen.
Grants troops on the morrow, that
they would have us at a fearful disad-
vantage and that we should lose all
we had gained. Gen. Beauregard only
smiled atmy forebodings; said the men
were tried; hat John Morgan would
keep Buell. k; that we would rest
on what v. lad accomplished, and
gather up the fruits of the victory to-
morrow. [ felt, Governor Harris
added, that General B~eauregard would
regret the loss OF mat our the long
est day he lived"
And | suppose he does. The idea
that John Morgan, with not more than
300 cavalrymen, could hold in check
10000 infantry, was extraordinary
and all this shows that Senator Harris
is a far ADLER general than Beauregard
Sure enough, next morning Buell.
had crossed. Our decimated lines
tried hard to withstand twice the
number of fresh and r~e-inspirited
troops. We lost all we had gained the
first day-,with the singing reflection
to console US that, under even
mediocre %generalship, the second day
battle ought never to have been fought.
Our soldiers had opened the way to
Cincinnati, but our general in COM
mand blocked it by a word.