The National tribune., 1882-11-09
BUELL,S LAURELS.
The Situation at Shiloh Reviewed - Who Won
the Day!

To the Editor NATIONAL TRIBUNE:
| would not for moment withhold any part
of the need of praise that belongs to Ruelrs
army or to any part Of it. But in justice TO
Grants army of $1,000, who, unassisted, fought
at Shiloh on Sunday, the 9th of April, 1862, an
army of $1,000 men under A. Sidney Johnston,
| protest against quotation given below.
In that unequal contest, from three p. III. until
after shutdown, and before q man of BueIls
army crossed the Tennessee, from our new line
of battle extending from the bluffs at Pittsburg
Landing to Snake Creek, we twice repealed the
whole rebel army. In THE TRIBUNE of Octo-
Der 18th, DR.. A. w. Ellis, of Hamilton, Ohio,
is credited with saying at the Reunion of the
Army of the Cumberland, at Milwaukee, Wis
cOnsn:
"In my imagination I am once more amid
that surging crowd of panic-stricken men on
that awful Sunday night. In front victorious
and defiant enemy; at our backs foaming
river; in our hearts determination to do or to
die. Twenty minutes more and all would have
been lost, with all the terrible consequences
calculate them who can-Of such q misfortune.
On came the rebel hosts, anticipating an easy
victory. Since early morning they had pushed
| Grants flying troops, and now, in this last
charge, they would complete their work of
destruction. On, on they came, until we almost
saw the whites of their eyes and then the red
| light blazed from Nelson's guns, and, as the
! living wall in front of us ebbed away like a
great wave, the gallant Fourth division sent up
the first shout of victory that ever went up
from the Army OF the Cumberland. How that
cheer still fingers in my brain. The tide was
turned. The field was saved. The old war
hOrse-the Ursu5 Major of the quarter-decll-
was there w WE Iy9utpd him and thora ba
will ever remain i'll the memories of the gallant
men whom he led to that torn, trampled, and
war-swept field"
The above is fiction in its assumption and
statement, Twenty minutes more and all
would have been lost Sherman's, McCler-
nand's Hurlbut's, and W. II. /. Wallace's di-
visions, with more than fifty pieces of artillery,
were in line of battle, and were intact. They
were not disorganizad mob but an army con-
fident of victory. And if Buells army had
never come, victory would have been ours.
Every man who was on the field after the bat
tie knows that the rebels lost two men to our
one. Their loss on that fatal Sunday was not
less than $4,000. Their whisky was used up.
Their drunken frenzy was over. Their regi-
mcnts, brigades, and divisions were as badly
dcmoralized as ours. They had no new men to
put into the fight Monday, while we had
Lew. Wallaces division of 10000 men! All
arrangements for an advance movement had
been made without regard to Buell. and before
he came; and the forlorn condition of Grants
army before the coming of Buell. was in the
imagination of newspaper reporters, whose va
pOringS have been adopted largely by the men
who have written history up to this time
Certainly the coming and crossing Of Buelrs
army on the night Of the 9th of April made the
driving of the enemy much easier and more
rapid than it would have been otherwise; but
that Grants army was in danger of capture or
of final defeat is mistaken idea