Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1882-02-02
The Story of Shiloh.

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three most desperate and important
battles of the war. Never yet has the
full story been told of those two tenn
pestuous days upon which hung 30
much of alternate hope and doubt, not
only to the armies engaged, but to the
cause they represented. The fighting
was not scientific, but it was resolute,
intrepid and solemnly practical. There
were no entrenchmants, and few op-
portunities for maneuvering. Men
stood up and shot each other down as
in duel-not for a few vivid mo-
ments at a time, but necessarily for
hours upon hours, amid an uproar of
shot and shell and crashing musketry
that drowned speech and almost made
thought impossible. Never before in
this country had life been rated so
cheaply, or death met with 30 much of
scorn and lofty unconcern; never after
that, did either side, in other fields,
distrust the thorough and tenacious
courage of its adversary.
All the previous engagements of the
war had been skirnishes in compari-
son. This one was a battle. The best
blood of the west and south met there,
and on the issue of the combat de-
pended il great measure the ulti-
mate possession of the Mississippi. It
seemed as if every soldier understood
this, and bore himself accordingly.
Brigades and battalions, even compa-
nies and fugitive squads, clung to those
miserable hills and ravines around the
old Shiloh church. and about the
melancholy river landing, as though
they were family altars, and wives and
children were being there literally
fought for. We have said there were
no defenses. But there were ambus-
cades, we shall never forget. The
regiment to which the writer belonged
Heaven bless those of the brave fell
lows who still survive, and rest the
soul of those who diedi-was wakened
from its tents at daybreak and hurried
to the front, marching straight into
trap, and losing hundred and twenty
men including every field eficer but
one, before it had a chance to fire
shot. Other commands met similar
or more disastrous fortune. The
tragedy of the unsuspected lurked
everywhere; and everywhere men faced
it in fashion that repeated Thermop-
ylae.
1t was a surprise, yes; but it was
victory also. And the victory was
won before the coming of Buell.. The
last determined rebel charge, under
Beauregard, had been repulsed, and
the enemy compelled to fall back all
along the line, before a man of Buell's
army reached the field. They came in
time to help drive Beauregard back to
Corinth, but he was whipped already.
Grant, and not Buell., won Shiloh. But
they said Grant was drunk, which was
infamously false; and the subterranean
Halleck was sent to supercede him.
What the soldiers thought about it who
had been in the thick of the fray was
illustrated not long afterwards when
one day on the advance to Corinth,
Grant rode along the line in his mod
est way as if merely a stranger at leis-
ure among curious scenes. But he
was no stranger to the boys who had
been with him at Shiloh. AS they rec.
ognized him, their caps came off, and
such shout went up as had not been
heard since the wars beginning. No
subsequent ovation, we are sure, has
ever touched the great soldier as that
one did. Certainly then, if never be-
fore or since, his hand trembled as he
lifted his hat, and there were tears in
his eyes. The boys were right. They
knew how basely their leader had been
led about; and as soon as Mr.. Lincoln
got at the facts, he put the matter to
rights, and said in his quaint way, you
remember, that if he knew what brand
of whisky Grant had used at Shiloh,
he would send barrel apiece of it to
all the union commanders.
The whole story is brought back
afresh by recent speech of Gen. Prem
tiss at soldiers meeting in Cincinnati.
Gen Prentiss, it will be recollected,
was in front of the fight at Shiloh, and
was taken prisoner on Sunday, with
all that remained of his command. We
believe he has never before publicly
given his version of that battle, though
much has been said by others about his
share in it. He states emphatically
that he was not captured in the morn
ing, as asserted In some of the reports
and histories, bat that he held his
ground until 5 80 o'clock in the evening
several hours after Sherman had given
way on his left, and the line on his
right had been broken and driven back
The story so freely told that Grant was
tardy in reaching the battlefield, hi
disposes of conclusively by declaring
that Grant gave orders to him in per
son as early as $50 o'clock in the morn
ing, before the engagement had really
become general. "Shiloh was a sur
prise" he says, "in one way; in another
it was not. To this extent we wer,
surprised" 1t was not battle of di
J visions, he goes on to remark, but o.
regiments, and companies, and ever
individuals. The people Of the tw,
} sections learned there, for the frs
time. that neither had any advantag'
in personal courage; and ever after that
while hostilities lasted, each side Tough
with full realization of the fact that i
was American against American
There were other bloody and terribl
battles, but never match for this one
we think, in square, open, step-by-ste1
, courage and endurance; and it shoul,
so 60 into history.
Emigration of Colored People from
South Carolina.
Charleston Is. c. News
The emigration Of colored peopl
: from South Carolina threatens to com
: plicate serious affairs in this state. A
, this time it is impracticable to tel
; what is the extent of the movement
} but it is startling to hear that alread,
entire plantations have been left with
. out laborers, and that the emigrants ez
, pect to fare better in Arkansas tha,
| they have in this state. The colore
} people who 60 to Arkansas viii mos
a. a. - -