The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1888-07-17
THE BATTLEOF SHILOH
Brigadier-Ceneral b. M. Thomas
Reviews the Paper
OF Colonel Jordan Upon Certain Points of
the Battle-Gencral Withers Set Right
what He Says About the Paper.

EDITORS Constitution; In my opinion the
events Of 'Gl-G5 should be left with the impartial
Historical Of the future. elimination and Fecsrni-
ration only serve TO expose cur weak points, while
discussion, however tempsrately conducted, does
not add one oa to the glorie of our Victories or to
the humiliation or cur cefeGts.
But while this is undoubtedly true, Justice to the
dad to the living, and to history, requires and de-
Inands that SANDER should be refuted and a mis-
statement Of facts be confuted.
Colonel Jordan, in last Sundays CONSTITUTION,
makes two direct charges against MAJOR General j.
NJ Withers at the battle of Shioh--1. That General
Withers should have been couftmartialed for stat
ing in his report ofthis battle that after recognizing
his communication Prentisss capture, and when
TO his as;onishment he saw large portion of his
own command move rapidly by the left flank from
under the fire Of the enemy-orders were immedt.
ately sent to arrest the commanding officers, and
Tor the troops to be promptly placed in position TO
charge the batteries.
This statement Of General Withers assert to be
absolutely true.
/ was one of the officers who received this order
from General WiiheTs himself In executing this
order the lrst troops met were the 18th Alabama
regiment, Jackson brigade, under command of
captain whose name ] do not now recall, but who
told me he had received a verbal order through a
staff oiher Of General Beauregard to fall back be-
yond the fire of the enemys gunboats TheI next
command met was the 18th Alabama of the same
brigade. whose commanding officer made similar
statement. then rode back and reported this in
formation to General Withers who was astounded
and severely indignant Not because OF breach of
military etiquette, but because he realized that vic
tory had been snatched from the grasp oil his en-
thusiastic troops at the moment of speedy and
certain realization.
General WitAers, after receiving my report, or.
dcred his command to take shelter for the night in
the first camp of the enemy Immediately or directly
in the OF the position his troops then occupied
and that his front be covered by chain of senti-
nels. This was done. In my capacity of assistant
inspectOr-general rode from right TO left, exam
ined the topography O the ground, assisted in post
ing the seutncls andssby General Withers's order
visited them at Intervals during the night. So far
as know, General WitheTs was the only division
commander who took this precaution.
il vas his design to occupy personally for the
night large frame house which faced the line of
tents occupied by his troops, and on the opposite
side Of the public road, between his command and
his sentinels bat finding the house filled with the
dead and dying, he slept in tent among his own
troops, General Hardee having appropriated to his
own use an adjoining tent
Now, should be pleased to know by what pro-
cess of reasoning Colonel Jordon arrives the CON
clus on that Colonel Martin had better title to
those tents than General Withers? That camp was
an extensive one, and was undoubtedly occupied by
scattered commands from almost every organization
As Colonel Jorion devotes considerable valuable
space to the alleged effectiveness of the fire from
the enemy's gunboats think it proper to say now
that lay that night on a blanket by the side OF
yard above mentioned; that he and watched the
shells ms they passed high over our heads, and we
did not notice one of them so low as to touch the
tops of the highest trees. Judging by the apparently
aWiu conservation and beWildennent that pre-
vailed in that quarter am inclined TO the opinion
terrific violence at or about Shiloh church.
IN his attempt to substantiate his second charge
against General Withers, Colonel Jordan quotes
ienslYey from CARRIED official reports of this battle
III reality what does he succeed in proving? That
the different commands in our army were shattered.
This no one has ever disputed. But Colonel 10, dan
nImseA, IN proving TINS proves also tn&t these
shattered commands had been reorganized, a new
line OF battle formed, and forward movement
commenced and arrested as he himself admits by
General Beauregards own order Proof falling
him here, Colonel Jordan jumps to the violent con-
clcsion that further forward movement would
lFgf IA y ito lxv
the following alleged reasons: LIST. That
there was only about thTee-quarters of an hour of
daylight which could have been utilized in charging
a battery three or four hundred yards distant 2,
That this was battery OF fifty guns according to
Colonel Jordans statement but generally plaC ed at
only twenty-three guns by federal writers) de-
Tended by Ammens brigade and some scattered
squads from Grants routed army
Now, admitting both of these statements to be
true does not tie conclusion inevitably follow that
complete victory would have finally crow ned that
army which had been victorious since day
light, driving the enemy from position after
position, capturing battery after baHery2 That
army which had conquered the enemy in his last
most desperate struggle-a struggle for which he
had collected the very cream Of his army--a strug-
gle in which he had fought with valor that never
will be surpassed-fought until killed wounded or
After Premises capture, and not until then, did
Johnson's glorious columns halt in their onward
march to victory The halt was but temporary
Ammunition issued, lines reformed, onward they
moved suddenly this victorious army is haltedl
Not from fear of an alleged formidable battery de-
but because OF the fire from the gunboats. Bah
Colonel Jordan presumes TO criticise General Al
bert Sidney Johnson for what he is pleased to term
want Of activity and strategy some time preceding
the battle Even if true the criticism wouldbe totally
irreveldnt Any one who saw General Johnson on
the 9Th OF April, 1852 riding rapidly from point TO
point, watching every phase OF the battle keeping
his staa, and the stat Of every other general Aging
from point to Point, while he himself was keenly
alert 70 make dispositions to meet every emergency
must have been forced TO the conclusion that had
not death prevented he would surely have watered
his morse in the Tennessee river that night.
Colonel Jordan accuses tive corps commanders,
Generals Bragg and Polk, ana two division com
manders Generals Withers and Hardee, of insub-
ordination IN ntimating, in their reports, that a
fatal blunder had been committed at tina battle of
Shiloh. What does Colonel Jordan's accusation
amount to when arrayed against truth?
While brigade ana regimental commanders sup
pressed this well authenticated fact in their reports
in doing this they were influenced by discipline
and by respect for n man so distinguished before
aud after that unfortunate event.
AS to Colonel Jordan's 1.-TWO honest opinions"
history will record two for al eternity-Beaure-
CARDS stan on side, the army of the Tennessee
on the other.
b. NJ. THOMAS