Thomas County cat., 1889-08-22
BACK, BACK, THEIR LINE WAS FORCED.


BACK, BACK, THEIR LINE WAS FORCED.
line during the momentary lulI encouraging
the men to make gallant stand, he heard
a wellknown voice growing:
"Why n thunder didn't they Civ feller
o chance ter git bite ter eat afore they
driv US inter this fight''
"Oh, shet yer mouth, Max, ur a gunner'u
think it's cannon n ram swab inter 1t, "
said a cheerful voice at his side. The
Colonel recognized the gray locks and
slouch hat as belonging to Arkansaw Tom.
alive" sand the Colonel.
The enemy was determined to follow up
every advantage they had gained, and
again poured down upon the army they had
driven from its position. Hooting, yelling,
shouting and screaming like so many fiends
let loose from the internal regions, they
again struck the Union line of battle. The
roar Of firearms and laundering crash of
artillery made the earth and heavens
quake.
This was Shiloh all day long. It was as
II hell had suddenly been uncapped, and
fiends, fire and sulphur tarned upon the
earth. Shot and shell few like rain among
w
firing, but 3 terrific, continuous roar, while
the whole horrible scene was at times
vailed by cloud of smoke. From out the
lines of white vapor there issued cOntinu-
Gus jets of flame which ran along from
line 20 line, never entirely dying away.
my God what a scener' cried an officer
near Colonel Mason.
Well might he so exclcim. As a soldier
xr,I,o cold 70
the writer:
I" 1t tcds q day in heU!'
The incessant roar, the crash Of cannon,
falling of branches and even trees, cut
down by the artillery, the dying men and
horses, and rivulets so tinged by human
gore as to look like streams Of blood, with
piles Of slain in every direction, made
it seem like day in perdltion. The half of
Shiloh never has been. and never can be
told. Ten thousand incidents escape the
minds of narrators every time they at
tempt its description. The narrator only
remembers that for hours the earth trem-
bled. and men fell like grass before the
scythe. Friend and foe were at times so
intermingled that it was difficult to tell one
from the other. Blinded by smoke, deafened
by earthQuaking reports and burning with
was filled with small game, such as abound
in the woods. The poor little birds and ami
mails paralyzed with fear, by that continu-
Gus roar and din, seemed incapable of
flight.
Luke saw birds sitting on limbs from
which they refused to stir until knocked off
by the soldiers or hit by stray shot.
Hares were SO frightened that they sat
crcuched upon ;he ground until kicked over
by the soldiers, and then they would only
hop away short distance and crouch to the
earth again, too much terrified to leave the
field.
1t seemed to Luke the longest day of his
life. 1t seemed as if Joshua had again con-
manded the sun to stand still, and that 1t
would never 60 down. On, that night or
Buell. would come was the prayer Of both
officers and soldiers, Cor every body real
lied that this was Waterloo for one Of the
armies in the field.
1t was five o'clock in the evening, and the
Federals on the right and left of General
Prentiss' brigade had fallen back, and the
rebels taking the advantage they had over
the brigade, swung their lines around
to the rear of it. Luke discovered that
their object was to flank them, and with
what remained Of his regiment succeeded
in cutting his way through to the rear. thus
escaping capture; for almost all the re-
mainder Of the brigade was taken-with
them brave old General Prentiss
1t was nearly night when they finally fell
back under a bluff on which Colonel j. D.
Webster, of General Grants stan, had ar
ranged about twenty five pieces of artillery.
These cannon soon added their thunder to
the general din. Luke was sure he had
never seen artillery handled so effectually
before. Their grape and canister moved
down the Confederates, checked them, and
saved the Union army.
Thus ended q day Of carnage When
night came the firing had almost ceased
A cold rain fell during the night, but men
lay in their ranks on their arms, while al
over the field went up the most piteous
cries and groans Of wounded that ever ear
heard.