Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1894-05-29
4 R1nIslscsNce OF SHILOH.
story .f s.mos. Hattie by . Private whs
wss Thew.


Was There.
Would you like 20 have priyaie's
opinion of the battle of shilohf' Asked
veteran Of the civil war Receiving
an Affirmative r,sponsc. hc pru"ce'led.
Iwas q farmer. lad In northern iii.
nois AMI Joined the fifty.hfth Illinois
In it, march south when was ~ y,ars
old Ny experience was that % every
boy under similar circumstances.
Buoyed up by enthusiasm AMI natural
youthful spirits, ] took kindly Ia the
drill and In short while considered
myself q mo,lel soldier ! was admitted
to IL an excellent shot and took great
pride In my target practica
'In the spring ~ is6a. during the
frst few days In April, ! hal all ,he
chanc. desired for target practice and
ayailcd myself % H. A. every ono
know. Grant was In charge of tho
Union fOrccs and had landed about 35,
600 men down below the little Shiloh
chapel at place called Pittsburg Land
ing. The Confc,lcra,c- had b~cn run cut
Of Nashville and wrr. concentrating all
their forces a, Corinth. q little place
over the line In Mississippi. while
Grants object was to cut on their COM
munications In western Tennessee
People may say what they please
about General Grants intentions AMI
plans and knowledge of ths enemy at
shiloh. but have never yet seen q pri.
yate who did not admit that the attack
by General Albert Sydney Johnston ON
the morning Of the 9th was well plan
ned AMI complete surprise ! do not see
how the Union army could have bo.n
surprised more perfectly.
Take our own regiment. for example.
We were, most IL us, cleaning our guns
or sitting around talking A few were
playing cards. while others were telling
them they had better 10 going 20 church
I was myself practicing at . target
down by the crcck. where . large crowd
Of the boys were washing We had heard
continuous musket firing since very
early In the morning. but ~ this hap
pened every day no attention was paid
10 It. Some of us were surprised at the
cannonading we heard. and one man
mentioned IL. but that was all
Presently volley of musketry opened
mp right In our faces, and not 90 yards
from US was tho front line of the rebels
Talk Of surprisesl II you had seen our
men running and dodging through the
woods that morning. some without
boots, some without hats OF coats, some
even without shirts and nearly all with
out guns you would need no further
evidence 20 convince you a. 10 the COM
pletencss of the surprise Why, we
didn't havea single picket or guard out
Well, at first IL was simply n race,
but as soon as the camp was cleared out,
which was very speedily done, the race
stopped. for the Conf~leratcs at once
abandoned ms In order To plumber our
tentA This gave nearly all our men the
time necessary 90 escape
The fifty.ffth had scattered In every
direction. ~ had anumber of other regi'
rnentA found myself running along
with q member Of some Michigan regi'
ment. and having been down ut the creek
washing when the enemy came MP he
had ON not thing except q pair OF draw.
erS There were few of the enemy still
following us. and as bullet came wh.z.
Iing along and scraped the inside Of his
arm he turned OF TO one side and ran
on down the ravine while ] cut acros-
o little open place M fast ~ could to
some denser timber. The bullets whixzcd
around me I'm quite lively manner "A
was going across the open, but NJ soon
- got under cover I determined TO turn
the tables
Il now became almost like squirrel
hunting CO game Of hide and seek
Away on TO my right wa . bluecoat,
while opposite him ~ oppo-its me were
several rebels watching chance 10 pick
us Oh. We were better shots than they
were, however. and they showed their
realization Of Il, after few shots, by
keeping behind trees Presently ] saw .
rebel creeping up till he got behind the
front trce In the opposite timber, oh.
liqusly on 70 my right. and Just where he
could get good shot at the Union sol.
der ON my side. He did not scc me at
sll, and fog the first time since entered
the army ! took deliberate aim ut sin.
gls human being.
Firing ~ oue Of . crowd ~ another
crowd 10 . very different thing from
picking out IN individual human being
and dslibsrately taking his life away.
This thought naAhsd through my mind