Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1906-04-10

LIE OEIU VI w "A SjtJU Ill
squarely, but moved obliquely by Sher-
mans right and front. 1t first fell up
on Prentiss, and was Immediately fol-
lowed by an assault upon Sherman's
left. Thus in the main shock, the fed
eral center and right center We're the
first points Of contact.
General Sherman, going towards
the firing. saw the confederate masses
sweeping %obliquely by, towards his
rebel skirmishers. Here, as this great
ing, he seems to have been
first convinced Of Its bloody inn
port for his report says that he
then became, for the first time, SAT-
isfied, that the enemy designed a de-
termined attack" Sherman's left
pieces, being twice ordered from the
field by it's cowardly colonel, although
the subordinate officers tried to over
come this decentralization. Gaps in the
confederate line were filled from the
rear as fast as they occurred, and its
unity was thus preserved throughout.
The TANKS of the federal detachments
along Sherman's and Prentiss's fronts
were quickly enyeloped. Regiments
NAAA ~ AAASiAlo SSSAA Sol ~
crumble away, not always to rally in
the rear. Wither's division was brought
up or Hardee's right, and one Of it's bril-
gades (Gladden's) hurled headlong to
the attack. Its commander was killed
and shortly afterward its two subse-
quent commanders were wounded.
Jackson and Chalmers enveloped
Hildebrand's brigade to the left of
Shiloh church soon became disinte-
grated, although it's commander did all
possible to hold it.
To the right of Shiloh church
that man of wrath, Clerburne.
plunged through the Doggy val
ley of Oak creek and up. the
On his men struggled only to be met
and hurled back with terrible slaugh-
ter. More than one-third of his men
fell In this short struggle, the 9th
Mississippi losing three hundred kill
ed and wounded out of four hundred
and twenty-five engaged. Buckland's
rear soon became exposed through the
falling black OF H~ildebrand's men.
One, Of MeClernand's brigades, in
the vain effort to stem the torrent Of
confederates pouring through the open
space between Prentiss and Sherman.
a driven back and its commander
the brave Col. Raith, mortally wound
ed.
BY this time the rebel line had been
largely re-enforced from the rear, and
wherever the links in the federal line
vantage was taken of it. MeClernand
had been notified to send forward help
as soon as Sherman had reasoned out
the problem that a serious attack and
not merely a reconnaissance was in
tended, and he toook part whenever
and wherever occasion offered. Ger
tajnly General McClernand did his full
duty. Generally a brigade or a regi-
ment started for the front and, when
the confederates were met, a deadly
conflict ensued, no opportunity Offer
ing for combined movements.
General Sherman, at this time, at.
least. was the conspicuous hero of the
OCCASION, His conduct is said to have
been magnificent, and all that could
have been done to stem the torrent by
one human being was done by him.
His place in history as a strategist
and a great general Is safe, but his
personal genius and presence never
impressed itself so entirely upon and
became a part of the details of a
rroniscuous battle, as upon this oc-
CASTOR.
The confederate left did not reach
far enough To tire federal right to en-
counter McDowelrs brigade, which.
for a time. took no part in the con-
fict. suffering the usual disadvantage
of a defensive line in a blind forest,
of not knowing when and where 1t
was most needed.
Finally at 10 o'clock, General Sher-
man ordered a new line to be estah-
lished along the Purdy road, in the
arrivals from wv. II. l.. Wallace's di-
vision. he fought through the day,
from point to point, until toward ev-
ening he found himself, with a mixed
and depleted command, over two miles
to the rear of his first position, and
on a line with the Landing.
Further to the left, meanwhile, the
AS often as any portion of his men
made a stand, they We're fianked, and
so We're pushed back from point to
point, about half way to the Landing,
end in the vicinity of the. celebrated
Hornets Nest"
General Albert Sidney Johnston.
after the federal right and center, I'M
DIR Prentiss and Sherman, had been
started toward the rear, being salts
fed with the progress of the battle in
that quarter, turned his attention to-
ward the federal left. AS Premises
left had been driven from its position
in the rear of the camp, he appeared
on that portion of the field, and, stop
ping Chalmers and Jackson's brigades
in their onward career, filed them to
the rear until acros a tributary to
Lick creek, when ne conducted them
with Girady.s and Cages battery,
eastward over the high bluffs, and put
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