Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1907-04-04
JOHN FE,EHAN ON
BATTLE OF SHILOH
AN ACCOUNT Of THE FAMousT
TWO DAYS STRUGGLE FROM All
PRlvATE's STANDPOINT.
h
WAS DECISIVE CONFLICT
Memorial Exercises VIII &c Held onl
Fighting Ground April 8 and 7-l
Story Of Battle Where 10000 Soldiers
Il and Two Generals Fell.

= ) w y & = ! \
"'rhe battle Of shiio;a was tAe deei,
slv4 battle Of the etyi. war SAID delia
Feeian this morning In speaking OF
9rated In few days On the old battle
ground. The veterans left St. Louis
this morning for the site where both
tie federals and the rebels will min
GLE together two days. April 8'and T..
st, Legis where the. party will
separate and Journey to their homes.
mir. Feheen was n private during this
participated In tas fight. The follow
Ing is Mr.. Feehan's account Of the
famous contest;
Rattls Of shi'eh.
"9'he battle Of Shileh was foughs
Anil 8 ana I, 1859. This struggle i
sometimes called the battle AZ Pitts.
burg'l Landing also, but the name IT
IS generally known BY Is Shiloh, be-
cause Of an old church by that name
Whteh IS situated near the ground
1.-THE rebel army under General Sid.
ney Johnson and we Yankees were I'M
der General Grant. | belonged to thu
division Of W. H. Wallace OF Illinnis.
To the private soldiers this battle Was
complete surprise. The fight start
ed about dayhreak, when the rebels
commenced firing On our line of slSir.
mishers. The skirmishers slowly
backed np into camp, the rebels fol
lowing them and croWding them back.
Our division didn't get into the fight
until about 1920 in the morning.
Our men holly contested every foot
of ground they lost from the time they
were attacked until they reached the
bank OF the Tennessee river, which
was about o'clock in the evening If
the first Cay. Here General Grant
| made his last stand. He massed his
artillery and placed the infantry be-
hind the guns in the ground, to pro-
tect the cannon In case the rebels
charged. Here a tremendous fire was
kept np steadily and the rebels
couldn't stand It.
Genarai Buell. Comes Up.
about $3.50 o'clock Gen, Buell. and
his army came up on the north aide Of
the river to back vs., Buell. brought
his army up as soon as possible. but
he had no hand Ia the frst days bat.
| tie Of Shiloh. In the morning General
Rueil's army opened the flght a. the
aggFessorg and charged the enemy,
beating them out at every point, by
$3.50 O'clock IN the afternoon he had
the rebels In full retreat.
''Fhe hattie Of Shiloh was the first
great battle the Yankees won In .ha
WAr, Il made the north's bonds
stronger and stimulated the entire
United atates to action, II WAS In
reaNty the decisive battle Of the civil
war. General Johnson Of the rebel
force was killed about ] or O'clock
Of the first day and W. r. Wallace. the
leader Of my division was killed about
t8 O'Clock Of the same day. AS near
as ! can remember $4,000 or 10000
men were killed In the fight, about
$4,000 of taese being Yankees.
1.-THE country there was very thinly
Inhabited at the time, It was In real.
ity forest, although there were clear
ed places here and there in the timber.
As | said before, the whole thing was
q surprise to our men. II we had
knoWn they were coming and had had
time to tnroW up breastworks. we
could have had the rebels defeated by
10 o'eleek the first marnins,s