Campfire and battlefield : $b an illustrated history of the campaigns and conflicts of the great Civil WarRidpath, John Clark
History
Campfire and battlefield : $b an illustrated history of the campaigns and conflicts of the great Civil War
Ridpath, John Clark
United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Campaigns; United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Pictorial works
In the afternoon a gap occurred between General Prentiss's division
and the rest of the line, and the Confederates were prompt to take
advantage of it. Rushing with a heavy force through this gap, and at
the same time attacking his left, they doubled up both flanks, and
captured that general and two thousand two hundred of his men. On this
part of the field the day was saved by Col. J. D. Webster, of General
Grant's staff, who rapidly got twenty guns into position and checked
the Confederate advance. They then attempted to come in on the extreme
left, along the river, by crossing a ravine. But more guns were
brought up, and placed on a ridge that commanded this ravine, and at
the same time the gunboats _Tyler_ and _Lexington_ moved up to a point
opposite and enfiladed it with their fire. The result to the
Confederates was nothing but a useless display of valor and a heavy
loss.
[Illustration: A FEDERAL GUNBOAT.]
[Illustration: BRIGADIER-GENERAL GEORGE W. CULLUM.]
[Illustration: MAJOR-GENERAL SCHUYLER HAMILTON.]
{102} [Illustration: FINAL STAND OF THE ARMY OF GENERAL GRANT, APRIL
6, 1862, NEAR PITTSBURG LANDING.]
The uneven texture of Grant's army had been shown when two green
colonels led their green regiments from the field at the first fire;
and the {103} stragglers and deserters, having no opportunity to
scatter over the country, necessarily huddled themselves together
under the bank of the river at the landing, where they presented a
pitiful appearance. General Grant says there were nearly five thousand
of them. There was about an equal number of deserters and stragglers
from Johnston's army; but the nature of the ground was not such as to
concentrate them where the eye could take them all in at one grand
review. With the exception of the break when Prentiss was captured,
Grant's line of battle was maintained all day, though it was steadily
forced back and thirty guns were lost.
Beauregard discontinued the attack at nightfall, when his right was
repelled at the ravine, intending to renew it and finish the victory
in the morning. He knew that Buell was expected, but did not know that
he was so near.
Lew Wallace was now in position on the right, and Nelson on the left,
and all night long the boats were plying back and forth across the
Tennessee, bringing over Buell's army. A fire in the woods, which
sprang up about dusk, threatened to add to the horrors by roasting
many of the wounded alive; but a merciful rain extinguished it, and
the two armies lay out that night in the storm. A portion of the
Confederates were sheltered by the captured tents, but on the other
hand they were annoyed by the shells constantly thrown among them by
the gunboats.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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