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
Some of the most interesting incidents of the battle are given by Col.
Douglas Putnam, Jr., of the Ninety-second Ohio Infantry, in a paper
read before the Ohio Commandery of the Loyal Legion: "With the consent
of General Grant, I was permitted to accompany him to the field as a
volunteer aid. As we approached Crump's Landing, where the division of
Gen. Lew Wallace was stationed, the boat was rounded in and the
engines stopped. General Wallace, then standing on the bank, said, 'My
division is in line, waiting for orders.' Grant's reply was, that as
soon as he got to Pittsburg Landing and learned where the attack was,
he would send him orders.... After getting a horse, I started with
Rawlins to find General Grant; and to my inquiry as to where we would
likely find him, Rawlins's reply, characteristic of the man, was,
'We'll find him where the firing is heaviest.' As we proceeded, we met
the increasing signs of battle, while the dropping of the bullets
about us, on the leaves, led me in my inexperience to ask if it were
not raining, to which Rawlins tersely said, 'Those are bullets,
Douglas.' When, on meeting a horse through which a cannon-ball had
gone, walking along with protruding bowels, I asked permission to
shoot him and end his misery, Rawlins said, 'He belongs to the
quartermaster's department; better let them attend to it.' We soon
found General Grant. He was sending his aids in different directions,
as occasion made it necessary, and he himself visited his division
commanders one by one. He wore his full uniform, with the
major-general's buff sash, which made him very conspicuous both to our
own men and to those of the enemy. Lieut.-Col. J. B. McPherson, acting
chief of staff, remonstrated with him, as did also Rawlins, for so
unnecessarily exposing himself, as he went just in the rear of our
line of battle; but he said he wanted to see and know what was going
on. About eleven o'clock he met General Sherman on what was called
Sherman's drill-ground, near the old peach orchard. The meeting was
attended with but few words. Sherman's stock had become pulled around
until the part that should have been in front rested under one of his
ears, while his whole appearance indicated hard and earnest work. The
bullets were plenteous here. Sherman told Grant how many horses he had
had killed {108} under him, showing him also the marks of bullets in
his clothing. When Grant left Sherman, I think I was the only aid with
him. Riding toward the right, the General saw a body of troops coming
up from the direction of Crump's Landing, and exclaimed with great
delight and satisfaction, 'Now we are all right, all right--there's
Wallace.' He was of course mistaken, as the troops he saw were not
those he so earnestly looked for, and of whose assistance he was
beginning to feel the need. About two o'clock, at one point were
gathered General Grant and several of his staff. The group consisted
of Grant, McPherson, Rawlins, Webster, and others. This evidently drew
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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