There was yet a gap between Sherman and Wallace, but the conflict now raged about Shiloh Church with a fury surpassing any portion of the battle of Sunday. McCook, with his well closed division, McClernand and Sherman with their attenuated but persistent commands, Wallace with his fresh and compact division, with the batteries of Bouton, McAllister, Wood, Thompson, and Thurber, formed a curved line concentrating upon the convex line comprised of part of Clark's division, Wood's brigade, Trabue's brigade, Cheatham's division, and Ruggles' division, with the batteries of Ketchum, Byrne, Bankhead, and others. McClernand, Sherman, and Wallace all speak with admiration of the splendid fighting of McCook's division. Ammunition was becoming exhausted. Buckland withdrew his regiments to fill their boxes. Stuart's brigade, now commanded by Colonel Kilby Smith, plunged forward to make up with renewed vigor for diminished numbers. Wallace's left flank was exposed. The Eleventh Indiana, changing front, faced the danger on its flank. The First Nebraska having used its last cartridge, the Seventy-sixth Ohio leaped to its place. Thompson's battery having expended its last round, Thurber's guns took their place so quickly that there was no intermission in the fire. The Twentieth Ohio, sent off to the right to meet a force springing up in that quarter, met with a sudden discharge at close range, dashed through a fringe of bushes, and drove a battery from the field beyond. Wood's brigade, charging on Rousseau, was knocked to pieces and retired to the rear, where General Wood with the aid of cavalry gathered up 1,500 stragglers into an ineffective reserve. McCook pushed his line forward to Sherman's camp. The lines were pressed closer and the fire was hotter than ever. General Grant called two regiments, and in person led them in a charge in McCook's front, and broke the enemy's line. Endurance has its limits. The intense strain of two days was telling. Beauregard saw his men were beginning to flag; exhausted regiments were dropping out of line. It was now three o'clock. Two hours before, General Beauregard had sent word to his extreme right in Nelson's front, to retire slowly in alternate lines. Breckenridge, put in command of the movement, had drawn Statham's brigade from Crittenden's front. Beauregard was fighting to secure his retreat.