Life of Wm. Tecumseh Sherman.: Late Retired General. U. S. A.Johnson, Willis Fletcher
History
Life of Wm. Tecumseh Sherman.: Late Retired General. U. S. A.
Johnson, Willis Fletcher
Sherman, William T. (William Tecumseh), 1820-1891
Practically, by 10 o'clock the division was gone. General Prentiss and
the few troops that surrounded him maintained a detached position some
hours longer, till they were completely cut off and surrounded; and the
Rebels signalized their success by marching three regiments, with a
division general, as prisoners, to their rear.
By 10 o'clock, however, this entire division was virtually _hors du
combat_. A deep gap in our front line was made, the Rebels had nearly
pierced through, and were only held back by McArthur's Brigade and
the rest of W. H. L. Wallace's Division, which hurried over to its
assistance.
For the present, let us leave them there. They held the line from this
time until four.
We left Sherman's Brigade maintaining a confused fight, Hildebrand's
about gone, Buckland's and McDowell's holding their ground more
tenaciously. The firing aroused McClernand's Division. At first they
supposed it to be a mere skirmish; perhaps even only the irregular
discharge of muskets by guards and pickets, to clean out their guns--a
practice which, to the disgrace of our discipline be it said, was well
nigh universal--and rendered it almost impossible at any time to know
whether firing meant anything at all, beyond ordinary disorder of our
own soldiers. But the continued rattle of musketry soon undeceived
them, and almost as soon the advance of the Rebels, pouring after
Hildebrand, was upon them.
The division, it will be remembered, lay a short distance in the rear,
and with one brigade stretching out to the left of Sherman's line.
Properly speaking, merely from the location of the camp, McClernand did
not belong to the front line at all. Two-thirds of his division were
entirely behind Sherman. But as the latter fell back, McClernand had to
bear the shock of battle.
His division was composed as follows: First Brigade, Colonel Hare
commanding, Eighth and Eighteenth Illinois, Eleventh and Thirteenth
Iowa; Second Brigade, Colonel C. C. Marsh commanding, Eleventh,
Twentieth, Forty-eighth and Forty-fifth Illinois, Colonels Ransom,
Marsh, Haynie and Smith (the latter is the "lead mine regiment");
Third Brigade, Colonel Raith commanding, Seventeenth, Twenty-ninth and
Forty-ninth Illinois, Lieutenant-Colonels Wood, Farrell and Pease,
and Forty-third Illinois, Colonel Marsh. Besides this fine show of
experienced troops, they had Schwartz's, Dresser's, McAllister's and
Waterhouse's Batteries.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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