Shiloh National Military Park, TennesseeDillahunty, Albert
History
Shiloh National Military Park, Tennessee
Dillahunty, Albert
Shiloh National Military Park (Tenn. and Miss.); Shiloh, Battle of, Tenn., 1862
The death of Johnston caused a lull in the battle on the right flank for
about an hour. The situation was relieved somewhat by the fact that a
second in command was on the field. Gen. Pierre G. T. Beauregard was in
charge of headquarters which had been established near Shiloh Church.
When informed of Johnston’s death, he immediately assumed command. He
sent General Bragg to the right of the field and put Gen. Daniel Ruggles
in command at the center.
[Illustration: _Johnston mortally wounded._]
General Ruggles, having witnessed 11 unsuccessful charges against the
Hornets’ Nest, decided to concentrate artillery fire upon the position.
Therefore, he collected all the artillery he could find—62 pieces—and
opened fire upon the Union line. Under cover of continuous fire from
these guns, the Confederates attacked with renewed courage and redoubled
energy. Unable to withstand the assault, the troops on both the Federal
right and left withdrew toward the Landing, leaving Prentiss and W. H.
L. Wallace isolated in the Hornets’ Nest. As the Union forces withdrew,
the left of the Confederate line swung around and joined flanks with the
troops moving around from the right, thus forming a circle of fire
around Wallace and Prentiss.
Wallace, seeing that the other divisions were withdrawing and that his
command was being surrounded, gave the order for his troops to fall
back. To execute the order, his division had to pass through a ravine
which was already under the crossfire of the encircling Confederates.
Wallace was mortally wounded in the attempt, but two of his regiments
succeeded in passing through the valley, between the Confederate lines,
which they appropriately named “Hell’s Hollow.” Prentiss continued the
resistance until 5:30 p. m., when he was compelled to surrender with
over 2,200 troops—all that remained of the two divisions.
During the afternoon, Col. Joseph D. Webster, Grant’s Chief of
Artillery, placed a battery of siege guns around the crest of a hill
about a quarter of a mile in from the Landing. The smaller field
artillery pieces were put in position on either side of them as they
were moved back from the front. The two wooden gunboats, _Tyler_ and
_Lexington_, anchored opposite the mouth of Dill Branch, further
strengthened the line. As the remnants of the shattered Union Army
drifted back toward the Landing, they were rallied along this line of
cannon.
[Illustration: _Gen. Ulysses S. Grant._
Courtesy National Archives.]
After the capture of Prentiss, an attempt was made to reorganize the
Confederates for an attack upon the Union position near the Landing.
Before a coordinated attack could be made, Beauregard, who had received
word that Buell would not arrive in time to save Grant’s army, sent out
the order from his headquarters at Shiloh Church to suspend the attack.
Unknown to Beauregard, the advance of Buell’s army had already arrived
opposite Pittsburg Landing and was being rapidly ferried across the
river.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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