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in attempting to mount the last ridge we were met by a fire from a whole line of batteries, protected by infantry and assisted by shells from the gunboats.
In a subsequent memorandum
General Chalmers writes:
One more resolute movement forward would have captured Grant and his whole army, and fulfilled to the letter the battle-plan of the great Confederate general, who died in the belief that victory was ours. . . .1
Brigadier General Jackson, in his report, says:
My brigade was ordered to change direction again, face toward Pittsburg, where the enemy appeared to have made his last stand, and to advance upon him, General Chalmers's brigade being again on my right, and extending to the swamp of the Tennessee River.
Without ammunition, and with only their bayonets to rely on, steadily my men advanced under a heavy fire from light batteries, siegepieces, and gunboats.
Passing through the ravine, they arrived near the crest of the opposite hill, upon which the enemy's batteries were, but could not be urged farther without support.
Sheltering themselves against the precipitous sides of the ravine, they remained under this fire for some time.
Finding an advance without support impracticable, remaining there under fire useless, and believing that any further forward movement should have been made simultaneously along our whole line, I proceeded to obtain orders from General Withers, but, after seeing him, was ordered by a staff-officer to retire.
This order was communicated to me as coming from General Beauregard.
General Hardee, who commanded the first line, says in his report:
Upon the death of General Johnston, the command having devolved upon General Beauregard, the conflict was continued until near sunset, and the advance divisions were within a few hundred yards of Pittsburg, where the enemy were huddled in confusion, when the order to withdraw was received.
The troops were ordered to bivouac on the field of battle.
General Polk's report says:
We had one hour or more of daylight still left, were within one hundred and fifty to four hundred yards of the enemy's position, and nothing seemed wanting to complete the most brilliant victory of the war but to press forward and make a vigorous assault on the demoralized remnant of his forces.
General Gilmer, the
chief engineer of the
Confederate States Army, in a letter to
Colonel William Preston Johnston, dated September 17, 1872, writes as follows:
It is my well-considered opinion that if your father had survived the day he would have crushed and captured General Grant's army before the setting of the sun on the 6th.
In fact, at the time your father received the mortal wound, advancing with General Breckinridge's command, the day was ours.
The enemy having lost all the strong positions on that memorable field, his troops fell back in great disorder on the banks of the Tennessee.
To cover the confusion, rapid fires were opened from the gunboats the enemy had placed in the river; but the
