[
261]
- Grant and his victorious Army
-- expedition up the Tennessee River planned, 261.
-- Grant's Army on transports on the Tennessee
-- skirmish at Pittsburg Landing, 262.
-- events near Pittsburg Landing
-- Sherman at Shiloh Church, 263.
-- movements of Buell's Army
-- Morgan, the guerrilla chief, 264.
-- Mitchel's extraordinary March southward, 265.
-- capture of Huntsville, Alabama, 266.
-- Memphis and Charleston railway seized
-- Grant's Army near Pittsburg Landing, 267.
-- its position on the 6th of April, 268.
-- the Confederate Army at Corinth
-- its forward movement, 269.
-- preparations for battle by the Confederates
-- the Nationals unsuspicious of danger, 270.
-- opening of the battle of Shiloh, 271.
-- First day of the battle of Shiloh, 273.
-- General Grant on the battle
-- field, 274.
-- defeat of the National Army, 275.
-- General Lewis Wallace's troops expected
-- the cause of their delay, 276.
-- the Confederates prepare for a night attack, 277.
-- arrival of Buell's forces, 278.
-- opening of the Second day's battle on the right by Wallace's troops, 279.
-- the struggle on the left, 280.
-- the final contest for victory, 281.
-- defeat of the Confederates on the right, 282.
-- flight of the Confederate Army
-- miseries .of the retreat, 283.
-- disposition of the dead
-- Jouney from Meridian to Corinth, 284.
-- visit to the battle
-- field of Shiloh
-- journey from Corinth to the field, 285.
-- a night on Shiloh battle
-- field, 286.
-- a victim of the wicked rebellion
-- effects of shot and shell on the battle
-- ground, 287.
Let us return to
Tennessee, and observe what
Generals Grant and
Buell did immediately after the fall of
Fort Donelson, and the flight of the
Confederates, civil and military, from
Nashville.
We left
General Grant at the
Tennessee capital, in consultation with
General Buell.
His praise was upon every loyal lip. His sphere of action had just been enlarged.
On hearing of his glorious victory at
Fort Donelson,
General Halleck had assigned
him to the command of the new District of West Tennessee, which embraced the territory from
Cairo, between the
Mississippi and
Cumberland Rivers, to the northern borders of the
State of Mississippi, with his Headquarters in the field.
It was a wide and important stage for action, and he did not rest on the laurels he had won on the
Tennessee and
Cumberland, but at once turned his attention to the business of moving vigorously forward in the execution of his part of the grand scheme for expelling the armed Confederates from the
Mississippi valley, For that purpose he made his Headquarters temporarily at
Fort Henry, where
General Lewis Wallace was in command, and began a new organization of his forces for further and important achievements.
Foote's flotilla was withdrawn from the
Cumberland, and a part of it was sent up the
Tennessee River, while its commander, as we have observed, Went down the
Mississippi with a more powerful naval armament to co-operate with the land troops against
Columbus,
Hickman,
Island Number10, and New Madrid.
An important objective was
Corinth, in
Northern Mississippi, at the intersection of the
Charleston and
Memphis and
Mobile and
Ohio railroads, and the seizure of that point, as a strategic position of vital importance, was
Grant's design.
It would give the
National forces control of the great rail.
way communications between the
Mississippi and the
East, and the border slave-labor States and the
Gulf of Mexico.
It would also facilitate the capture of
Memphis by forces about to move down the
Mississippi, and would give aid to the important movement of
General Curtis in
Arkansas.
Grant was taking vigorous measures to accomplish this desirable end, when an order came from
General Halleck,
directing him to turn over his forces to his junior in rank,
General C. F. Smith, and to remain himself at
Fort Henry.
Grant was astonished and mortified.
He was unconscious of acts deserving of the displeasure of his superior, and he requested
Halleck
[
262]
to relieve him entirely from duty.
That officer, made satisfied that no fault could justly be found with
Grant, wrote a letter to Headquarters that removed all misconception, and on the 14th of March the latter was restored to the chief command.
1 This satisfied the loyal people, who were becoming impatient because of seeming injustice toward a successful commander.
Meanwhile the troops that gathered at
Fort Henry had been sent up the
Tennessee in transports.
The unarmored gun-boats
Tyler and
Lexington had gone forward as far as
Pittsburg Landing, at the termination of a road
from
Corinth, and about twenty miles from that place.
There they were assailed by a six-gun battery, which, after a mutual cannonade, was silenced.
When the report of this success reached
General Smith, sixty-nine transports, with over thirty thousand troops, were moved up the river.
3 The advance (Forty-sixth Ohio,
Colonel Worthington) landed at
Savannah,
the capital of
Hardin County, on the eastern bank of the stream, and took military possession of the place.
General Smith, whose headquarters were on the steamer
Leonora, immediately sent out scouts in the direction of
Corinth, where
Beauregard was straining every nerve to concentrate an army to oppose this formidable movement.
Their reports satisfied him that the
Confederates were not then more than ten thousand strong in his front, and that their capture or dispersion would be an. easy matter.
He hoped to be allowed to move upon them at once, and, as a preparatory measure, he ordered
