previous next

No. 105.-report of Col. William Grose, Thirty-sixth Indiana Infantry.

Hdqrs. Thirty-Sixth Regiment Indiana Volunteers, Near Pittsburg Landing, Tenn., April 8, 1862.
Sir: In discharge of my duty I make the following report of the part the Thirty-sixth Indiana Volunteers took in the general engagement at this place on the evening of the 6th and day of the 7th instant:

On our march from Savannah on the 6th my regiment had the advance of the column, and four companies forward as an advance guard, under command of Lieutenant-Colonel Carey, leaving four under my command at the head of the column (two companies having been left behind on other duty). On reaching the river with the four companies at the head of the column they were immediately ferried over to join those under Colonel Carey that had passed over before my arrival.

On arriving on the south side of the river, under circumstances that looked discouraging to new troops, my regiment was formed (the eight companies about 400 strong) amid great commotion and excitement. While forming the regiment one of my men was killed by a ball of the enemy. As soon as formed I was ordered to advance, to support Captain Stone's battery, about 150 yards distant from my place of forming, which was done in tolerable order; and as soon as the regiment was in place the firing commenced and continued until near dusk. I there lost another man killed and one wounded.

During the forepart of the night with the brigade we took an advanced position of about 200 yards, and took our position on the left of the brigade, and extreme left of the line of battle, which seemed to have been formed during the night, and lay on our arms until 5.30 o'clock the next morning, when we were ordered and moved forward with the brigade in line of battle. With two companies thrown forward and to the left as skirmishers we advanced forward to the left of the Corinth road about one-half mile, when our skirmishers engaged the enemy, we advancing steadily and the enemy falling back for a distance of about 2 miles from where we lay in the morning, when the engagement became general in strong force on both sides. Seeing the enemy making continuous efforts to turn our left, I threw out, by your order, a third company as skirmishers, which, with the assistance of [338] the skirmishers from the Twenty-fourth Ohio, on my right, succeeded in saving our left from being turned. We slowly advanced, our skirmishers maintaining their position, driving the enemy's cavalry, infantry, and artillery before them over the same ground fought over the previous day.

About 11 o'clock my remaining five companies (not on skirmish), to our left, were ordered forward, in conjunction with the Twenty-fourth Ohio and part of the Fifteenth Illinois, at this time on my left, into the general fight, and engaged the enemy in strong force, they with a heavy battery, cavalry, and infantry in our front. My regiment advanced to a fence, mostly thrown down, where a most desperate contest ensued, during which my regiment (five companies) advanced about 75 yards to a second fence, mostly down, my right resting on some old buildings. While in this position my ammunition gave out, most of my men having fired 40 to 50 rounds. I then ordered them to fall back behind the first fence, to procure a new supply of ammunition, which was obtained, and we then again advanced to the position we left and farther. The enemy at this time maintained an eminence about 400 yards distant, in woods and an old Union camp ground, when we received orders to charge bayonets upon them, which was commenced in quick-time. As my regiment reached the summit of the eminence the enemy was far out of our reach, moving off, with their battery and infantry in front, their cavalry taking the Corinth road to the left, all in double-quick time.

We now occupy the ground from which we drove the enemy, over which we found many of their dead. The main struggle at the fence, as above stated, before we received orders to charge, lasted for two hours--from 11 to 1 o'clock. My officers and men behaved well, stood the fire with great bravery, and even to daring, without flinching. I know not how, in truth, to compliment any one of my command over the rest, for I was well satisfied with all.

The casualties of my regiment during the engagement, including the first evening, were 8 killed, 1 missing, and about 50 wounded, 2 of whom probably mortally; a complete list of which will be forwarded as soon as it can be obtained.1 Among my killed is Lieut. A. M. Davis, of Company H, who commanded Company E in the engagement. He fell by my side, bravely discharging his whole duty. During most of the engagement I was on foot, my horse having been shot at an early part of the main fight.

I have the honor to be, your obedient servant,

Wm. Grose, Colonel, Thirty-sixth Regiment Indiana Volunteers. Col. Jacob Aimen, Acting Brigadier-General, Tenth Brigade, Fourth Division.

1 But see revised statement, p. 106.

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.

hide Places (automatically extracted)

View a map of the most frequently mentioned places in this document.

hide Display Preferences
Greek Display:
Arabic Display:
View by Default:
Browse Bar: