Not a defeat.
General Buell, whose timely arrival saved the army of
General Grant, says that to the
Confederates ‘
Shiloh did not seem to be a defeat, but rather the disappointment of a hope almost realized.’
They knew that they had attacked the victors of Ports
Henry and
Donelson, stormed and spoiled their camp and brought them to the verge of ruin.
Very few of the
Confederate soldiers, who fought at
Shiloh, could in that day be found, who did not claim even the second day as more of a success to themselves than to the enemy, for the reason that they had fought a fresh army assisted by the remnant of
Grant's defeated troops, and when they found the odds too great, had marched off the field undisturbed by even the semblance of a pursuit, carrying with them much of the spoil of the captured camp.
General Buell says that when he arrived upon the field on the evening of the 6th, there were of
Grant's army ‘not more than 5,000 men in ranks and available for battle—the rest were either
[
360]
killed, wounded, captured, or scattered in hopeless confusion for miles along the banks of the river.’
