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General Grant's ‘Memoirs’ have been consulted in writing this article, as have all reports published in the official records, both Union and Confederate, and the
Life of General Johnson, by his son, the late
Colonel William Preston Johnston, and the writing of others on both sides.
I give a brief resume of
General Johnston's command, and what occurred previously, which led to the
battle of Shiloh.
Preliminaries to the battle.
On the 10th of September, 1861,
General Johnston was assigned to the command of that part of the
Confederate States which lay west of the
Alleghany Mountains, except the gulf coast;
General Bragg being in command of the coast of
west Florida and
Alabama and
General Mansfield Lovell of the coast of
Mississippi and
Louisiana.
His command was very large in extent, and his powers and discretion as large as the theory of the Confederate government permitted.
He lacked nothing except men, munitions of war, and the means of obtaining them.
The
Mississippi river divided his department into two distinct theatres of war. West of the river
Fremont held
Missouri with a force of from 60,000 to 80,000 troops confronted by
Price and
McCullock in the extreme southwest corner of
Missouri, with 6,000 men, and by
Hardee in the northeastern part of
Arkansas, with several thousand raw recruits, the major part of them suffering from diseases incident to camp life.
East of the
Mississippi the northern boundary of
Tennessee was held in sufferance from an enemy who for various reasons hesitated to advance.
The Mississippi was open to a naval invasion unless it could be defended and held.
General Grant was at
Cairo, and had there and at
Paducah about 20,000 men, and to oppose his invasion
General Polk had seized
Columbus Ky., with about 1,000 Confederates and had placed it in a state of defense.
Tennessee was divided by the
Tennessee river, and also by the
Cumberland.
Insignificant works of defense had been erected on both sides at
Forts Henry and
Donelson, near the boundary line, but in fact there was no practical defense against the capture of
Nashville by the
Federals, which was the most important depot of supplies west of
the Alleghanies.
The defence of the border of
Tennessee first engaged
General Johnston's attention.
Kentucky had assumed a position of neutrality, which was abandoned by act of its Legislature in September.
There were about 34,000 Federal volunteers
