Alfred Roman, The military operations of General Beauregard in the war between the states, 1861 to 1865

General Sherman, in his report of the battle, says of the operations on this part of the field:

At daylight, on Monday, I received General Grant's orders to advance and recapture our original camps. I despatched several members of my staff to bring up all the men they could find, especially the brigade of Colonel Stuart, which had been separated from the division all the day before; and at the appointed time the division, or, rather, what remained of it, with the 13th Missouri and other fragments, moved forward and reoccupied the ground on the extreme right of General McClernand's camp, where we attracted the fire of a battery located near Colonel McDowell's former headquarters. Here I remained, patiently waiting for the sound of General Buell's advance upon the main Corinth road. About ten o'clock A. M., the heavy firing in that direction, and its steady approach, satisfied me; and General Wallace being on our right flank, with his well-conducted division, I led the head of my column to General McClernand's right, formed line of battle facing south, with Buckland's brigade directly across the ridge, and Stuart's brigade on its right in the woods; and thus advanced, steadily and slowly, under a heavy fire of musketry and artillery.

Thus General Sherman remained several hours ‘patiently waiting for the sound of General Buell's advance upon the main Corinth road.’ But the attack of General Nelson had fairly commenced at eight o'clock A. M., and that of Crittenden and McCook about an hour later. This inaction, on the part of General Sherman, enabled General Beauregard to reinforce his centre from his left. Had General Sherman boldly advanced, before Cheatham's division so gallantly took its position in line, he would have been able to penetrate our line between General Bragg's right and General Breckinridge's left, as we have already intimated, and would have cut the Confederate line in two, for General Beauregard had then no reserves, and could not have opposed General Sherman's advance.

When General Breckinridge, in the centre, was ordered to take the offensive and relieve the right of our line, his left flank was still unprotected, and the fear of its being turned prevented him from executing the movement; seeing this, General Beauregard sent back to him one of his brigades—Trabue's—then on General Bragg's left; and, shortly afterwards, also gave orders that Russell's brigade, of Clark's (now Stewart's) division, of General