My Days and Nights on the Battle-Field Part 8

5 Pillow's divisions.

6 Buckner's divisions.]

Schwartz, Dresser, and McAllister wheel their guns towards Pillow's column. The Rebels open with a volley of musketry. The fire is aimed at the Eighth and Twenty-ninth Illinois regiments, which, you remember, are on the right of Oglesby's brigade. The men are cold. They have sprung from their icy beds to take their places in the ranks. They have a scant supply of ammunition, and are unprepared for the a.s.sault, but they are not the men to run at the first fire. The Rebel musketry begins to thin their ranks, but they do not flinch. They send their volleys into the face of the enemy.

Another Rebel brigade arrives, and fires upon the Thirtieth and Thirty-first Illinois,--the two regiments on the left of Oglesby's brigade. Colonel John A. Logan commands the Thirty-first. He told the Southern conspirators in Congress, when they were about to secede from the Union, that the men of the Northwest would hew their way to the Gulf of Mexico with their swords, if they attempted to close the Mississippi.

He is not disposed to yield his ground. He encourages his men, and they remain immovable before the Rebel brigades. Instead of falling back, he swings his regiment towards the Rebels, and stands confronting them.

But while this is going on, the Rebel cavalry have moved round to the rear of McArthur. They dash down a ravine, through the bushes, over the fallen trees, and charge up the hill upon the Ninth and Eighteenth regiments of McArthur's brigade. They are sent back in confusion, but the onset has been so fierce and the charge so far in the rear, that McArthur is compelled to fall back and form a new line. The Rebels have begun to open the door which General Grant had closed against them. The brigades in front of Oglesby are pouring murderous volleys upon the Eighth and Twenty-ninth. The falling back of McArthur to meet the attack on his rear has enabled the enemy to come up behind these regiments, and they are also compelled to fall back.

The Rebels in front are elated. They move nearer, working their way along a ravine, sheltered by a ridge of land. They load their muskets, rush up to the crest of the hill, deliver their fire, and step back to reload; but as often as they appear, McAllister and Dresser and Taylor give them grape and canister.

The Eleventh and Twentieth Illinois, on the right of Wallace's brigade, join in the conflict, supporting the brave Logan. Colonel Wallace swings the Forty-eighth, Forty-fifth, and half of the Forty-ninth round towards Pillow's brigades, leaving the other half of the Forty-ninth and the Seventeenth to hold the line towards the Fort Henry road. If you study the diagram carefully, you will see that this manoeuvre was a change of front. At the beginning the line of battle faced northeast, but now it faces south.

There is a ridge between Wallace's brigade and the Rebels. As often as the Rebels advance to the ridge, Taylor and McAllister with the infantry drive them back. It is an obstinate and b.l.o.o.d.y contest. The snow becomes crimson. There are pools of clotted blood where the brave men lie down upon the ground. There are bayonet-charges, fierce hand-to-hand contests. The Rebels rush upon McAllister's guns, but are turned back.

The lines surge to and fro like the waves of the sea. The dying and the dead are trampled beneath the feet of the contending hosts.

Wallace hears a sharp fire in his rear. The Rebels have pushed out once more towards the west and are coming in again upon the right flank of the new battle line. McClernand sees that he is contending against overwhelming numbers, and he sends a messenger in haste to General Lewis Wallace, who sends Cruft's brigade to his a.s.sistance. The brigade goes down the road upon the run. The soldiers shout and hurrah. They pa.s.s in rear of Taylor's battery, and push on to the right to help Oglesby and McArthur.

The Rebels have driven those brigades. The men are hastening to the rear with doleful stories. Some of them rush through Cruft's brigade. Cruft meets the advancing Rebels face to face. The din of battle has lulled for a moment, but now it rolls again louder than before. The Rebels dash on, but it is like the das.h.i.+ng of the waves against a rock. Cruft's men are unmoved, though the Rebels advance till they are within twenty feet of the line. There are deafening volleys. The smoke from the opposing lines becomes a single cloud. The Rebels are held in check on the right by their firmness and endurance.

But just at this moment General Buckner's brigades come out of their intrenchments. They pa.s.s in front of their rifle-pits at the base of the hill, and march rapidly down to the Dover road. Colonel Wallace sees them. In a few minutes they will pour their volleys into the backs of his men. You remember that the Seventeenth and part of the Forty-ninth Illinois regiments were left standing near the road. You hear from their muskets now. They stand their ground and meet the onset manfully. Two guns of Taylor's battery, which have been thundering towards the south, wheel round to the northeast and sweep the Rebels with grape and canister.

Three fourths of the Rebel army is pressing upon McClernand's one division. His troops are disappearing. Hundreds are killed and wounded.

Men who carry the wounded to rear do not return. The Rebels see their advantage, and charge upon Schwartz's and McAllister's batteries, but are repulsed. Reinforced by new regiments, they rush on again. They shoot the gunners and the horses and seize the cannon. The struggle is fierce, but unequal. Oglesby's men are overpowered, the line gives way.

The Rebels push on with a yell, and seize several of Schwartz's and McAllister's guns. The gunners fight determinedly for a moment, but they are few against many, and are shot or taken prisoners. A Mississippi regiment attempts to capture Taylor's guns, but he sweeps it back with grape and canister.

Up to this moment Wallace has not yielded an inch. Two of Oglesby's regiments next to his brigade still hold their ground, but all who stood beyond are in full retreat. The Rebels have picked off a score of brave officers in Oglesby's command,--Colonels Logan, Lawler, and Ransom are wounded. Lieutenant-Colonel White of the Thirty-first, Lieutenant-Colonel Smith of the Forty-eighth, Lieutenant-Colonel Irvin of the Twentieth, and Major Post of the Eighth are killed. The men of Oglesby's brigade, although they have lost so many of their leaders, are not panic-stricken. They are overpowered for the moment. Some of the regiments are out of ammunition. They know that reinforcements are at hand, and they fall back in order.

To understand Wallace's position at this stage of the battle, imagine that you stand with your face towards the south fighting a powerful antagonist, that a second equally powerful is coming up on your right hand, and that a third is giving heavy blows upon your left shoulder, almost in your back. Pillow, with one half of his brigades, is in front, Johnson, with the other half of Pillow's command, is coming up on the right, and Buckner, with all of his brigades, is moving down upon the left.

Wallace sees that he must retreat. The Eleventh and Thirty-first--Ransom's and Logan's regiments--are still fighting on Wallace's right. There is great slaughter in their ranks, but they do not flee. They change front and march a few rods to the rear, come into line and fire a volley at the advancing Rebels. Forest's cavalry dashes upon them and cuts off a few prisoners, but the line is only bruised, not broken. Thus loading and firing, contesting all the ground, the troops descend the hill, cross the clear running brook, and march up the hill upon the other side.

But there are some frightened men, who fling away their guns and rush wildly to the rear. An officer dashes down the road, crying: "We are cut to pieces! The day is lost!"

"Shut up your head, you scoundrel!" shouts General Wallace.

It has had an effect upon his troops. They are nervous, and look round, expecting to see the enemy in overwhelming numbers. General Wallace sees that there has been disaster. He does not wait for orders to march.

"Third brigade, by the right flank, double-quick, Forward, March!"

Colonel Thayer commanding the brigade repeats the order. The men break into a run towards the front along the road. General Wallace gallops in advance, and meets Colonel Wallace conducting his brigade to the rear.

"We are out of ammunition. The enemy are following. If you will put your troops into line till we can fill our cartridge-boxes, we will stop them." He says it so coolly and deliberately that it astonishes General Wallace. It rea.s.sures him. He feels that it is a critical moment, but with men retiring so deliberately, there is no reason to be discouraged.

He leads Thayer's brigade up to the crest of the hill, just where the road begins to descend into the ravine, through which gurgles the clear running brook.

"Bring up Company A, Chicago Light Artillery!" he shouts to an aid. A few moments, and Captain Wood, who commands the battery, leads it along the road. The horses are upon the gallop. The teamsters lash them with their whips. They leap over logs, stones, stumps, and through the bushes. They halt at the crest of the hill.

"Put your guns here, two pieces in the road, and two on each side, and load with grape and canister."

The men spring to their pieces. They throw off their coats, and work in their s.h.i.+rt-sleeves. They ram home the cartridges and stand beside their pieces, waiting for the enemy.

The battery faces southeast. On the right of the battery, next to it, is the First Nebraska, and beyond it the Fifty-eighth Illinois. On the left of the battery is Captain Davison's company of the Thirty-second Illinois, and beyond it the Fifty-eighth Ohio. A few rods in rear is the Seventy-sixth Ohio and the Forty-sixth and Fifty-seventh Illinois.

McArthur, Oglesby, Wallace, and Cruft have all fallen back, and their regiments are reforming in the woods west of Thayer's position, and filling their cartridge-boxes.

The Rebels halt a little while upon the ground from which they have driven McClernand, rifling the pockets of the dead and robbing the wounded. General Pillow feels very well. He writes a despatch, which is telegraphed to Nashville,--

"On the honor of a soldier, the day is ours!"

Buckner unites his brigades to Pillow's, and they prepare for a second advance. It gives General Wallace time to perfect his line. Willard's battery, which was left at Fort Henry, has just arrived. It gallops into position in the woods west of Thayer's brigade. Dresser and Taylor also come into position. They are ready.

The Rebels descend the hill on the east side of the brook, and move up the road. They are flushed with success, and are confident of defeating General Grant. General Floyd has changed his mind; instead of escaping, as he can do by the road leading to Nashville, he thinks he will put the army of General Grant to rout.

[Ill.u.s.tration:

1 Thayer's brigade with Wood's battery.

2 McClernand's brigades.

3 Cruft's brigade.

4 Rebels.]

The advancing columns step across the brook, and begin to ascend the hill. The artillery opens its fire. The Rebel batteries reply. The infantry rolls its volleys. The hill and the hollow are enveloped in clouds of smoke. Wood's, Dresser's, Willard's, and Taylor's batteries open,--twenty-four guns send their grape and canister, shrapnel and sh.e.l.ls, into the gray ranks which are vainly endeavoring to reach the top of the hill. The Rebels concentrate their fire upon Wood's battery and the First Nebraska, but those hardy pioneers from beyond the Missouri, some of them Rocky Mountain hunters, cannot be driven. The Rebels fire too high. The air is filled with the screaming of their bullets, and a wild storm sweeps over the heads of the men from Nebraska, who lose but ten men killed and wounded in this terrible contest. The Nebraska men are old hunters, and do not fire at random, but take deliberate aim.

The Rebels march half-way up the hill, and then fall back to the brook.

They have lost courage. Their officers rally the wavering lines. Again they advance, but are forced back by the musketry and the grape and canister.

They break in confusion, and vain are all the attempts of the officers to rally them. General Floyd's plan, which worked so successfully in the morning, has failed at noon. General Pillow's telegram was sent too soon by a half-hour. The Rebels retire to the hill, and help themselves to the overcoats, blankets, beef, bread, and other things in McClernand's camp.

General Grant determined to a.s.sault the enemy's works. He thought that the rifle-pits at the northwest angle of the fort could be carried; that then he could plant his batteries so near that, under their fire, he could get into the fort. General Smith's division had not been engaged in the battles of the morning. His troops had heard the roar of the conflict and the cheers of their comrades when the Rebels were beaten back.

They were ready for action. They were nerved up to attempt great deeds for their country. The Rebels had been repulsed, and now they could defeat them.

General Grant directed General Wallace to move forward from his position, across the brook, drive the Rebels back, and then a.s.sault their works. A large body of Rebels still held the ground, from which McClernand had been driven.

General Wallace placed Colonel Morgan L. Smith's brigade in front. There was contention between the Eighth Missouri and Eleventh Indiana, for each wanted the honor of leading the a.s.sault. The Eleventh yielded to the Eighth, with the understanding that in the next a.s.sault it should have the advance. Thus with generous rivalry and unbounded enthusiasm they prepared to advance.

The Eleventh followed the Eighth. Colonel Cruft's brigade, with two Ohio regiments under Colonel Ross, completed the column. Colonel Cruft formed in line of battle to the right of Colonel Smith. They crossed the brook.

It was a dark and b.l.o.o.d.y ravine. The Rebel dead and wounded were lying there, thick almost as the withered forest-leaves. The snow was crimson.

The brook was no longer a clear running stream, but red with blood.

General Wallace was aware of the desperate character of the enterprise.

He told his men what they were to do,--to drive the enemy, and storm the breastworks.

"Hurrah! that's just what we want to do. Forward! Forward! We are ready!" were their answers. They could see the Rebel lines on the hill.

The Rebels knew that they were to be attacked, and were ready to receive them.

Colonel Smith moved up the road. His point of attack was clear, but Cruft's was through brush and over stony ground. A line of skirmishers sprang out from the Eighth Missouri. They ran up the hill, and came face to face with the Rebel skirmishers.

They fought from tree to tree, firing, picking off an opponent, then falling upon the ground to reload.