Major-General William T. Sherman to Lieutenant Governor Benjamin Stanton, June 10, 1862

CAMP IN THE FIELD, NEAR CHEWALLA, TENN.,     

June 10, 1862.

Lieutenant-Governor B. Stanton, Columbus Ohio;

SIR:  I am not surprised when anonymous scribblers write and publish falsehoods or make criticisms on matters of which they know nothing of or which they are incapable of comprehending.  It is their trade.  They live by it.  Slander gives point and piquancy to a paragraph, and the writing, being irresponsible or beneath notice, escapes a merited punishment.  It is different with men in high official station, who, like, you, descend to this dirty work.  You had an opportunity to learn the truth, for I saw you myself at Shiloh soon after the battle, and know that hundreds would have aided you in your work, had you been in search of facts.  You never inquired of me concerning the truth of events which you must have know transpired in my sight and hearing, but seemed to have preferred the “camp stories” to authentic data then within your reach.

A friend, by mere accident, has shown me a slip of newspaper, dated April 10th, 1862, styled “Extra,” published at Bellefontaine, Ohio, and signed B. Stanton.  I am further told you are the man.  If so, and you be the lieutenant governor of Ohio, I hold that you are my pear, and that of Generals Grant, Hurlbut and Prentiss, all of whom you directly charge with  conduct on the field of Shiloh which deserves a court martial, whose sentence, if you have not borne false witness, would be degradation or death.  The accusatory part of your statement is all false, false in general, false in every particular, and I repeat you could not have failed to know it false when you published that statement.  To prove what I say, I know quote the concluding part of your paper:

“Some complaints have been made about the conduct of a few of the new regiments in this battle, including the 54th and 57th.  It must be remembered that these are new regiments — that not only have they never seen any service, but they never received their guns until they arrived on the Tennessee river, two or three weeks before the battle.  So with Myers’ battery.  It has not been more than six weeks since they have had their horses.  And yet these regiments and this battery were put on the extreme outside of our camp, and were consequently first exposed to the enemy’s fire.  And to this that our lines were so carelessly and negligently guarded that the enemy were absolutely on us in our very tents before the officers in command were aware of their approach.  The wonder therefore is, not that these regiments were finally broken and routed, but that they made any stand at all!  But the loss sustained by these regiments, especially by Capt. Starr’s company, in the 54th, shows that they made a gallant and noble stand. And that their ultimate retreat was not the fault of the men, but of the blundering stupidity and negligence of the general in command.   There is an intense feeling of indignation against Generals Grant and Prentiss, and the general feeling among the most intelligent men with whom I conversed is that they ought to be court martialed and shot.

Yours, etc.

B. STANTON.”

With Myers’ battery I have nothing to do, as it was in Gen. Hurlbut’s division, who has made his official report, which proves yours untrue: for instead of being kept on the “extreme outside of our camp” it was at the beginning of the battle more than a mile to the rear of mine and McClernand’s and Prentiss’s divisions.  The 54th Col. T. Kirby Smith, and 57th, Col. William Mungen did for a part of my command.  No one that I ever heard has questioned the courage and gallantry of the 54th, unless it be inferred from your own apology for them, and I know that I speak the mind of the officers of that regiment when I say that they scorn to have their merits bolstered up by your lame and impotent conclusions.  As to their being on the outer line, it was where they wished to be, and so far from being surprised, they were, by my orders, under arms at daylight, and it was near 10 A. M., before the enemy assailed their position.  This position was so favorable that Col. Stuart with his small brigade of which the 54th formed a part, held at bay for hours Hardee’s hole division, composed of infantry, artillery, and cavalry.

The 57th was posted on the left of Shiloh, which, I say, and in which Beauregard concurs with me, was the key to the whole position.  It was in the very front, the place of honor, to which Col. Mungen or his men could not object.  Their front was guarded by themselves, and if negligence is justly charged, it belongs to the regiment itself.  So favorable was the ground that, although the regiment lost but two officers and seven men, Col. Mungen has more than once assured me that he counted fifty dead secessionists on the ground over which he was attacked.  As to the enemy being in their very camp before the officers in command were aware of their approach, it is the most wicked falsehood that was ever attempted to be thrust upon a people sad and heartsore at the terrible but necessary casualties of war.  That the cowards who deserted their comrades in that hour of danger should, in their desperate strait to cover up their infamy, invent such a story, was to be expected; but that you should have lent yourself as a willing instrument in perpetuating that falsehood, is a shame from which you can never hope to recover.  The truth is now well understood.  For days we knew the enemy was in our front, but the nature of the ground and his superior strength in cavalry, prevented us from breaking through the veil of their approach to ascertain their true strength and purpose.  But as soldiers we were prepared at all times to receive an attack, and even to make one if circumstances warranted it.  On that morning our pickets had been driven in.  Our main guards were forced back to the small valley in our front.  All our regiments of infantry, batteries of artillery and squadrons of cavalry were prepared.  I myself, their commander, was fully prepared, and rode along the line of this very regiment and saw it in position in front of their camp, and looking to a narrow causeway across the small creek by which the enemy was expected and did approach.

After passing this regiment, I road on to Appler’s position and beyond some five hundred yards, where I was fired on and my orderly, Thos. D. Holliday was killed.  Even after I gave some directions about Waterhouse’s battery, and again returned to Shiloh in time to witness the attack there.  It is simply ridiculous to talk about surprise.  To be sure, very many where astonished and surprised, not so much at the enemy’s coming, but at the manner of his coming, and these sought safety at the river, and could not be prevailed to recover from their surprise till the enemy had been driven away by their comrades after two days hard fighting.  I have never made a question of individual bravery of this or any other regiment, but merely state facts.  The regiment still belongs to my command, and has elicited my praise for its improvement and steadiness in the many skirmished and affairs during our advance on Corinth.  I doubt not the people of Ohio will yet have a reason to feel the same pride in this regiment as they now do in many other of the same State of deservedly high repute.  As to the intense feeling against Generals Grant and Prentiss — could anything be more base than that?  Grant just fresh from the victory of Donelson, more rich in fruits than was Saratoga, Yorktown, or any other one fought on this continent, is yet held up to the people of Ohio, his native State as one who in the opinion of the intelligent coward, is worthy to be shot; and Prentiss, now absent and prisoner, unable to meet your wicked and malicious shafts, also condemned to infamy and death.  Shame on you, and I know I tell you an unpleasant truth when I assure you neither he nor his men were surprised, butchered in their tents, etc., but on the contrary, were prepared in time to receive this shock of battle more terrible than any in the annals of American history have hitherto recorded.  He met it manfully and well, for hours bore up against the superior host, fell back slowly and in order till he met the reserves under Wallace and Hurlbut and fought till near 4 P. M., when he was completely enveloped and made prisoner.  Well do I remember the line after line of steady troops displaying the bloody banner of the South, and to me the more familiar pelican flag of Louisiana, bearing down on Prentiss, who was to my left and rear, and how, though busy enough with my own appropriate part, I felt for his danger and dispatched to him my aid, Maj. Sanger, to give him notice.  My aid found him in advance of his camps fighting well, but the shock was too great, and he was borne back step by step till made prisoner, six hours after your surprised informants had sought refuge under the steep banks of the Tennessee.

So much for the history of event you did not behold and yet pretend to comment on.  You came to Shiloh on a mission of mercy after danger and before a new one arose.  You tarried a few days, but I cannot learn from my Ohio Colonels how you dispensed your charitable trust.  That is none of by business, but I do know you abused your opportunity and caught up vague, foolish camp rumors from the region of the steamboat landing, instead of seeking for truth where alone you did know it could be found, among the thousands of brave Ohio men who were in my camp, and who can still boast of never having seen the Tennessee river since the day they disembarked.  You then return to your State, and in obscure printed slips, circulate libels and falsehoods against men whose vocation and distance made it highly improbable that you could ever be held to an account.  You know that we were in the presence of a fierce bold and determined enemy, with hundreds of miles of ambush before us, from which a few stray shots would relieve you of your victims.  You know that our men were raw and undisciplined, and that all our time was taken up in organization, drill and discipline. Leaving us no time to meet your malicious slanders and resent your insults.  The hour of reckoning seemed, therefore, distant and uncertain.  You have had your day, but the retreat of the enemy and a day of comparative rest, has given me leisure to write this for your benefit.  Grant and Hurlbut and Prentiss still live, and will in due season bay their respects also.

If you have no respect for the honor and reputation of the generals who lead the armies of your country, you should have some regard to the honor and welfare of the country itself.  If your paper could have had its intended effect of destroying the confidence of the Executive, the army and the people in their generals, it would have produced absolute and utter disorganization.  It not only placed courage and cowardice, stubborn and enduring valor and ignominious flight upon the same base, but it holds up to public favor those who deserted their colors, and teaches them to add insubordination to cowardice.  Such an army as your military morale would produce could not be commanded by any general who hoped to win reputation or who had reputation to loose.  Our whole force, if imbued with your notions, would be driven across the Ohio in less than a month, and even you would be disturbed in your quiet study where you now, in perfect safety, write libels against the generals who organize our armies and with them fight and win battle for our country.

I am, etc.,

W. T. SHERMAN,    

Major-General of Volunteers.

SOURCES: “Letter from Gen. Sherman to Lieut. Gov. Stanton,” Gallipolis Journal, Gallipolis, Ohio, Thursday, July 3, 1862, p. 4; “A Federal Quarrel,” Memphis Daily Appeal, Memphis, Tennessee, Friday, June 27, 1862, p. 1.

Colonel Thomas Kilby Smith to Elizabeth Budd Smith, January 14, 1863

Headquarters Second Brigade,

Second Division, Fifteenth Army Corps,

January 14, 1863.

My Dear Wife:

You have heard of our last battle, and this will give you the assurance of my safety. My brigade behaved splendidly. I had ninety-three officers and men killed and wounded; among them, Captain Yeoman, senior captain and in command of my old 54th, had his right arm shattered, since amputated. The 54th has lost pretty heavily in both the last engagements. She's a gallant little regiment, the men true as steel. Indeed, my command is most emphatically a fighting brigade. The day was beautiful after we had got fairly on the ground, and the spectacle was splendidly imposing as my forces made the charge. You must understand, that this post, heretofore called “Post Arkansas,” but christened by the rebels “Fort Hyndman,” is situated upon the Arkansas River about sixty miles above the mouth. The country about where the Arkansas empties into the Mississippi is flat and intersected with bayous and cutoffs; one of these leads into White River, and our fleet having rendezvoused at the mouth of White River, we sailed up that stream to one of these cutoffs, and through that to the Arkansas and up the Arkansas to a point three miles below the fort. Here we threw troops across the river to intercept reinforcements to the enemy, but the main army debarked on the side on which the fort is situated, and immediately commenced the line of march; directly as we were en route, the enemy began to throw their shell among us, which were returned by our gunboats, while the infantry steadily pursued their way. About a mile from the point of debarkation, we came upon their rifle-pits from which they had recently fled, and where we found their fires still burning and cornbread still warm. The term rifle-pit means a long ditch or trench, sometimes extending for many miles, with a barricade of logs or rails or sometimes willows or canes, to hold the earth in position, which ought to be in embankment at least four feet broad at the top. Behind this embankment, troops stand sheltered and in line firing at advancing forces. I make this explanation because many suppose rifle-pits to be holes in the ground.

Well as we advanced, the enemy abandoned their defences and after some slight skirmishing, retreated to the fort, from which was now commenced terrific cannonading. A little before sundown, other troops having marched around to the other side, and rear of the fort, it became my duty to advance my brigade to a point immediately in front of one of their batteries, and having put the troops in line of battle, I was ordered to advance them and draw the enemy's fire; this I did with such effect as to cost me fourteen men, among whom was Captain Yeoman. Under their fire we lay until nightfall, and indeed all night. The next morning, at the break of day, we were ordered to the right and to a point nearly in front of their main fortifications, and here we lay again, under shell, until one o'clock, when I was ordered to storm the works; I wish I could fully explain to you the position of the ground, and must make some faint attempt at it, so you can appreciate the movements of my troops. The original fort is an hundred years old, and was erected as a defence against the Indians; considered one of the strongest forts in the U. S. Being upon a bluff it was supposed to command the bend of the river with three immense cannon, throwing respectively 110-, 100-, and 85-pound shot and shell; besides these, were fifteen pivot guns, having range at any given point. These are in the fort itself, a most scientifically constructed work, capable of holding, crowded, fifteen hundred men. From one side of this fort, and running westwardly, was a line of breastwork extending to the river-side somewhat thus:

Now you will imagine my forces lying in the woods to the eastward, say half a mile, at the time of my receiving the order to storm, and you will imagine all of this ground north of the fort and breastworks, a beautiful level plain, a little ascending to the fort and spacious enough to admit of three regiments in line, and the day to be as bright and beautiful as ever gladdened the heart of man, and then imagine, if you can, my brigade deploying from the woods just in the rear of General Sherman, and firing exactly as you see in the diagram, with ten brave banners fluttering in the breeze and gilded by the sun. Recollect, each regiment has a banner and a regimental flag, such a banner as you saw for the 54th, and the U. S. flag, the stars and stripes. As a military display, I never saw it equalled. The troops were formed under a perfect hurricane of shot and shell, the breastworks and rifle-pits were lined thick with the enemy. We formed, advanced, and the official reports will give you the rest. Their white flag went up, and I leaped, or got my horse over somehow or other. I don't know exactly how, for it was a wicked-looking place when I surveyed it the next morning, and by order of the commanding general caused four thousand men, prisoners of war, to ground arms by my order. I marshalled them behind the breastworks, while my troops stood on the ramparts. The enemy fought most gallantly, with a most unparalleled obstinacy. The ground inside the fortif1cations was piled with corpses and strewn thick with mangled limbs. The fort was torn all to pieces. The muzzle of the 110-pound gun was shot off. A shell of ours must have entered the very muzzle. These descriptions you will get from the professional writers, and in this instance all their word painting will hardly be an exaggeration of the truth.

I have reason to thank God; for a little while this, to me, was the hardest-fought battle I have been in, and the whistle of bullets and shrieking of shells are sounds familiar in my ears as household words. This, however, is my first real action at the point of the bayonet and the muzzle of the gun. The feeling is very thrilling; nobody but the victor on the battlefield can appreciate the very madness of joy. I made speeches to my new regiments; the enthusiasm was tremendous. My old veterans are seasoned and take things quietly, but my 83d Indiana and 127th Illinois were carried up to the seventh heaven.

I suppose it is small and mean, but there is a flattery, an adulation, a praise coming from the mouths of these soldiers that is very dear to me, and not from them alone. I must confess I want it from my country.

“If we are marked to die, we are enough

To do our country loss; and if to live,

The fewer men the greater share of honor.

God’s will! I pray thee wish not one man more.

By Jove, I am not covetous for gold,

Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost;

It grieves me not if men my garments wear.

Such outward things dwell not in my desires;

But if it be a sin to covet honor,

I am the most offending soul alive.”

I must hope for justice to my name, for my dear children's sake. If it is tardy in coming, or wholly withheld, I still have a satisfaction in the possession of the affection of these troops. Ohio in all her counties is well represented. Illinois and Indiana fairly. Many a family throughout a vast breadth will learn who led their brother, or husband, or son, at Chickasas [sic], and Vicksburg, or Post Arkansas.

The conduct of my command was under the immediate eye of the generals. My own official report is therefore very brief. I would amplify more to you now if I did not suppose I should be duplicating what you will probably have read in the newspapers, before this letter comes to hand.

The incidents of our life, thrilling enough in the start, soon become an old story; at least, we think nothing of them and suppose they have lost interest to our friends. I might tell how, leaving the boat in the expectation of an immediate fight, and, therefore, taking nothing with me in the way of nourishment or extra clothing, I stood by the head of, or sat on, my horse all the night long, the first night out, the shells coursing their fiery flight through the darkness and bursting over my head; how eagerly I watched for the streaks of dawn ; how all the day I fainted for a drop of water ; how the wounded and the dead lay all around me; of the captures I made in the way of prisoners and horses (individually, I mean), of the ludicrous scenes in the field — for strange as it may seem to you, there is always something to laugh at even on the battlefield — but this has been told over and over again; I cannot paint pain and anguish, and disappointment and dismay and death. They must be seen as I have seen them to be understood; they can never be described.

We occupied the fort for two days and then re-embarked, and, after a little, shall sail down the Arkansas to the mouth, where we expect to rendezvous with other troops from Grant's army. From thence, I suppose, to Vicksburg, to try them again with a much larger force. There’ll be many a bloody fight before Vicksburg surrenders, in my judgment; her natural position is immensely strong, and she is thoroughly fortified, well provisioned, and well manned. We have vague news from Rosecrans; nothing, however, reliable; if one half of what we hear be true, and his success as great as represented, that, joined to our late victory here, may have a demoralizing effect upon the Southern army, and cause them to capitulate at Vicksburg. Many of the soldiers we found here claimed that their time was up, and that they would have left in a few days. However that may be, one thing is certain, they will dispute every inch of ground as long as there is a man among them capable of bearing arms. It’s no rebellion, it’s revolution, and a more united people you never heard of or read of. Recollect what I used to say before the first gun in this war was fired, and for many months afterwards, how I used to talk to my friends, when they would prate about the South and its resources — a matter of which they had not the slightest conception. I propose to fight the fight out, at least as long as I have a right hand to draw the sabre.

I notice in reading my letter over, that I have not explained there were two sets of works or rifle-pits, the first about a mile and a half beyond the line of fortifications. I mean the outside lines, and the first we encountered. They were on the north and east.

The four thousand prisoners surrendered to me, of whom I speak, were only a portion of those within the fortifications; the residue being inside the fort and at other points. We took seven thousand prisoners and eight thousand stand of arms.

I speak of the representation in my brigade. I suppose there is scarcely a county in Ohio from which some men have not been recruited for the old 54th; the 57th is made up from the Hooppole region and the northwest. The 55th and 127th Illinois were both picked regiments, and came from all over the State. The 83d Indiana was recruited near Lawrenceburg and the tier of counties bordering Ohio. So you see I have gone over good space for infantry. My batteries are from Chicago and my cavalry from Illinois.

My boat is under way; she, of course, is the flagship of my fleet of six. It used to be quite a thing when I was a boy to command a steamboat. I have the sublime honor of commanding six, some of them very heavy, fine boats. Just before leaving, I went to pay my wounded a visit. Poor fellows, I found them in all stages of suffering, but all cheery, game to the last. My poor Captain Yeoman sat holding up his poor stump of an arm. I could hardly keep the tears back. The boat was crowded and they were bringing stretchers in all the time I was there. I hope the poor fellows will get good attention when they arrive at home. The Sanitary Commissioners have done nothing for us. The living for the wounded and the weak is the hardest that can be imagined — no wine, no brandy, no nourishing food. The fresh beef from starved sick cattle that have been brought upon the steamboat, the bacon, potatoes, bad; nothing fit to eat but beans, and I’ve lived on beans till I loathe the sight of them. What our poor wounded are to do, God only knows. I gave them all the money I had, and all I could borrow, but a good many of them will see hell before they die.

As I write, the weather, which was beautiful and warm, changes to rain and then cold, and now as we sail down the river, we are in a violent snowstorm. The river is wide, and winding, and beautiful, lined with the canebrake and cotton tree and now and then a fine plantation. The water is not fit to drink, being impregnated with soda and salts, that causes it to operate badly. Population is sparse upon its banks so far as we have gone.

I received two copies of your little poem, and wish you would send me some more. It was very much admired. I showed it to Stuart one day in the field before Vicksburg. We were waiting breakfast early in the morning. He insisted on reading it through, and cried like a baby as he read it. You must send me some more copies.

We are nearing the mouth of the river and soon shall be again on the broad Mississippi.

SOURCE: Walter George Smith, Life and letters of Thomas Kilby Smith, p. 258-64

Colonel Thomas Kilby Smith to Elizabeth Budd Smith, January 3, 1863

Headquarters Fourth Brigade, Second Div.,

“MilliKEN's Bend,” Louisiana, January 3, 1863.

I seize a moment to write you a brief letter, for I know how anxious you all must be about me. The papers, who know everything, and more too, will have apprised you long before you receive this letter that we have had a fight, that we have met the enemy and that they are not ours; and you will imagine, of course, that I am captured, wounded and killed, but by the grace of God I’ve come out of the ruins unscathed. I went under fire Saturday evening, about six o'clock, 27th ult.; was in raging battle Sunday and Monday; and Sunday, very early in the action, Gen. Morgan L. Smith was shot pretty badly in the hip and had to go off the field. I think he’ll die. By General Sherman's order, General Stuart assumed command of the division and I of the brigade, but Stuart being unwell I virtually had command of the whole division during the fight of Sunday. After the first part of the affair was over, Gen. A. J. Smith, as ranking officer, took command. I had ten regiments and three batteries of sixteen guns before Smith came. My men behaved splendidly, especially in our own regiment, which, however, suffered a good deal, nineteen killed and wounded; my best captain badly wounded. Our loss is pretty heavy, but the enemy must have suffered terribly. I am now in command of the old brigade, composed of the 54th Ohio, 55th Illinois, 57th Ohio, 83d Indiana, and 127th Illinois, with two fine batteries. The 83d Indiana is a noble regiment, commanded by Colonel Spooner, of Lawrenceburgh; he knows your father well. I led his regiment under their first fire myself and can testify to their gallantry. I suppose the Administration will have too much to do to think of the promotion of so insignificant and humble an individual as me, but it is pretty hard to take the responsibility of commanding brigades without the rank. Yet this is the second big fight in which I've been compelled to it, to say nothing of minor skirmishes. My own little regiment is a brick; she'll follow me to hell at the word go. Never falters, never complains. We lay in that swamp, among the mud-turtles and alligators, a week, and short of rations, and not the first man whimpered. I had a fellow shot through the hand, shattering it and maiming him for life; the ball broke the stock of his rifle, and instead of complaining about his hand, he went hunting about for another gun, cursing the enemy for breaking his; however, all these incidents of battle are very uninteresting to you and it is really wonderful how soon we forget them. There is a party of officers sitting now at my right hand, laughing and talking and playing cards, whose lives, twenty-four hours ago, were not worth a rush, who have been in the imminent and deadly breach, who have lost comrades and soldiers from their companies, and who this moment are entirely oblivious of the fact.

The weather has been generally warm and pleasant for the past ten or twelve days; is now warm enough, but it rains tremendously. I am told, by those who know the climate, that it rains at this season of the year, after it once sets in, for six weeks, then storms for six weeks, and then rains again. I don't know how this may be, but God preserve us from having days of such rain as has been pouring down this.

They all seem to be looking forward to Christmas, with the usual fond anticipations of childhood, and with that they wish I could be with them. My Christmas was far away, sailing on the Mississippi; my dinner, for supplies were very short, a homely dish of codfish and potatoes minced, with a relish of stewed beans. My New Year's Day was passed under the rifle-pits and batteries of the enemy in one of the vast swamps of the Mississippi, beneath huge cottonwood and sweet gum trees overgrown with the long peculiar moss of the country that flaunts in the breeze like funeral weeds. On Saturday night, while I was planting a battery, a huge owl — one of the species that make these swamps their home — flapped his wings right over me, and roosting in the tree above my head gave an unearthly screech and wound up with a laugh and prolonged ha! ha! ha! so much like the utterance of a human being as almost to startle me. I took it for an omen. Where will my next Christmas be, where shall I make my next New Year's call? The last has been an eventful year to me; for the past nine months each day has been filled with thrilling incidents. I should like a little rest. I should like to lie down and be quiet. I should like to have some one soothe my brow, and make me feel as if I were a little child again. That is a beautiful idea in Scripture, where we are taught that all must become as little children, before they can enter into the kingdom of heaven. It is almost heaven to feel like a little child on earth. But now my business is to slay and destroy, to exercise all my intellect in the destruction of human life and property.

SOURCE: Walter George Smith, Life and letters of Thomas Kilby Smith, p. 251-3

57th Ohio Infantry

Organized at Camp Vance, Findlay, Ohio, September 16, 1861. Moved to Camp Chase, Ohio, January 22, 1862. Ordered to Paducah, Ky., February 18. Attached to District of Paducah, Ky., to March, 1862. 3rd Brigade, 5th Division, Army of the Tennessee, to May. 1862. 1st Brigade, 5th Division, Army of the Tennessee, to July, 1862. 1st Brigade, 5th Division, District of Memphis, Tenn., to November, 1862. 4th Brigade, 5th Division, Right Wing 13th Army Corps (Old), Dept. of the Tennessee, to November, 1862. 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division, District of Memphis, 13th Army Corps, to December, 1862. 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division, Sherman's Yazoo Expedition, to January, 1863. 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division, 15th Army Corps, Army of the Tennessee, to September, 1863. 1st Brigade, 2nd Division, 15th Army Corps, to July, 1865. Dept. of Arkansas to August, 1865.

SERVICE. – Duty at Paducah, Ky., till March 6, 1862. Moved to Savannah, Tenn., March 6-10. Expedition to Yellow Creek and occupation of Pittsburg Landing, Tenn., March 14-17. Expedition to Eastport, Miss., and Chickasaw, Ala., April 1-2. Battle of Shiloh, Tenn., April 6-7. Corinth Road April 8. Advance on and siege of Corinth, Miss., April 29-May 30. Russell House, near Corinth, May 17. March to Memphis, Tenn., via La-Grange, Grand Junction and Holly Springs June 1-July 18. Rising Sun, Tenn., June 30. Duty at Memphis till November. Expedition from Memphis to Coldwater and Herando, Miss., September 8-13. Skirmish at Wolf Creek Bridge September 23. Grant's Central Mississippi Campaign. "Tallahatchie March" November 26-December 13. Sherman's Yazoo Expedition December 20, 1862, to January 3, 1863. Chickasaw Bayou December 26-28, 1862. Chickasaw Bluff December 29. Expedition to Arkansas Post, Ark., January 3-10, 1863. Assault and capture of Fort Hindman, Arkansas Post, January 10-11. Expedition to South Bend, Arkansas River, January 14-15. Moved to Young's Point, La., January 17-21, and duty there till March. Expedition to Rolling Fork, Miss., via Muddy, Steele's and Black Bayous and Deer Creek March 14-27. Demonstration on Haines and Drumgould's Bluffs April 29-May 2. Movement to join army in rear of Vicksburg, Miss., via Richmond and Grand Gulf May 2-14. Battle of Champion's Hill May 16. Siege of Vicksburg May 18-July 4. Assaults on Vicksburg May 19 and 22. Advance on Jackson, Miss., July 4-10. Siege of Jackson July 10-17. Duty at Big Black till September 27. Moved to Memphis, thence march to Chattanooga, Tenn., September 27-November 20. Operations on Memphis & Chattanooga Railroad in Alabama October 20-29. Bear Creek, Tuscumbia, October 27. Chattanooga-Ringgold Campaign November 23-27. Tunnel Hill November 23-25. Foot of Missionary Ridge November 24. Mission Ridge November 25. Pursuit to Graysville November 26-27. March to relief of Knoxville, Tenn., November 28-December 8. Reenlisted January 1, 1864. Veterans on furlough February-March. Atlanta (Ga.) Campaign May 1-September 8. Demonstrations on Resaca May 8-13. Near Resaca May 13. Battle of Resaca May 14-15. Advance on Dallas May 18-25. Operations on line of Pumpkin Vine Creek and battles about Dallas, New Hope Church and Allatoona Hills May 25-June 5. Operations about Marietta and against Kenesaw Mountain June 10-July 5. Assault on Kenesaw June 27. Nickajack Creek July 2-5. Chattahoochie River July 6-17. Battle of Atlanta July 22. Siege of Atlanta July 22-August 25. Ezra Chapel, Hood's 2nd Sortie, July 28. Flank movement on Jonesboro August 25-30. Battle of Jonesboro August 31-September 1. Lovejoy Station September 2-6. Operations against Hood in North Georgia and North Alabama September 29-November 3. March to the sea November 15-December 10. Clinton November 21-23. Ball's Ferry and Georgia Central Railroad Bridge November 23-25. Siege of Savannah December 10-21. Fort McAllister December 13. Campaign of the Carolinas January to April, 1865. Salkehatchie Swamps, S.C., February 2-5. Holman's Bridge, South Edisto River, February 9. North Edisto River February 12-13. Columbia February 16-17. Battle of Bentonville, N. C., March 20-21. Occupation of Goldsboro March 24. Advance on Raleigh April 10-14. Occupation of Raleigh April 14. Bennett's House April 26. Surrender of Johnston and his army. March to Washington, D.C., via Richmond, Va., April 29-May 30. Grand Review May 24. Moved to Louisville, Ky., June 2; thence to Little Rock, Ark., and duty there till August. Mustered out August 14, 1865.

Regiment lost during service 4 Officers and 77 Enlisted men killed and mortally wounded and 4 Officers and 234 Enlisted men by disease. Total 319.

SOURCE: Frederick H. Dyer, A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion, Part 3, p. 1523-4

Colonel Thomas Kilby Smith to Elizabeth Budd Smith, May 15, 1862

HEADQUARTERS 54TH REGT. O. V. INF.,

CAMP NO. 6 IN THE FIELD,

MISSISSIPPI, May 15, 1862.

We are still advancing, counter-skirmishing, and the din of cannonading is by day and night. We are close to Corinth. A great and decisive battle must soon be fought. We have been brigaded a second time. My regiment is now under command of Brigadier-General Morgan L. Smith, and consists of four regiments, the 55th Illinois, Colonel Stuart; the 57th Ohio, under Lieutenant-Colonel Rice, the Colonel being absent on sick leave; the 8th Missouri, and the 54th Ohio. I still preserve my position on the left flank, which gives me my position on the extreme left of the brigade, and as we march by the left flank, the advance of the army, which is a post of honor. The integrity and courage of my command is undoubted, and therefore the responsible trust. My address will now be 54th Regiment, Ohio Volunteers, First Brigade, Fifth Division, Major-General Sherman commanding.

SOURCE: Walter George Smith, Life and letters of Thomas Kilby Smith, p. 204

Brigadier General William T. Sherman To Senator John Sherman, April 22, 1862

HEADQUARTERS, CAMP SHILOH,

April 22, 1862.

Dear Brother:  My hand is still very sore but I am able to write some. The newspapers came back to us with accounts of our battle of the 6th and 7th inst. as usual made by people who ran away and had to excuse their cowardice by charging bad management on the part of leaders. I see that we were surprised, that our men were bayoneted in their tents, that officers had not had breakfast, &c. This is all simply false. The attack did not begin until 7 3-4 A.M. All but the worthless cowards had had breakfast. Not a man was bayoneted in or near his tent. Indeed our brigade surgeon, Hartshorn, has not yet seen a single bayonet wound on a living or dead subject. The regiments that profess to have been surprised lost no officers at all, and of the two that first broke in my division 53 and 57 Ohio, the 53 lost no officers and only 7 men, the 57 two officers and 7 men. Some of my Ohio regiments that did fight well lost as many as 49 and 34, but not a bayonet, sword or knife wound, all cannon and musket ball. Those of my brigade held our original position from 7 3-4 A.M. when the attack began, until 10 h. 10 m. when the enemy had passed my left and got artillery to enfilade my line when I ordered them to fall back. We held our second position until 4 P.M. and then fell back without opposition to the third and last position, more than a mile from the river.

As to surprise, we had constant skirmishes with the enemies’ cavalry all the week before, and I had strong guards out in front of each brigade, which guards were driven in on the morning of the battle, but before the enemy came within cannon range of my position every regiment was under arms at the post I had previously assigned to them. The cavalry was saddled and artillery harnessed up, unlimbered, and commenced firing as soon as we could see anything to fire at.

On Saturday I had no cavalry pickets out because I had no cavalry in my division. General Grant had made a new assignment of cavalry and artillery on Friday. The Ohio Fifth which had been with me was ordered to Hurlburt, and eight companies of the fourth, III., Colonel Dickey, assigned to me did not get into camp till near Saturday night and I ordered them into the saddle at midnight.

I occupied the right front, McClernand was to my rear, and on his left in echelon with me was Prentiss. I watched the Rondy road and main Corinth, Prentiss the Ridge Corinth road. . . .

The enemy did not carry either of my roads until he had driven Prentiss and got in on my left. . . .

Whether we should have been on this or that side of the Tennessee river is not my business. I did not apprehend an attack from Beauregard because I thought then and think now he would have done better if he could have chosen ground as far back from our stores as possible. We are bound to attack him, and had we run out of cartridges or stores or got stampeded twenty miles back from the Tennessee the result would have been different from now. But we knew the enemy was in our front, but in what form could not tell, and I was always ready for an attack. I am out of all patience that our people should prefer to believe the horrid stories of butchery, ridiculous in themselves, gotten up by cowards to cover their shame, than the plain natural reports of the officers who are responsible and who saw what they describe. My report with all the subordinate reports of Brigadiers and Colonels with lists of killed and wounded and missing went to General Grant on the 11th.

The enemy is still in our front, we can get a fight the hour and minute we want it. Halleck, Buell, Grant all in authority are now here and responsibility cannot be shifted. The common soldiers and subordinates ran away and now want to blame the commanders. . . .

Your affectionate brother,

W. T. SHERMAN

SOURCE: Rachel Sherman Thorndike, Editor, The Sherman letters: correspondence between General and Senator Sherman from 1837 to 1891, p. 143-5