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.
