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"Shiloh" as Seen by a Private Soldier With Some Personal Reminiscences
Warren Olney (1841–1921)
Named on the page for Battle of Shiloh.
draft Matched to the battle automatically; not yet reviewed.
Passages that name the battle; the whole book is at Project Gutenberg.
6–7 April 1862
Battle of Shiloh
"SHILOH" AS SEEN BY A PRIVATE SOLDIER.
THE BATTLE OF SHILOH.
The first really great battle of the war was that of Pittsburg Landing, or Shiloh, and I shall not only attempt to give a general account of the battle, but also describe it from the point of view of a man in the ranks.
Our regiment was brigaded with the Twenty-eighth, Thirty-second, and Forty-first Illinois. The division was commanded by Brigadier-General Stephen A. Hurlbut (since somewhat noted as United States Minister to Peru). We had served under him in Missouri, and our principal recollection of him was an event which occurred at Macon. We had got aboard a train of cattle cars for the purpose of going to the relief of some point threatened by the enemy. After waiting on the train two or three hours, expecting every moment to start, we noticed a couple of staff officers supporting on each side the commanding general, and leading him to the car I was in. Getting him to the side of the car, they boosted him in at the door, procured a soldier's knapsack for him to sit on, and left him. He was so drunk he couldn't sit upright. The consequence was that the regimental officers refused to move. A court-martial followed, and we heard no more of our general until we found him at Pittsburg Landing in command of a division. He showed so much coolness and bravery in the battle which followed, that we forgave him his first scandalous appearance. But the distrust of him before the battle can readily be imagined.
Public domain. Text from Project Gutenberg.