Today in History:

236 Series I Volume X-I Serial 10 - Shiloh Part I

Page 236 KY., TENN., N. MISS., N.ALA., AND SW. VA., Chapter XXII.

some 10 rounds the regiment to the left was force back. An order was now given along the entire line to fall back, and a general retreat was made about 3.30 o'clock p.m. to a ridge nearer the river. Here the regiment was again formed in brigade line and marched up to the support of a section of a battery of large siege guns, and occupied this position during the desperate fight which closed the day. After the final repulse of the enemy the regiment was moved forward, with the residue of the brigade, about three-fourths of a mile, and there bivouacked for the night, at about 7.30 o'clock.

At this time the effects of wounds received during the early part of the day compelled me to retire from the field, and it has not since been possible for me to rejoin the regiment. The command henceforth devolved on Lieutenant-Colonel Osborn, who had borne himself gallantly during the whole day, and who alone of the field officers escaped unharmed.

On the next day (7th instant) the regiment was actively engaged with the balance of your brigade on the right of our main line. For the particulars of this day's work you are referred to the report of Colonel Osborn hereto appended, marked A [Numbers 58.]. The casualties of the previous day had made great inroads among the officers and non-commissioned officers of the various companies. It affords me pleasure, however to report to you that the regiment fully sustained its former well-earned reputation, and gallantly bore its part in the sharp engagements which were that day fought, and joined in the victorious rout and pursuit of the enemy which resulted therefrom.

It grieves me to report the loss of two gallant officers. During the first charge of the enemy on the morning of the 6th Major Fred. Arn fell mortally wounded. He was a true soldier and accomplished gentleman. No more gallant soul ever "took wing" from a battle-field. Captain George Harvey, one of the best officers of the regiment, was killed upon the field while bravely leading his company in the afternoon advance.

The number of commissioned officers of the regiment wounded, more or less seriously, was large, being more than one-third of those in the fight.

Lieutenant Clifford W. Ross, regimental adjutant, was unhorsed early in the first engagement from the effect of a shell while in the fearless discharge of his duty.

The commandants of companies, Captains Winans, Mewhinney, Wall, Faribanks, J. T. Smith, McCalla, Beaty, C. M. Smith, and Lieutenant Waterman, each acted nobly. The lieutenants and subaltern officers of their companies also conducted themselves with courage and propriety. A scarcity of file-closers, owing to sickness and absence, rendered the field labors of the company officers more than usually arduous.

The conduct of Surg. James B. Armstrong an his assistant, W. C. Hendricks, merits honorable mention. They accompanied the regiment constantly on both days, often in such close proximity as to endanger their own lives, ministering to the wounded with a kindness and assiduity beyond the ordinary calls of professional duty. They were constant also in their attention to such of the enemy's wounded as were encountered on the field.

The following is a statement of the casualties sustained by the regiment, collated from the regimental surgeon's report:*

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*But see revised statement, p. 103.

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Page 236 KY., TENN., N. MISS., N.ALA., AND SW. VA., Chapter XXII.