Shattered union the last cry of freedom
They had bought Grant the time he needed. Finally, the Confederates brought up 62 field guns to pound their position.Īn hour before sunset, Prentiss surrendered to the surrounding enemy. Outnumbered four to one, they held out for hours, fending off a dozen Confederate assaults. In the center, Prentiss gathered the remains of his Union division and parts of two others along a sunken road. Prentiss’s Standīeauregard, taking over as Confederate commander, pushed the attack, driving the Union flanks back two miles. It severed an artery, and he quickly bled to death. In the middle of the afternoon, a bullet hit Johnston in the leg. For Johnston, it was about pushing forward while he had the edge.īeing so close to the fighting, both men were in danger. Johnston and Grant rushed around the lines, trying to assert order.įor Grant, it was about clinging on until more troops arrived and preparing for a last stand if it were needed. New recruits on both sides fled the battle in terror. ReorganizationĪmid the tangled terrain, both armies threatened to dissolve into chaos. It was their first experience of “seeing the elephant,” army slang for combat.
Grant ordered his troops to advance with all speed to the landing, while he rushed there in a dispatch boat.Īlong a six-mile front, soldiers engaged in the bloodiest fight of the war so far. Many of the Union troops, including Grant, were camped several miles away. “My God, we’re attacked!” Sherman exclaimed. General Sherman, hurrying to see what was happening, saw his orderly shot dead beside him. The sound of their fighting retreat toward their camp was the first warning the Union soldiers had. On the morning of April 6, they were shocked at how wrong they had been.īefore dawn, a Union patrol from General Prentiss’s division encountered Confederate forces advancing through the tangled woods and scrub around Pittsburg Landing. Grant did not want to rob his men of their aggressive spirit through defensive measures. When they arrived at Pittsburg Landing on the Tennessee River, they did not entrench or arrange a defensive encampment. Union forces were confident they would be the attackers in any engagement. Grant was so focused on his own offensive plans that he gave little regard to what Johnston might do. Grant and Don Carlos Buell, were in an equally aggressive mood. They advanced to attack Union forces in Tennessee.