A Portable Shiloh - the narrative concludes

 

We left the narrative last time with the battle lines appreciably thinning out. The last of Hardee's brigades in action, Cleburne's, is finally halted; Pond, from Ruggles's Division, takes up the running on the Owl Creek flank. In the centre, Polk's Corps is taking over, largely, from Hardee and Bragg. Breckinridge is coming up on the right. The Union brigades of Hurlbut and W.H.L. Wallace are bearing the burden of the defence, still hoping for the timely arrival of Lew Wallace's Division.

The last of McClernand's Division disappears, leaving Tuttle and McArthur brigades to hold the line if they can.

Stiff fighting as the Confederates are held up in the Peach Orchard. To lever the Federals off their line, Bowen strikes into Lauman's flank beyond the orchard. All along the line Union losses continue to be disproportionately heavier than the Confederates' - 7 Strength Points to 4 in the above picture.

The situation is not improved for the Union in the picture that follows (above). Eleven SP to 6 in this - the numbers all the same indicating heavy fighting. The 'ones' on the dice denote brigades that scored no hits at all in this round of fighting. Having said that, we observe that Hildebrand, almost surrounded, and only remnants still with the colours, getting a a few licks against their adversaries (Stephens's brigade). But this proved to be Hildebrand's last stand - the unit giving way at last.

Nearby, A.P. Stewart, with artillery and cavalry support, engages Williams and Veatch, both also reduced by earlier fighting.



Close by Owl Creek, Pond and Anderson strike the brigades of Sweeny and Tuttle. Despite their inferior numbers against fresh opponents, the Union brigades give as good as they take. But, for the Union, 'as good as you take' is a losing proposition. Numbers are telling.  The remains of Cleburne's brigade takes time out from the battle, as, in the distance Russell's brigade encounters McArthur - the last Union brigade to enter the fight.

The Union lines are looking woefully thin! They can scan in vain the northern horizon for the arrival of Lew Wallace's men.

The whole of the Union line north of the Peach Orchard has collapsed, with only McArthur's brigade apparently standing between the triumphant Confederate army and Pittsburgh Landing.  For all that, the Confederate brigades are also looking more than a little shopworn. 

Nothing remains of Hurlbut's Division as an organised force north of the Peach Orchard as his lines are overrun.  But events elsewhere are about to take a sudden turn...

The afternoon having advanced into evening, and the Union lines in a state of collapse, Lew Wallace arrives in the field at last. The leading brigade of Hoosiers and Show-Me-Staters enter the fight off the march to support Sweeny and to cover the march of Thayer and Whittlesey behind McArthur's brigade.

All this while, the crowd of fugitives around Pittsburgh Landing continues to grow. There will be no rallying these people until something, somehow, brings to a halt the Confederate advance. 

Tenuous though the line of W.H.L. Wallace's Division is, the Confederates are not for the moment able to exploit - the sudden disappearance of the Union lines immediately to their front creating a broader 'no man's land' between them and the substantive Union line.  As a result, the Wallaces' Divisions are able to form a solid line to face the final Rebel push.

Pond's brigade strikes first to crush the remnants of Sweeny's brigade, and pushes on to hit Morgan Smith. A promising prelude to the final assault?

By this time, with the fading evening light, the Union has at last formed a coherent line. The battle lines have been drawn for the final assault.

This was to be the climax of the action.

From the west (distance) to east (closer) the action runs as follow. Pond and Anderson attack Morgan Smith's line from front and flank. Under the eye of Lew Wallace himself, steady Union volleys break Anderson's brigade, although Pond's telling attack bent back Smith's flank. The departure of Anderson from the fight gave Pond pause. To the right of Anderson, Russell's brigade also broke itself to pieces attacking Thayer's brigade, where Ulysses S. Grant had placed his person to oversee the battle.

A.P. Stewart enjoys rather better success - possibly striking before Whittlesey has properly formed his line. Nevertheless, despite heavy losses, Whittlesey is able to stand his ground. 

The decisive battle of the evening belongs to McArthur. Already having seen some of the action, McArthur sees half his brigade fall, but in the process, he repulses the Confederate attacks decisively. Bowen's brigade withers away in fruitless assaults on McArthur's flank, and although Bushrod Johnson inflicts heavy casualties on the Union brigade, he gets rather the worse of the bargain. In taking 2 SP loss, McArthur hands out five to the two brigades in front of him!

Altogether, in this climactic struggle, the Union takes eight Strength Points loss, and inflicts eleven.

That was the deciding moment of the day. Night was setting in, half the Confederate line had been definitively shattered - three brigades having been eliminated altogether - and, by the time Breckinridge's fresh brigades might be brought into action, total darkness would have fallen. 

I called the action, here, as it was by no means clear that the Confederacy would have enjoyed any more success than they had achieved to this point.  I might have continued the action into the following day, reconstituting the wreckage of both armies, and bringing in Buell's Army of the Ohio from across the river, where it was arriving at about the time Lew Wallace was entering the battle. Of course, the tide would have gone the other way.