Shiloh as Seen by a Private Soldier - A Paper Read Before California Commandery of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, May 31, 1889 #268603

Very interesting descriptions of the great battles of the late war, written by prominent generals, have been lately published and widely read. T, seems to me, however, that it is time for the private soldier to be heard from. Of course, his field of vision is much more limited than that of his general. On the other hand, it is of vital importance to the latter to gloss over his mistakes, and draw attention only to those things which will add to his reputation. The private soldier has no such feeling. It is only to the officers of high rank engaged that a battle can bring glory and re nown. To the army of common soldiers, who do the actual fighting, and risk mutilation and death, there is no reward except the consciousness of duty bravely performed. This was peculiarly the case in the late war, when more than a million of young men, the flower of our country, left their workshops and farms, their schools and colleges, to endure the hardships of the march and the camp, to risk health, limb and life, that their country might live, expecting nothing, hoping nothing for themselves, but all for their fatherland. 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: In respect to the general features of this desperate struggle between our own countrymen, my statements are derived from many reports and accounts carefully collated, and from many conversations with soldiers engaged, both from the Union and Confederate armies. Who of us, having reached middle life, does not recall the exultation and enthusiasm aroused by the news of the capture of Fort Donelson P What a thrill of pride and patriotism was felt' through all the loyal North! The soldiers of the great Northwest had attacked a citadel ot the rebellion, and captured it, with sixteen thousand of its defenders.