Eyewitness at Shiloh

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cruces
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Eyewitness at Shiloh

Post by cruces »

On April 6, 1862, the first day of the Battle of Shiloh, William M. Reid of the 15th Illinois Infantry scrawled in his diary: "All day we fought the Rebels but had to give way; we disputed every inch of ground. Lost four killed and sixteen wounded out of company…." The entry gave little hint of what the second lieutenant had seen during one of the war's great bloodbaths. Reid's regiment had rushed to shore up the Union right flank collapsing under the pressure of a Confederate surprise attack. His regiment was constantly on the move for hours as the battle roared through the woodlots and hollows along the Tennessee River. Reid saw his regimental commanders, Lieutenant Colonel Edward Eliis and Major William Goddard, killed along with dozens of his comrades. During the desperate fighting, he picked up a musket and fought as a private. After the war, while his memory was still fresh, Reid detailed his harrowing wartime experiences in a journal now preserved along with his diary at the National Civil War Museum in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. His account of Shiloh follows with minimal editing and added paragraph breaks. Spelling has been corrected in some places for clarity

Full article here: http://www.historynet.com/eyewitness-ac ... shiloh.htm

MG Elkin
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