John M. Lemmon and the Battle of Shiloh

    Private John M. Lemmon was serving in Company B of the 72nd Ohio Infantry during the Battle of Shiloh. The regiment had seen its first action just two days before in a short skirmish with Confederate cavalry. Company B had become separated from the regiment and fought on its own for more than an hour before relief arrived and the company could return to camp. That skirmish, a precursor to the Battle of Shiloh, gave the men their first small taste of battle- the maelstrom that broke upon their lines on the morning of April 6, 1862 would give them a belly full of fighting. 647 men went into action that morning- total casualties in the battle amounted to 133 men, including Lieutenant Colonel Herman Canfield who died of wounds.


Private John M. Lemmon, Co. B, 72nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry


There had been considerable skirmishing along the lines for some days. Our pickets were continually harassed by the enemy’s cavalry and on Saturday they reported seeing a large Rebel force not more than a mile from our camp with artillery. To ensure the complete safety of our pickets Gen. Sherman on Saturday withdrew them to within about 60 rods of camp. Thus when the enemy chose to make his attack, we must be taken by surprise for the pickets being so close could not possibly give us the alarm. From prisoners we learn that the enemy arrived in force before our lines on Friday and employed Saturday in making his arrangements for the attack, bringing his lines nearer to ours. In the evening he sent up rockets which fairly illuminated our camp but which was altogether too trifling a matter to break the stolid repose and security of our generals. The Union troops lay down to slumber and possibly dream of battle, grim and terrible, so completely were they wrapped in the treacherous security of their leaders.

Sunday morning opened most beautiful. A more charmingly beautiful morning I never beheld. Sharp firing was heard some distance from our quarters which I since learn was the attack on Gen. Prentiss’ division or upon an advance part of it. About 7 A.M. before we had eaten our breakfast, the long roll was beaten throughout our division and in a twinkling the men were under arms, though little expecting so terrible a battle as we were in a few moments involved in. We had scarcely formed in line when the enemy was found to be almost upon us, and we had barely time to advance a few paces forward of our color line into the woods in front of our camp when the battle opened along the whole line with the greatest fury. By this- and the time was much less than I have taken to relate the facts- the fight was fairly opened along the whole extent of our front. The enemy was rushing in overwhelming force, bringing his artillery to bear with terrible effect and as fast as his ranks were thinned filling them with fresh troops.
The regimental colors of the 72nd Ohio were captured by the Confederates when they overran the camp of the regiment around 10 A.M. The flag was still cased and inside a medical wagon which had been mistakenly left behind.


There raged the deadly conflict of fiercest war, for full two hours. We were contending with terrible odds, without support and for over an hour without the help of artillery, which however did us little good when brought forward. Reluctantly our line began to waver and presently gave way after holding the foe a full two hours in check and doing him great damage. Many had fallen, half of the field officers were numbered with the wounded and slain. The cowardly, of whom there are always more or less, had ingloriously fled to the river, creating the utmost confusion and panic. Col. Buckland’s brigade was the last to fall back and then only when ordered by Gen. Sherman when near surrounded and about to be cut off. 
Our position was upon the right of our front and as we fell back, the enemy directed his attack more directly upon the center which had been strengthened by Gen. McClernand’s command. The enemy came rushing on impetuously and bravely inspired by the success which thus far attended him. On the other hand, the Union troops, though sorely pressed by vastly overpowering numbers, seeming stung and maddened by their repulse and made new and herculean exertions to save the day and repel the foe. They rallied along the whole line and made one gallant and successful stand. The contest raged with unabated fury and obstinacy, our forces maintaining the stand they had taken with firmness and determination. The enemy now concentrated all his energies upon our left and center, in a fierce effort to make his way to the river, but the gunboats Tyler and Lexington coming to the aid of our troops, he was fairly foiled in this attempt.
Shiloh Church on the morning of April 6, 1862. The 72nd Ohio would have been just to the right of this image facing south. The regiment  (and Buckland's brigade consisting of the 48th and 70th Ohio regiments along with the 72nd) fought Brigadier General Patrick Cleburne's command to a standstill before Patton Anderson's brigade hit their line around 9 A.M. With ammunition exhausted and the brigade to their left (Hildebrand's) in retreat, the brigade fell back from their position southwest of Shiloh Church. 


Thus ended the first day’s encounter. We had been driven from one to two miles and the Rebels occupied a good portion of our camp. But the day’s conflict, though apparently in their favor, had been an exceedingly sore one to them. They had suffered heavily and by no means gained the easy victory they had counted on. Late in the afternoon a portion of Buell’s army (under Nelson I think) had got across the river and engaged in the fight. During the night other reinforcements came up from Buell’s column under forced marches and were ready to take part in the expected contest of the morrow. Gen. Lew Wallace had also arrived on the ground just after dark. We took new hope. Help was at hand, and we felt assured that ere another sunset a glorious victory should crown our arms.

Colonel Ralph P. Buckland commanded the brigade at the outset of the battle but reverted to regimental command following the wounding of Lieutenant Colonel Canfield. Buckland later remember Shiloh as the "most terrible days of my life. The scenes around me were such as I never expected to see. Death and destruction in all its horrors and in every possible shape, amid the smoke and roar of musketry and artillery without cessation."

Darkness came on and both armies rested on their arms but a short distance apart. The dead and awful silence of the night was continually broken by the groans of the wounded and dying on the battlefield. There lay men, felled down in the awful storm of common butchery, torn, mangled, shattered, disfigured, suffering all the tortures of wounds, the most ghastly writhing in the most excruciating pains, left to agonize and die without the ministration of the least relief, whose solemn pitiful moanings filled the still night with a sad solemn presence. As if to drown the cries of the wounded, a violent thunderstorm came on about 1 o’clock in the morning which fairly deluged the face of dame nature in a sheet of water.


Union casualties at Shiloh (National Tribune)


With the dawn of the morn on the 7th it was found that the Rebels had withdrawn their lines somewhat and taken up advantageous position on the Purdy Road and waited for us to make the attack. They waited not long. Gen. Wallace and Sherman went against the enemy’s right, Gen. Buell’s forces against the center and left with McClernand’s, Prentiss’, and Hurlbut’s commands. Our artillery was much better served than the previous day. The enemy was obstinate. He appeared to fully estimate the consequences of a defeat and fought with desperate fierceness. Slowly but surely we drove him back. Our men all fought nobly, but none more so than Col. Buckland’s brigade who had suffered so severely the day before. The enemy’s left was driven in. Then he rallied all his forces and launched them in one prodigious effort to break our center. But all was of no avail. Our troops were firm as an avalanche and steadily moving on like the torrent of a mighty river. Many of the batteries taken from us on Sunday were recaptured on Monday and many of the Rebel batteries in addition.
Private Chester Buckland, Co. B, 72nd O.V.I.
Died of wounds sustained at Shiloh

Thus the battle raged, the greatest conflict ever waged upon the American continent till about 4 P.M. when the Rebels began to falter and their ranks gave way. They could no more be rallied. A panic seized upon them. They broke and fled in the wildest terror, throwing away guns, accoutrements, clothing, leaving ambulances, caissons, cannon, provision trains and everything in their flight. They were pursued by our cavalry and many were captured. The enemy was pursued about eight miles far beyond his camp. He abandoned and destroyed large quantities of commissary stores, ammunition, and camp equipage. No doubt, had it been possible to pursue with the greater portion of the forces here, we could have occupied and held Corinth without a serious struggle. But the condition of the roads and the fatigued condition of the troops rendered this quite out of the question. Meantime, the people must wait for full preparations before Gen. Halleck moves on Corinth which is certain to fall at the appointed time.

I have no time to say much of the bravery of soldiers or officers during the fight. For the most part, all behaved with great bravery. The enemy fought well and were led by able generals, but I shall insist that we fought much better. So confident was Beauregard of success that on Sunday evening he issued orders that his troops should destroy nothing in our camps. His design was a bold one and had he been a day sooner, he might, to say the least, have been entirely successful. The timely junction of Buell’s forces with those here on Monday foiled his purpose and he suffered a crushing defeat.

Gravestone of Lieutenant Colonel Herman Canfield, 72nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry
Canfield had command of the regiment until he was shot down from his horse Lyon as he rode back and forth behind the battle line encouraging the men. The bullet penetrated his right lung and exited out his left side. He was carried from the field and died of his wounds the following day. In his dying moments, he inquired about his beloved regiment and his last words were 'I have faced the enemy and fell.'


Of the loss I can add little. It was very heavy on both sides, though I think the Rebels lost in killed nearly twice as many men as we did; their wounded may not be more numerous. On the part of the 72nd, I must be permitted to state that the regiment acquitted itself with honorable distinction. Both officers and men behaved with noble gallantry and have done lasting honor to the heroic ground from whence they came. Col. Buckland distinguished himself by his soldierly bearing and fearless intrepid leadership. All honor to our gallant colonel.

(The ever modest Lemmon neglected to state that he received three wounds during the battle, the last of which (a tree limb falling on him after being struck by a Confederate cannon shell) incapacitated him for a few days after the battle. He had been wounded twice on April 6th- a musket ball striking his left arm and a spent ball bruised his right arm. The tree limb falling on him occurred on April 7th when the regiment was advancing against the Confederate lines.)

Total casualties were 2 officers and 13 men killed, 3 officers and 70 men wounded, 45 men missing.

Private Samuel Shutts, Co. B, 72nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry
Killed in action at Shiloh
April 6, 1862

Comments

Post a Comment

Most Popular Posts

Arming the Buckeyes: Longarms of the Ohio Infantry Regiments

Image
     A common question that comes up in conversation about Civil War Buckeye regiments is "What were they armed with?" We are fortunate in that the state of Ohio kept good records of how the regiments were armed when they went into service, this being especially true for those regiments which went into service in 1861 and 1862. The state adjutant general's reports for 1861 and 1862 have been heavily drawn upon to construct this article, as well as consultation with Phil Spaugy who has done extensive research on how Ohio's troops were armed during the war.      Buckeyes carried a fairly wide variety of weapons into the field, and the below article breaks this down into weapons of both domestic manufacture and imported arms. The early days of the war found the state of Ohio practically bereft of longarms; as an example, when the 1st and 2nd Ohio Volunteer Militia left the state in late April 1861, they left unarmed, being armed at Lancaster, Pennsylvania on t...
Read more

Bullets for the Union: Manufacturing Small Arms Ammunition During the Civil War

Image
       Civil War bullets are perhaps the most common item collected from the era; the two armies expended bullets by the millions during the four years’ conflict and spent or deformed bullets of all shapes and sizes have made fascinating and affordable collectibles since the guns went silent in 1865.       I recently acquired a display piece featuring 35 different types of small arms ammunition used during the Civil War, including everything from a small .28 caliber ball up to a .69 caliber three-ring Minie and it triggered some questions: how did the Federal army obtain its small arms ammunition during the war? Where did the lead come from to make the bullets, and where and how was the ammunition manufactured? This post seeks to answer those questions. A typical .58 caliber 3-ring Minie bullet   “Whenever the blasts of war blow in the ears of men who trade in the implements of destruction, they are apt to experience more joy than the true ...
Read more

Dressing the Rebels: How to Dye Butternut Jeans Cloth

Image
     In the early days of the Civil War,  the Southern states found themselves with an abundance of cotton but a shortage of cloth with which to make army uniforms. The trade in cloth prior to the war had largely been to send raw cotton or wool north to New England (or Great Britain) where it was converted into usable cloth; but now that trade was broken and the Southern states were thrown upon their own resources in their efforts to properly clothe the Confederate army.  This collection of Confederate enlisted men's frock coats and shell jackets gives some indication of the variety of shades of butternut worn during the war. All of them are shades of yellow brown, some heavier on the yellow and some heavier on the brown. The blue used around the collar or as rank insignia indicates that the soldier was in the infantry. Surviving Confederate uniforms are considered rather rare and command quite a healthy price in the collecting market. For an in-depth study of h...
Read more

The Wizard of Oz and the Civil War

Image
T he 1939 film The Wizard of Oz has delighted viewers for 85 years and ranks as a personal favorite, especially during the Halloween season. While watching it with the family the other night, I wondered if there were any connections between the film and the Civil War. Not surprisingly, the answer is yes and those connections touch both the blue and the gray.           Interestingly both “witches” in the film not only had Civil War ancestors but had connections with Civil War soldiers from Ohio. Margaret Hamilton, the “Wicked Witch of the West,” was born in Cleveland, Ohio on December 9, 1902, to attorney Walter Jones Hamilton and his wife Mary Jane Adams; Margaret’s grandfather was Judge Edwin Timothy Hamilton. Judge Hamilton had served as a private in Co. D of the 84 th Ohio Infantry during the summer of 1862. The 84 th Ohio, a three months’ regiment, served nearly the whole of its service attached to the Railroad District in western Ma...
Read more

The Vaunted Enfield Rifle Musket

Image
     The English-made Model 1853 .577 caliber Enfield Rifle Musket was widely regarded as the best infantry arm in the world at the outbreak of the Civil War in April 1861. Favorable international press describing its efficiency in the Crimean War and in suppressing the Indian rebellion led to the widespread desire of American infantrymen (both Federal and Confederate) to be armed with these accurate and well-made arms. The lock plate of this well-worn P1853 Enfield rifle musket produced in 1862 shows the typical markings of a British-made weapon that made it through the Federal blockade.  ( Army of Tennessee Relics ) Enfield-pattern weapons were imported into the states by the tens and hundreds of thousands during the war years; one estimate stated that the Federal government purchased 500,000 while the Confederates purchased another 400,000. The Confederate government dispatched Captain Caleb Huse to Europe in April 1861 to purchase weapons and Huse focused on se...
Read more

In front of Atlanta with the 68th Ohio

Image
  The arrow corps badge of the 17th Army Corps was worn by many members of the 68th Ohio in the latter days of the war.       Private Edward A. Bigelow of Co. F of the 68th Ohio Volunteer Infantry wrote this brief account of the Battle of Atlanta just two days afterwards to his father back home in Henry County, Ohio. The regiment formed a part of Colonel Robert K. Scott's three regiment all-Ohio brigade consisting of the 20th, 68th, and 78th regiments, being designated the Second Brigade of the Third Division of Frank Blair's 17th Army Corps. Bigelow's letter originally appeared in the Napoleon Press newspaper and was copied in the Toledo Daily Commercial which was providential as no known copies exist today of the wartime Napoleon Press.  
Read more

Charging Battery Robinett: An Alabama Soldier Recalls the Vicious Fighting at Corinth

Image
W riting 30 years after the Battle of Corinth, James A. McKinstry of the 42 nd Alabama recalled his experiences storming Battery Robinett with Colonel William P. Rogers of the 2 nd Texas and expressed guilt that it was perhaps his action that brought about the colonel’s demise. “On seeing a line of Federals approaching, and before giving the situation a thought, I immediately raised my gun and fired full into the breast of a Federal sergeant, who was in front of the column, and only a short distance from us.  'Twas then that Captain George Foster shouted, "Cease firing, men! cease firing!" and waved his handkerchief, then I realized the true situation. 'Twas too late! That fatal volley had been turned on our little band from the muzzles of 1,500 muskets. I was still standing just as I was when I fired my last shot, and within a few feet of Colonel Rogers, when a Minie ball went crashing through my left hip and turned me half round; another went tearing through my ...
Read more

Cook & Brother of New Orleans

Image
    The lockplate of a New Orleans-made Cook & Brother Enfield rifle produced in 1862 shows the fine craftsmanship that became the hallmark of the maker throughout the Civil War. Note the stars and bars flag at left, an emblem used on C&B's production throughout the war and the Cook & Brother, N.O. 1862 markings. Earlier production weapons at New Orleans had the flag located just above the maker's name while later weapons produced in Athens, Georgia would have a modified flag and Athens on the plate followed by the serial number.        In the spring of 1861, two English-born businessmen, Ferdinand and Francis Cook of New Orleans, perceived the need for the South to have its own domestic production of firearms and  set out to prove "that rifles could made here as well as in Yankee land or in Europe." The brothers  elected to produce copies of the British Model 1853 .577 caliber Enfield rifle as this was considered the benchmark longarm...
Read more

I Want to See a Battle: A Hoosier at Shiloh

Image
W riting in his diary, Private Manius Buchanan of the 29 th Indiana recalled the eagerness with which his regiment marched towards Savannah, Tennessee with the sounds of the battle of Shiloh ringing in their ears.           “The forced march was kept up until 2 p.m. when we were halted until 4 p.m,” he noted. “The rest was really needed, but the continual question is ‘Why are we stopped here?’ The sound of battle increased in volume and anxiety to be up and doing grows more intense. As I am weak from a late sickness, I am urged to fall to the rear; but no, in common with all, I want to see a battle and fear this will be my only chance.” The regiment would go into action the following afternoon, and of the four neighborhood boys who had enlisted together in Co. B, only Buchanan escaped unscathed. One afternoon's exposure to the horrors of battle was all it took to satisfy this Hoosier's desire to see the elephant. “I wanted to see a battl...
Read more

An Interview with Forrest in May 1864

Image
  “The noise of battle is the only music that ravishes the senses of Forrest.” I t was May 1864. Back east, the Army of Northern Virginia and the Army of the Potomac were locked in the deadly dance of the Overland Campaign while in Georgia, General William Tecumseh Sherman's army squared off against General Joseph E. Johnston and the Army of the Tennessee in the campaign for Atlanta.       Based in relatively quiet northern Mississippi, General Nathan Bedford Forrest bided his time waiting for a Federal advance from Memphis. Earlier in the month, General Samuel Sturgis led a brief campaign into Mississippi but Forrest was sure Sturgis would venture out again. In the meantime, he tried to keep his reorganized command intact despite persistent demands from his superiors that he return the absentees and deserters who inflated his ranks (nearly 1,000 in number) to their original commands.      Around this same time,  an old acquaintance from Me...
Read more