Worse Scared than Hurt: A 41st Illinoisan Survives Shiloh

Sergeant Fred True of the 41st Illinois numbered among the lucky survivors of Shiloh as he explained in a letter to his sisters back home in Illinois.

          The regiment went into action on the morning of April 6, 1862, and soon found itself in a pounding firefight with advancing Confederates. “I was hit twice. One ball struck my leg and numbed it considerably without entering the pants. The other struck me on the chin or throat and drove me from the field. The wound bled severely so that I was worse scared than hurt,” True confessed. “Buell’s forces came to our relief Sunday night and on Monday by desperate fighting we forced them to fall back as steadily as they had advanced on Sunday. But for Buell’s forces, I believe we would all have been whipped and killed or taken prisoner.”

          Sergeant True’s letter originally was published in the April 17, 1862, edition of the Mattoon Gazette, making it one of the earliest firsthand accounts published about the Battle of Shiloh.

         

Captain (later Colonel) Robert Hugh McFadden led Sergeant True's Co. D of the 41st Illinois at Shiloh. The 27-year-old Zanesville, Ohio native and former justice of the peace had been slightly wounded at Fort Donelson and reported losing three men killed and ten wounded, included Sergeant True, during the fighting at Shiloh. "The boys all done well and fought bravely," McFadden said. 
(Find-A-Grave)

Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee

April 10, 1862

Dear sisters,

          Thinking you are perhaps laboring under some uneasiness about me, I will write to you though you will probably hear the result of the battle before this reaches you.

          Our camps extended some five or six miles from the river over as wide a space. On Sunday morning, the enemy were drawn up in line of battle within gunshot of our advanced camps and opened upon us with such a heavy fire that some of our new regiments retreated in disorder after firing a round or two.

 

“In a few minutes, men could be seen straggling through the wood singly and in squads, some with blood running from their heads, walking briskly. Others were pale from loss of blood, leaning on their comrades for support, all of which told very plainly that they were having hot work while looking upon these passing witnesses of mortal combat.” ~Captain Robert H. McFadden, Co. D, 41st Illinois

 

          The enemy advanced steadily all day, our men giving way sometimes in disorder. At night they had us driven into a small space near the landing when the gunboats and a few siege pieces we had that day planted opened on them with a shower of grape and shell that drove them back some distance. Sunday night they slept in our tents; my tent had several ball holes through it.

Corporal Oscar Applegate Kelso
Co. A, 41st Illinois
Later captain, Co. H, 6th USCT HA
(Liljenquist Collection)

          Buell’s forces came to our relief Sunday night and on Monday by desperate fighting we forced them to fall back as steadily as they had advanced on Sunday. But for Buell’s forces, I believe we would all have been whipped and killed or taken prisoner. Thank God the men who acted so shamefully on Sunday were not from Illinois; they were principally Ohio men, but some were from Michigan and Wisconsin. On that Sunday long to be remembered, while you were all happy at home, the woods here for miles in every direction was strewn with dead and dying men. In many places they were burned by the leaves catching fire from our powder.

          We were drawn up in line about 10 o’clock and placed in a small ravine where we were pretty well covered from the enemy’s fire. At 12 o’clock a dense mass of men was seen advancing upon us with the Stars and Bars waving over them. Upon their appearance, the command was “Steady, let them advance.” When they got sufficiently close, we had the command “Fire!” We opened upon them, some of our boys inclined to “crawfish” down the hill. I stood by our left yelling “Stand your ground boys, don’t give back.”

 

“About this time, a well-directed shot killed the horse of Colonel Nelson Williams, entering his breast and coming out just behind the saddle, so stunning the colonel that he had to be carried from the field. Command of the brigade fell on Colonel Isaac Pugh of the 41st.” ~ Captain Robert H. McFadden, Co. D, 41st Illinois

 

Colonel Isaac C. Pugh, 41st Illinois Volunteer Infantry
(Find-A-Grave) 

          We fought two-and-a-half hours and gave back when our ammunition had given out. The enemy by flanking us on the left had a raking fire up the ravine. The Rebels fought with all the desperation of drunken men. Rebel prisoners we captured tell us they were furnished with whiskey and that every other means was resorted to, to make them fight like devils. In many of the canteens of the dead Rebels we find whiskey, and the bodies of many of them were blackened, indicating that they were drunk when killed.

Our regiment suffered considerably. Lieutenant Colonel Tupper, Captains Oglesby and Huffer, and two lieutenants were killed. A number of others were wounded. Of our company (D) three were killed (none of whom you know) and eight wounded. I was hit twice. One ball struck my leg and numbed it considerably without entering the pants. The other struck me on the chin or throat and drove me from the field. The wound bled severely so that I was worse scared than hurt. I am now in quarters and will soon be able for duty. James Anderson was wounded in the army not very severely. Foster Whitney was pretty severely wounded in both legs with the same ball.

Buell’s forces are in quick pursuit. As I write, volley after volley of musketry is being fired over some of the graves of our men who are not yell all buried. We dig long holes in the ground, lay them side by side without any coffin, fire a salute over the grave, and then cover their cold bodies with the Tennessee clay. The Secesh we bury with less ceremony: dig a hole, roll them in, and cover them.

 To learn more about the fight of Hurlbut’s division at Shiloh, please check out the following posts:

We Generals Must Take Our Chances with the Boys 

Dreaming of Powder, Musket Balls, and Blood: The 15th Illinois at Shiloh 

Tried in the Furnace: A Hoosier at Shiloh (25th Indiana)

Defending the Peach Orchard: An Iowan at Shiloh (3rd Iowa) 

We Suffered Everything but Death: Travails of a Shiloh P.O.W.  (Battery B, 1st Michigan Lt. Artillery) 

Sources:

Letter from Sergeant James Frederick True, Co. D, 41st Illinois Volunteer Infantry, Mattoon Gazette (Illinois), April 17, 1862, pg. 4

Letter from Captain Robert Hugh McFadden, Co. D, 41st Illinois Volunteer Infantry, Mattoon Gazette (Illinois), May 1, 1862, pg. 3

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