Remembering Our Civil War Heritage and
Heroes:
1861-1865
In the Shadow of
Colonel Nathan Bedford Forrest:
Private John C. Lilly
at Shiloh—Part III
By
Ken Robison
For The River Press
August 29, 2012
This
continues a monthly series commemorating the 150th Anniversary of
the Civil War and the veterans that settled in Central Montana. In Part I, John
C. Lilly, of Shelby County, Ky., joined the Confederate Army, and was assigned
to Company A in Colonel N. B. Forrest’s Old Regiment. Part II continued Private
Lilly’s wartime experiences as the action in the [then] western border states,
Kentucky and Tennessee, went from mild to wild. Forrest’s Old Regiment fought
gallantly in the battle leading to the Confederate surrender of Fort Donelson.
Col. Forrest refused to surrender and led about 500 men from his regiment and
other units in a daring escape. Part III continues Private John Lilly’s account
as Forrest’s Cavalry regroup, re-equip, and then charge headlong into the vital
battle at Shiloh.
That part south of the Cumberland River is a broken
country ridged by hills and deep ravines. [It was] not much of a farming
country, [but] there were five old Iron Furnaces. Forrest could not get much
information when we got near Charlotte, [but] the report was that there was a
Yankee Regiment of Iowa Cavalry. Forrest knew that we were not very well fixed
for giving battle. We were all wet from crossing the slue, our guns and
ammunition were wet, and everyone was worn out having not slept any for four
nights. Col. Forrest halted and had us fire our guns and pistols and clean them
for action.
When that was done it was ‘Forward March.’ In the mean
time, we did not enter the town [of Charlotte] and struck out for Clarksville.
Before we got near Clarksville, we found a lot of baggage and camp outfits that
was left by [Colonel John S.] Scott’s Louisiana Cavalry [1st
Louisiana Cavalry Regiment] that had been ordered to Fort Donaldson. Finding
out that it was surrendered, [Scott’s Cavalry made] a kind of a hasty retreat.
Forrest found out that Clarksville was floating the white flag, and as we could
see black smoke on the River he concluded to go on to Nashville. We had quite a
time to get the horses fed and feed for ourselves so we marched night and day
when we got in sight of Nashville.
[Insert map with caption Western Theater of War from
September 1861 to April 1862 (Courtesy of Wikipedia)]
The report came to Forrest that Nashville was in the
hands of the Yankees. There were no Yankee gunboats there, but Forrest was not
certain but what it was full of Yankee Cavalry. I shall never forget the remark
of that daring Col. Forrest just before he got to the bridge of the Cumberland
River. He formed his little broken up Regiment in line. There were also a few Infantrymen that had
followed us a foot. Poor fellows, what a hard time they had. After he had all
of us in line he says, ‘I am going in to that town. I don’t care if there is
ten thousand Yankees in there and any of you that don’t want to follow me fall
out of ranks right here. Forward march.’ I don’t know of anyone falling out.
We marched into
Nashville [on February 18th] without any trouble or fight [the town
was not in Yankee hands]. Col. Forrest made arrangements for us to camp at the Penitentiary
and rations were cooked for us in good style, but it was not necessary for us
to eat there. Forrest’s Cavalry was welcome at any family table in the town [because]
there was nothing too good for Forrest’s Cavalry. We were the Heroes of the day.
But here it seemed to some of the boys that the war was over, and it would have
been a good thing if it had been. I found out afterward that it had hardly
commenced, and by this [I] believe that the war [really] was over. As we were
the favorites of the citizens of Tennessee, our Regiment, or what was left of
it, got somewhat scattered having a good time among the good people of
Tennessee.
We got back together at Murfreesboro, Tennessee, camped there
for a short time, and then marched to Huntsville, Alabama [arriving February
25]. There we were reorganized and the Old Regiment got some recruits. All the scattered
boys caught up, and the Old Regiment once more looked natural. From Huntsville
we marched to Burnsville, Mississippi. Here we camped without tents as we had lost
everything we had at Fort Donaldson. It was raining day and night, and we did
not know what was before us. We had no idea that Grant and his Army that we
left at Fort Donaldson was in [but] a day’s march of us, and that he was
camping at that Old Shiloh Meeting House. But Col. Forrest was always ready if
there was any fighting to be done.
We got to the battleground [at Shiloh] Saturday night
[April 5th], and there met a rain, but it cleared up nice and bright. Col.
Forrest’s Cavalry was detached to [Major] General John C. Breckenridge’s
Command. Sunday morning was a most beautiful morning after all the raining for
five days before had made everything green. At daylight a few shots were
exchanged and before we knew it was volley after volley. In a short time Col.
Forrest at the head of his Regiment double quicked to Hamburg
on the Tennessee River to guard the rear of Breckenridge
to prevent the Yankees from landing troops. In the rain we had no trouble with
the exception of the gunboats shelling us and through all of it Forrest was
primed. He could tell by the firing that that our men were driving the Yankee
Army before them, and he wanted to be in it.
We were thrown out as pickets all along the ridge and the
river. It was not long when we were called in, and Forrest at the head of his
column marched double quick for the battlefield. He got there just in time
again to make a grand charge. This was made by Col. Forrest leading the charge
across an old field over which there had been a great contest, but it was won
then. Col. Forrest lost two horses that day.
[Brigadier General Benjamin M. Printiss had saved Grant’s
army that first day at Shiloh. Printiss’ Division dug into a sunken road at the
center of the “Hornet’s Nest” and held off the Confederates for six critical
hours. Forrest was in on the capture of Printiss and 2,000 of his men, but the
Confederate advance had been delayed at the Hornet’s Nest. Lilly continues:] When
Genl Printiss surrendered, firing had slacked off to almost as if everyone had
left the field. Everything was quiet when all at once General Breckenridge
moved his whole line forward on towards Pittsburg Landing, and Col. Forrest
with his Old Regiment in line [formed] behind Breckenridge. When this column of
Infantry and Artillery and Cavalry marched forward in line of battle. It was a
grand sight to look at.
It seemed that nothing could stand in front of that
victorious line of men but as that was the last stand of Grant’s defeated Army
that day, they made a noble stand. They waited until our lines got in short
range and the grandest sight of all was that the sun was about setting, and it
looked red when a person looked right into it. Then at once the guns of the
Yankees belched out fire, shot, and shells that were terrific. Our Infantry
fell to the ground and our Batteries opened [up]. That was one of the grandest
artillery duels by the setting of the sun that most every one will ever see.
As the Yankee artillery fire stopped the forward movement
of our Infantry, they turned their fire on Forrest and his Cavalry that was
rather a little too much for the Cavalry to stand. Where Infantry can lay down,
Forrest would not move [so] horses and men were shot down till Genl
Breckenridge ordered him to fall back out of the range of the Artillery of the
enemy’s guns. Col. Forrest fell back a distance out of range when the Artillery
duel was going until well after dark. Then after dark Forrest moved in front of
our Infantry and Artillery right close up to the Yankee guns. Here we were
standing out as a chain picket for the night.
Everything was quiet, but reader have you ever been on a
battlefield? If you have not you can not imagine the feeling that every one
will have that stands within two hundred yards of an enemy. Now and then you
hear the sound of a wounded man crying for water or calling on God or cursing
and swearing, and then you hear some owl that has escaped the fire of the day.
The night after the first day’s fighting at Shiloh was a
terrible night after the sun was down and everything was dark. Big black clouds
began to race in the west, and it was not long when it began to rain and
thunder and lightning was terrific. The Yankee gunboats kept up a cannonading
from their big guns throwing shells in every direction with but a little harm
to us. It sounded and looked more dangerous than it was. Here we were in two hundred
yards of the Yankee lines and shells [exploding] all around us, and thunder and
lightning and heavy rain came down on us. It made a man feel kind of funny, but
as we thought that all of our Infantry and Artillery was right close behind us,
where we left them after when we marched in front of them, it kept us in good
spirits.
[So sure of victory were Confederate forces at the end of
that first day of fighting at Shiloh, that Confederate commander Gen.
Beauregard sent a telegram to President Jefferson Davis announcing, “A COMPLETE
VICTORY.” Meanwhile General Grant’s nerves of steel were reflected in a story
told by Union Brig. Gen. William T. Sherman: At the end of that first day
Sherman found Grant under a tree, sheltering himself from the heavy rain. Grant
was smoking one of his cigars while reflecting on his heavy losses and planning
tactics for the next day. Sherman remarked, “Well, Grant, we’ve had the devil’s
own day, haven’t we?” Grant glanced up. “Yes,” he replied, puffing on his
cigar. “Yes. Lick ‘em tomorrow, though.”]
[Private Lilly continue his account:] When daylight came,
we found ourselves very much mistaken. When we began to look around there was
not a man in sight. Our whole Army had fallen back. How far we did not know.
Our picket closed up and were formed in line of battle. Col. Forrest ordered us
to fire off our guns as they were all wet. Before we got thru with these, the
Yankees were advancing in double quick time. They threw out a half skirmish
line and the balance of the Yankees marched in a column while we gave them the
best we had, but would never stop them from coming right for us.
Forrest would fall back a short distance and form in line
and wait for them to come close enough. Then [he] would give them a volley and
fall back again a hundred yards and do the same thing over till at last to our
surprise when we fell in line we were right in front of our Infantry skirmish
line. This surprised the Yankees who commenced to form in line of battle.
Forrest and his men were holding them in check when the Yankees were putting a
Battery in position and opened up on us when Forrest fell back.
This time we fell back of our Infantry lines where we
went into camp long enough to feed our horses and ourselves, dry ourselves as
much as we could, and clean our guns. But before we got off our horses in camp
the battle was raging where we had left. The Infantry and Artillery got
together in good shape.
[During the evening of the first day’s fighting, General Don
Carlos Buell’s 15,000-man Army arrived and were shuttled across the Tennessee
River by steamboat to Pittsburg Landing. Col. Forrest tried during the night to
warn his commanders that Union forces were being greatly reinforced, but his
warnings were ignored. Monday morning April 7 began, and Private Lilly reported
the turn of the tide of battle in favor of General Grant’s Union forces.]
[Insert “Map of Shiloh Battleground on The Second Day April 7th
Courtesy of Wikipedia)]
[Private Lilly summarized the disastrous second day:] That
was Monday [April 7] the second day of Shiloh that was the hardest day of
fighting as ever was done on any battlefield in history. It was hard for the
Confederates to give up the ground that was won the day before but the Yankees
were determined to take back what they had lost the day before.
With 25,000 fresh [Union] troops [Buell’s 15,000 and
earlier arriving soldiers from Maj. Gen. Lew Wallace’s Division] they were
partly successful as the Confederates were slowly driven back. When before
night came [on that second day] the Battle of Shiloh had ended. Forrest was
always in the thickest of the fight. Monday night Forrest and his Regiment were
rested but at daylight Tuesday morning Forrest and his men were in front of the
Yankees again [in a battle called Fallen Timbers]. In a charge that morning,
Col. Forrest was badly wounded, but he rode to the rear. His horse was killed
also. [Forrest took a rifle ball in his left side just above the hip bone. It
lodged on the left side of his back near the spine.]
Col. Forrest was taken to Memphis, but his old regiment stayed
on the field doing picket duty. Every now and [then] we made a little dash on
the Yankee picket, and they would do the same on us. As it would happen the
Yankee Cavalry in front of us on picket [duty] was the First Kentucky that we
had defeated at Sacramento, Ky. Our Captain was sent in with a Flag of Truce by
General John C. Breckenridge. He took ten men of his Company, [and] I was one
of them.
While our Captain was going to the Yankee Headquarters we
were having a great chat with the boys of the First Kentucky. Some of our boys
were school mates of some of them. While we were chatting with the boys,
waiting for our Captain to return, the boys of the Yankee Cavalry all at once
jumped for their horses ready for a fight.
Before we knew what it meant we saw a separate
Confederate Cavalry within a hundred yards of us and the Yankee pickets. But
immediately we saw a white flag and the excitement was all over. These [men] were
from the famous John H. Morgan, also with a flag of truce for General Grant’s
Headquarters. John Morgan had nothing but a squadron of about 150 men.
In the meantime our Captain got back, and we returned to
Breckenridge’s Head Quarters which was then at Pinnock, Miss., only five miles
from the Shiloh battlefield. We were doing picket duty here for a long time.
Major Kelly [David C. Kelley] being in command of our Regiment. From here we
fell back to Corinth, Miss. When one day we were surprised when Col. Forrest
arrived in Camp. Although he was looking a little pale, we were glad to see him
back to take command of the Old Regiment. Col. Forrest was considered somewhat
ruff with his men, but there never was a better officer to provide for his men.
In camp or on a march we always had plenty of grub and horse feed. He would
make the Quartermaster hustle.
While General Hallack was advancing slowly on to Corinth
from the Shiloh battlefield Beauregard was sending his troops to reinforce
General Lee in Virginia. When Hallack got to Corinth were was nothing there but
Forrest with his Regiment of Cavalry. General Sterling Price had moved out to
Farmington on the Mobile and Ohio Rail Road. Price offered battle to General
Pope. We had quite a set too, but General Price fell back to Tupelo, Miss. When
Forrest with his men had quite a hard fight at Guntown, the Yankees fell back
to Corinth, and we camped at Tupelo.
Here we were reorganized and sworn in for twelve months
or [duration of] the war. Myself and a lot of our Company were under age but we
stuck to it. But two of our boys went out on that account but substituted and
were transferred back to our Company. [In the Civil War, substitutes could be
paid to serve in the Army.] Our Col. [David C. Kelley] left us, detached to
General Price’s Command and [Col.] Forrest went with [Gen. Braxton] Bragg to
Kentucky. We were then again under General [Earl] Van Dorn and when Price and
Van Dorn fought the battle of Iuka and also the [Second] battle of Corinth
[Oct. 3-4, 1862], our Regiment done some hard fighting.
We were also on that grand move of Van Dorn’s on to Holly
Springs [Dec. 20, 1862] which was one of the grandest moves made during the
war. We then belonged [to] General Frank Armstrong Brigade. That winter we done
duty in Mississippi. In the spring [of 1863] we were marching back in to Middle
Tennessee when we met our old Col. Forrest, but now he was a General and a good
one, commanding two Brigades.
Our first fight we got in to here was at Thompson’s Station,
not far from Franklin, Tennessee. Here we again victorious and captured a whole
Brigade of Infantry [under Col. John Coburn]. Right here we camped in the
garden spot of Middle Tennessee. General Van Dorn in command of all the Cavalry
[with] Head Quarters at Spring Hill, but as misfortune would have it General
Van Dorn was shot and killed by Dr. [Bodie] Peters [May 7, 1863 for carrying on
an affair with Peters’ wife]. General Van Dorn was the best cavalry commander
in either Army. He would have proven it if he had lived.
From here we fell back to Tullahoma, of course we were
skirmishing and fighting all the time. From here we crossed the Cumberland
Mountain and got to Chattanooga where we were camping and scouting in to East
Tennessee until the Battle of Chickamauga [19-20 September, 1863]. Here Forrest
formed his Cavalry on our right, dismounted, and we fought as Infantry. A
Yankee Battery in front of us was making us lots of trouble but dust of the
roads and the powder smoke of that battle was so thick that it was impossible
to see over twenty feet a head of you, but it seemed that the Battery had it in
for us all day. Of course our line was so thin that there was not much
fighting, but some heavy skirmishing. Late in the evening Forrest concluded to
teach that Battery, and he took the lead and we charged the Battery. The Yankee
retreated to the rear but left two pieces of cannon.
As we were not able to hold our ground we were falling
back to our first position. But that Battery did not fire any more on us, and
later before dark we were relieved by General Longstreet, who was very much surprised
to find Cavalry in line of battle as Infantry. That night we were moved a
little further on the right of Longstreet’s Corps. The next morning Rosecrans
had left not a Yankee in sight. General Forrest was right after them but they
had too much head start and the main Yankee Army was already in the town of
Chattanooga. We captured a good many stragglers until all at once we were in to
an ambushed Infantry and Battery which opened up on us with grape and canister.
General Forrest dismounted part of his men and charged the
rear guard of Rosencrans, but while our men were charging on foot the Yankees
retreated. Forrest with the mounted men charged after them. By that time the
Yankee Cavalry faced Forrest. In the meantime the balance of our Cavalry that
was dismounted came up and the Yankee Cavalry retreated. General Forrest with
five men charged right into the edge of the town and brought out a lot of
Yankee prisoners with some officers. Right there General Forrest wanted
permission to charge the town but General Bragg would not let him. Still he
made another dash from under the point of the Lookout Mountains. The Yankees
opened up with a Battery that they had captured in Tennessee which was too much
for us.
After this we were marched into East Tennessee where Gen.
Forrest found Gen Burnside’s Army that was marching from Knoxville threatening
Gen Bragg’s rear. General Forrest was doing some hard fighting to hold Burnside
in check. In the meantime the Battle of Lookout Mountain and Mission Ridge was
fought and lost by Gen. Bragg and put Gen. Forrest in between the Armies so that
he had to make his way out. But there was no rest in Forrest. He swung around
into North Alabama, crossed the Tennessee River and made a raid thru Middle
Tennessee where he was making lots of trouble for Grant’s Army, got a few
recruits and some fresh horses, and destroyed the Rail Roads and supplies of
the enginemen. We came back very near over the same route that we went, crossed
the Tennessee River at the same place above Florence, Alabama and moved into
winter quarters to rest our horses near Rome, Georgia.
It was but a short time when Gen. Sherman moved on to
Tunnel and Dolton, Georgia. When Forrest took position in Sherman’s Front and
fought in front of Sherman all spring until the Battle of Atlanta on July the
22nd 1864. When Gen. Stoneman was getting in the rear of Gen. Hood
and intended to get to Macon, Georgia to destroy the Confederate Arsenal at
that place.
[Lilly’s diary has two pages missing. It concludes by
lauding his hero Nathan Bedford Forrest, and writing:] There never was a man in
that war as a General that done any more daring deeds and hard fighting then General
N. B. Forrest of the Confederate Army. By John C. Lilly Co A—Forrest Old
Regiment.
To be continued
with Confederate Private John C. Lilly’s adventures after the war in Montana
Territory.
Photos:
1.
Map of Western Theater
of War from September 1861 to April 1862 (Courtesy of Wikipedia).
2.
Map of Shiloh
Battleground on The Second Day April 7th Courtesy of Wikipedia)
