Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 7.djvu/527

46 gunboats successfully defended their position until darkness closed the battle of that day.

Cheatham's division, on going into action on the right of the line, was confronted by a strong Federal line, against which Captain Smith directed his artillery for an hour, with a result highly creditable to the Mississippi gunners. Breckinridge now came up on the right of Cheatham. The enemy being pressed back, Lieutenant-Colonel Miller, First battalion of cavalry, charged upon the retreating column and captured a number of prisoners and a Michigan battery of six guns. Of Blythe's regiment, Cheatham reported: "Blythe's Mississippi advanced to the left and attacked the enemy, and wheeling to the right drove one of the enemy's batteries, with its support, from position; but as it advanced upon the enemy, Colonel Blythe was shot dead from his horse while gallantly leading his regiment forward to the charge. Within a few minutes of his fall, Lieut.-Col. D. S. Herron and Capt. R. H. Humphreys, of the same regiment, both officers of merit, were mortally wounded, and the command devolved on Maj. James Moore, under whose direction the regiment was actively engaged during the remainder of the day and through the subsequent action of the 7th. This regiment at all times eminently manifested the high spirit which has always characterized the soldiers of Mississippi, and no braver soldier than its heroic leader was lost to our cause."

Statham's brigade was at the front with Breckinridge throughout the day. The Mississippi artillery also did their share in achieving the victory of Sunday. General Ruggles, who claimed that the surrender of Prentiss was brought about by massing artillery so as to prevent his reinforcement, named Swett's, Burns' and Stanford's batteries among those to whom the credit was due.

The second day's battle at Shiloh was waged under different circumstances. Albert Sidney Johnston had