Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 24.djvu/128

 120 Southern Historical Society Papers.

of a regiment, brigade, division, army corps; in 1862 he was assigned to command the army corps of cavalry of the western army, in which position he continued until the close of the war. By joint resolution of the Confederate Congress he was thanked for successful military operations, and received the thanks of the State of South Carolina for his defense of Aiken. May n, 1864, he was the senior cavalry commander of the Confederate armies. In 1866 he was offered a professorship in the Louisiania State Seminary, which he declined. He was elected to the forty-seventh, forty-ninth, fiftieth, fifty-first, fifty-second, fifty-third and fifty-fourth congresses.

Upon my arrival at Corinth, March 9, 1862, says General Wheeler, I was assigned to the command of a brigade and was sent to the front near Monterey as the advance guard of our army ( War Rec- ords, Vol. 10, part 2, page 307). While performing this duty I reconnoitered close up to the Federal lines, captured prisoners from the enemy's pickets, and gained information of their position and the general conformation of the country. On March loth, a Fede- ral reconnoisance in force, commanded by General Sherman, ad- vanced, and after driving in our pickets beyond Monterey, retreated rapidly to their camp near Shiloh Church.

On April 3d General Johnston moved upon the enemy, and on the evening of April 5th the entire army was drawn up in two lines of battle in front of the Federal camps. There is no doubt but that the Federal commander knew there was a Confederate force near him, as in a lively skirmish on the evening of April 4th prisoners were captured by both sides, but the weight of evidence seems to indicate that he did not expect a general attack, and most certainly it could not have been expected as early as the morning of April 6th.

FORCES AT SHILOH.

On March 30, 1862, General Halleck reported Buell's forces at 101,051, and Grant's at 75,000, and the War Department says Grant reported his forces at 68, 1 75 on April i, 1862. (See William Preston Johnston, page 538. )

Van Horn's Army of the Cumberland says, page 98:

" Buell's force was 94,783 men. Of this, 73,472 were in condition for the field, and of this force 37,000 was to join in the movement against the enemy at Corinth. The remaining 36,000 effective troops were disposed by Buell for the defense of his communications."

The head of the column of 37,000 men was within seven miles of