Stars & Stripes Forever (14 page)

The
Virginia
fired her broadside and the battle of iron against iron was begun.

The
Monitor
rode so low in the ocean that her decks were awash. All that could be seen above water, other than a small armored pilothouse, was her immense central turret. Both targets were almost impossible to hit. The few balls that hit their target merely ricocheted away.

And every three minutes the 120-ton structure was rotated by its steam engine so that the two immense guns housed inside could be brought to bear. Their large target could not be missed. Agile and under perfect control, the smaller ship darted about the clumsy, almost uncontrollable Southern ironclad.

For two hours, the muzzles of their guns almost touching, the two warships hammered solid shell into each other. Disaster almost struck the
Virginia
when her prow grounded in a mudbank. For a quarter of an hour her feeble engine struggled to free her while
Monitor
moved about her firing steadily. Soon the larger ship's funnel was so holed with shot and disabled that there was scarcely any draft for her engine. Solid shot had blown off the ends of the muzzles of two of her guns. They could still fire but when they did so the flames of the discharge set fire to the wooden surrounds.

The
Monitor
however did suffer one casualty. Her commander was looking through the armored slit in the pilothouse when a cannon ball struck squarely against it. He screamed with pain when fragments of paint and metal were blown into his eyes. He was taken below where the ship's doctor did what he could to repair the damage. He saved one eye—but Worden was blinded in the other.

The battle continued, and ended only when the tide began to turn. The sluggish
Virginia
broke contact and made her way slowly back up the channel while her undefeated opponent still remained on guard between her and her prey.

Virginia
returned to her base while
Monitor
waited like a bulldog at the gate for her to return.

She never did. The tall funnel was riddled with holes, while some of the armor plate was hanging free. Her faulty engines were beyond repair, her weight was so great that her draft was too deep for her to do battle anywhere except in the calm waters of Hampton Roads.

The warship that had forever changed naval warfare would never fight again.

The blockade was once again sound. The noose was again tightening about the South.

There were optimists in the North who felt that the war was as good as won.

SHILOH

Confederate General Albert Sidney Johnston was of course a gentleman, as well as being a not unkind man. He wished for a moment that he was not a gentleman, so he would not have to see Matilda Mason. There was a war to be fought after all. No, that wouldn't cut. All the orders had been issued, the troops deployed, so there was really nothing more for him to do until the attack began. She had been waiting to see him for two days now and he knew he could not put the meeting off any longer for he had run out of excuses. It was undeniable that she was indeed a close friend of his family so if word got back that he had refused to see her...

"Sergeant, show the lady in. Then bring a pot of coffee for some refreshment."

The tent flap lifted and he climbed to his feet and took her hand. "It has surely been a long time, Matty."

"A lot longer than it
should
have been, Sidney." Still an impressive woman even though her hair was going gray. She sniffed, then crumpled into the canvas chair. "I am sorry, I should not speak like that. Lord knows you have the war to fight and more important things to do than see an old busybody."

"That's certainly not you!"

"Well indeed it is. You see, I am so worried about John, chained in that prison in the North, like some kind of trapped animal. We are so desperate. You know the right people, being a general now and all, so you can surely do something to help."

Johnston did not say so—but he had very little sympathy for the imprisoned John Mason. He was reported to be living in some comfort, with all the best food—and he would surely never run out of cigars.

"I can do nothing until the politicians can come to some agreement. But look at it this way, Matty. There is a war on and we all must serve, one way or the other. Right now, in that Yankee prison, John and Slidell are worth a division or more to the Southern cause. The British are still fuming and fussing about the incident and making all sorts of warlike sounds. So you have to understand that anything that is bad for the North is good for us. The war is not going as well as we might like."

"You will hear no complaints from me, or anyone else for that matter. You soldiers are fighting, doing the best you can, we know that. At home we all also do what we can to support the war. There is not an iron fence left in our town, all sent away to melt down for armor for the ironclads. If the vittles aren't as good as we like that is no sacrifice in the light of what the boys in gray are doing. I'm not complaining for myself. I do believe that we are doing our part."

"You don't know how delighted I am to hear those words, Matty. I will tell you that it is no secret that the South is surrounded. What I want to do now is break through the Yankee armies that are choking us. I have had the army marching for days to face the enemy. And the attack begins tomorrow. Now that is a secret..."

"I'll not tell!"

"I know that, or I wouldn't be talking to you. I do this so that you will see that John, who is in reality quite comfortable where he is, is doing far more for the war where he is than he could in any other place. So please don't trouble yourself..."

He looked up as his aide opened the tent flap and saluted. "Urgent dispatches, General."

"Bring them in. You must excuse me, Matty."

She left in silence, the lift of her chin revealing what she thought of this sudden interruption; planned no doubt. In truth it had not been, but Johnston was still grateful. He took a swig of the coffee and opened the leather case.

He, and every other general of the Confederacy, had been searching for a way to cut the noose that was strangling the South. They looked at the armies that encircled them and sought a way to break out. He had little admiration for Ulysses S. Grant, nevertheless he knew him to be an enemy of purpose and will. His victories at FortHenry and FortDonelson threatened continuing disaster. Now he was camped with a mighty army at Pittsburg Landing in Tennessee. Confederate intelligence had discovered that reinforcements were on the way to him. When they arrived Grant would certainly strike south into Mississippi in an effort to cut the South in two. He must be stopped before that happened. And Sidney Johnston was the man to do it.

His attack would be later than planned—but other than that it seemed to be going as well as could be expected. During the winter he had assembled an army even larger than Grant's, which had been judged by the cavalry scouts to be over 35,000, and he meant to strike first, before Don Carlos Buell's 30,000 men arrived to reinforce Grant. For three days now his raw recruits had been marching the muddy lanes and back roads of Mississippi, their weary columns converging on Pittsburg Landing. Now it was time for a final meeting with his officers.

They filed in one by one, drawing up chairs, pouring themselves coffee when he waved to the pot. He waited until they were all there before he spoke.

"There will be no more delays. We attack at daylight tomorrow, Sunday morning."

His second-in-command, General P.G.T. Beauregard, was not quite so sure. "There is no longer the possibility of a surprise. They'll be entrenched to the eyes. And our men, they're just raw recruits and most of them had never heard a gun fired in anger."

"We know that—but we also know that tired as they are from the march they are still filled with enthusiasm. I would fight the enemy even if they were a million. The attack goes on."

"Do you have the time, Thomas? My watch has stopped," General Sherman said. His orderly shook his head and smiled.

"Could never afford no watch, General," Thomas D. Holliday said. "I'll ask one of the officers."

Brigadier General William T. Sherman and his staff were riding out in front of their camp, near ShilohChurch, on the banks of the Tennessee River. The morning mist had not lifted, so little could be seen under the trees and hedges. But the rain had stopped during the night and it promised to be a fine day. Sherman was worried, not happy at all with Grant's decision not to have the troops dig in.

"Their morale is high, Cump," Grant had said, "and I want it to stay that way. If they dig those holes and hide in them they are going to start worrying. We best let them be."

Sherman still did not like it. There had been reports of movement on their front which had not disturbed Grant in the slightest. Nevertheless Sherman had led his staff out at dawn to see if there was any truth in the reports of the pickets that they had heard movement in the night.

Holliday turned his horse and trotted back to the general's side.

"Just gone seven," he said. And died.

The sudden volley of fire from the unseen Confederate pickets hit Holliday, blowing him off his horse and killing him instantly.

"Follow me!" Sherman shouted, turning and galloping toward their own lines. A Union picket burst out of the thicket ahead and called out.

"General—the Rebs is out there thicker than fleas on a hounddog's back!"

It was true. They were three battle lines deep and were attacking all along the front. A victorious Rebel yell rose up as they crashed into the unprepared Northern positions, forced them back under a withering fire from their guns. Caught out by the surprise attack the soldiers wavered, favoring retreat to standing up to the hail of bullets.

Then, riding between the enemy and his own lines, General Sherman appeared. He seemed oblivious to the bullets now streaking past him as he stood in his stirrups and waved his sword.

"Soldiers—form a line, rally on me. Fire, load and fire. Stand firm. Load and fire!"

The General's fervor could not be denied; his cries inspired the soldiers, who moments before had been about to run. They stayed at their positions, firing into the attacking troops. Load and fire, load and fire.

It was desperately hard and deadly work. This was the most exposed flank of the Union army and the heaviest attacks hit here. Sherman had eight thousand men to begin with—but their numbers withered steadily under the Confederate attack. Yet the Northern line still held. Sherman's regiments took the brunt of the attack—but they did not retreat. And the general stayed in the midst of the battle, leading them from the front, seemingly oblivious to the storm of bullets about him.

When his horse was shot from under him he fought on foot until another mount was found and brought up.

Within minutes this horse was also killed while the general was leading a counterattack, and later on a third one that he was riding was shot dead as well.

It was a hot, hard, dirty and deadly engagement. The green Confederate troops, those who survived the bloody opening of battle, were learning to fight. Again and again they were rallied and sent forward to attack. The Union lines were driven back slowly, fighting every foot of the way, taking great losses—but still they held. And Sherman was always there, rallying the defenders from the fore. Men fell on all sides but still his troops held their positions.

Nor was he immune from injury; later in the day he was wounded himself, shot in the hand. He wrapped a handkerchief about the torn flesh and fought on.

A fragment of shell took off part of the brim of his hat. Despite this, despite the casualties, he stayed in command of his troops and managed to stabilize their positions. Three hours after the battle had begun Sherman had lost over half of his men. Four thousand dead. But the line held. Their powder and ball were so low that they had to plunder the supplies of the fallen. The wounded, who had not stumbled, or been carried, to the rear, loaded weapons for the men who fought on. Then, during a hiatus in the battle while the enemy regrouped, Sherman heard someone calling his name. The captain on the exhausted horse threw a rough salute.

"Orders from General Grant, sir. You are to fall back to the

River Road

."

"I will not retreat."

"This is not a retreat, sir. We have dug in on the

River Road

, positions that can be better defended."

"I'll leave skirmishers here. Keep them firing as long as they can. In the smoke they could slow the next attack some. Tell the general that I am falling back now."

It was a fighting retreat. Disengaging from a determined enemy can be as difficult as holding them at bay. Men fell, but almost all of the survivors reached the

River Road

through the smoke and thunder of cannon.

"Them's our guns, General," one of the soldiers cried out.

"They are indeed," Sherman said. "They are indeed."

This was the first day of the Battle of Shiloh. The carnage was incredible. Despite their mounting losses the Confederate advance continued, slow and deadly. It wasn't until five-thirty in the afternoon that the Union left was finally penetrated—but by then it was too late. General Grant had managed to establish a defensive line, studded with cannon, just before Pittsburg Landing. With the help of cannon fire from the gunboats tied up at the landing the last Confederate attack was thrown back. As this was happening Grant's defenders were reinforced by the fresh troops of Don Carlos Buell who began to arrive on the other bank of the river.

The Confederate forces were bloodied and exhausted and no match for the strengthened Northern divisions.

The counterattack began the next day at dawn and by afternoon all of the lost ground had been recaptured.

If there was any victor in this carnage it had to be the North. They were now reinforced and back in their original defensive positions—but the cost had been terrible. There were 10,700 Confederate casualties, including their commander General Johnston, who had been shot and had bled to death because the doctor who might have saved him was treating the Union wounded. 13,000 Union troops were dead as well. Despite the courage, despite the sacrifices and the dead, the South had proved itself incapable of breaking out of the ring of steel that was closing around them.