Timeline for the 7th Illinois Infantry at the Battle of Shiloh Part II (American Civil War)

Article Description

This article, Part II, tracks the movement of the 7th Illinois Infantry at the Battle of Shiloh. It includes only the three-day Battle Timeline. In Part I, entries date from 2l February to 5 April 1862, while the primary, detailed entries dated 6 - 8 April are located in this section, Part II. Part I of the article also includes Order of Command; Battle Preparation and Context; and Casualties. Part III of the article includes Battle Analysis; and, References and Resources. Each part of the article also includes a list of and links to related articles on We Relate.

Several sources are compiled in this first version. Eventually, descriptions from other sources will also be integrated, ultimately correlating multiple perspectives and types of records. When adding other sources in the future, I will continue searching for discrepancies, and attempt to reconcile those while also including the differing accounts in my text. Also, I hope others will contribute their knowledge. Presently, some entries do not include a time of day. As data from other sources is collected, hopefully at least approximate times can be added to these entries, and they can then be located in the correct sequence.

Battle Timeline

6 April Sunday

• About 4:50 A.M. "...as the shadowy forms of Powell's skirmishers closed to within two hundred yards, Hardcastle's Mississippians opened fire. The Battle of Shiloh had begun. For the next hour, as sunlight streaked the sky, both sides doggedly traded blows, each refusing to give way." Prentiss's Division Routed, National Park Civil War Series

• "4:55-6:30 am: Federal patrol discovers Confederates in Fraley Field. Federal Skirmish, then fall back." civilwarhome.com

• "... the Confederates struck with the intention of driving the Union defenders away from the river and into the swamps of Owl Creek to the west, hoping to defeat Grant ... before the anticipated arrival of Maj. Gen. ... Buell... The Confederate battle lines became confused during the fierce fighting, and Grant's men instead fell back to the northeast, in the direction of Pittsburg Landing." Shiloh, Wikipedia

• 6:00 AM "...Johnston's army was deployed for battle, straddling the Corinth Road. In fact, the army had spent the entire night bivouacking undetected in order of battle just two miles (3 km) away from the Union camps. Their approach and dawn assault achieved almost total strategic and tactical surprise. The Union army had virtually no patrols in place for early warning." Shiloh, Wikipedia.

• 6:30 AM approximately "The National pickets, posted a mile in front of the camps, were struck..." p. 124 Force

• "...Confederate brigades under Polk and Hardee... smashed their way into Union camps, sending Hildebrand's and Buckland's brigades reeling. At the same time, Bragg's brigades hit scattered units of Prentiss' inexperienced division, which also retreated northward. The Federals refused to collapse completely, however, and Sherman managed to cobble together a make-shift defensive line on the crest of a small hill. Most of Prentiss' men, giving ground but still fighting stubbornly, threw up a temporary line two miles to the rear." p. 95 Shiloh
• [The 7th Illinois] "...the sullen roar of artillery breaks upon our ears, telling to us that the storm-king of battle would ride upon the banks of the Tennessee to-day." p. 49 Ambrose
• [The 7th Illinois] "... moving south on Hurlbut's right, General Wallace advanced his other two brigades and three artillery batteries down the Eastern Corinth road. Hurlbut's and Wallace's reinforcements encountered Prentiss's refugees streaming northward in retreat. 'Stragglers were seen coming down the road which leads to the front of our lines some wounded, but most of them badly scared,' observed a Federal. As the roar of battle increased, an officer in the 3rd Iowa shouted that any man seen deserting his post would be shot. The entire regiment gave a resounding cheer." The Confederate Attack Stalls, National Park Civil War Series

• 8:30 AM [The 7th Illinois] "In answer to Prentiss's early morning pleas for assistance ... William Wallace advanced two of his brigades from their camps located west of the landing to the edge of Duncan's farm on the Eastern Corinth road." The Hornets' Nest, National Park Civil War Series

• [The 7th Illinois] "... the division moved... Wallace led his other two brigades to the support of Prentiss, placing Tuttle on Prentiss' right, and Sweeney [including the 7th] to the right of Tuttle. Tuttle's left was about one hundred yards to the right of the Corinth road, and the division line extending northwestwardly behind a clear field, Sweeney's right reached the head of a wide, deep ravine -- called in some of the Confederate reports a gorge -- which ravine, filled with impenetrable thickets, extended from his right far to his rear and ran into the ravine of Brier Creek." p. 143 Force
• [The 7th Illinois] "Was engaged continually, ... under command of Lieut. Col. Rowett, Col. Babcock being absent, sick, and Colonel Cook having been promoted to Brigadier General ... was a part of Colonel Sweeny’s Brigade of General W. H. L. Wallace’s Division." Official Regimental History
• [The 7th Illinois] "The army of the Tennessee springs to arms to meet the advancing columns of Albert Sidney Johnson. The pennons are now flying. Major Rowett and the Seventh are quickly buckled for the conflict. Her old, tattered and shot-riven flag goes flying through the woods, and the regiment is soon in the conflict." p. 49 Ambrose
• [The 7th Illinois] "Their position is now behind a rail fence... Belching cannons, shotted to the muzzle, are now plowing deep lanes in the Union ranks." p. 49 Ambrose
• [The 7th Illinois] "How can we describe the sound of a storm of grape and canister, cutting their hellish paths through serried ranks of human beings. It is impossible." p. 50 Ambrose
• [The 7th Illinois] "Many are the storms flying around the Seventh now. Thicker and faster they come..." p. 50 Ambrose
• [The 7th Illinois] "Many have breathed quickly, and, trampled under their comrades' feet, have rolled in bloody agonies and now lie in quiet eternal slumber." p. 50 Ambrose

• 9:00 AM [The 7th Illinois] "Reinforcements under William Wallace and Hurlbut encounter Prentiss's division... Wallace's brigades (Sweeny, Tuttle) along with two regiments of Lauman (Hurlbut's division) deploy behind an oak thicket along an old wagon trace 'sunken road.' [The 'hornets' nest.'] Prentiss reforms between Wallace and Lauman, and five regiments are held in reserve." The Confederate Attack Stalls, National Park Civil War Series

• [The 7th Illinois] "Realizing that Prentiss's division had been defeated, Wallace's men (Tuttle's Iowa brigade and a portion of Col. Thomas Sweeny's brigade) quickly formed a defensive line to block further Southern advance up the Eastern Corinth road. Some 3,700 of Wallace's 5,800 available troops (the balance being held in reserve or sent under McArthur to support Hurlbut and Stuart) were placed along an old wagon road that connected the Corinth road with the Hamburg-Savannah road." The Hornets' Nest, National Park Civil War Series

• About 9:00 AM [The 7th Illinois] "... Commanded by Major Richard Rowett. Went into position here ... advanced to right and front, and after a sharp encounter fell back to this position where its greatest loss occurred." Shiloh National Military Park

• 9:00 - 10:00 AM [The 7th Illinois] "Went into action ... and first took possession at Duncan’s Field and drove the enemy in its front across the field but was in turn driven back." Official Regimental History

• [The 7th Illinois] "In all, Wallace, Prentiss, and Hurlbut deployed about 5,700 Federal infantry along a small half-mile (north-south) section of the Union front. Supporting the Federal infantry massed along the 'Sunken Road,' as the old wagon road became known in the decades following the battle, were six batteries of artillery totaling twenty-five guns. Fronting four hundred yards of the northern half of the Union position, which faced west-southwest, was Joseph Duncan's large field. The southern half of this center section of the Union front ran through a dense thicket south of the field. At midmorning, Grant had personally inspected the position and ordered his division commanders to hold at all hazards." The Hornets' Nest, National Park Civil War Series

• "10:00-11:30 am: Confederates assault Sherman and McClernand on the Hamburg - Purdey Road, driving back Union right flank." Mc Pherson

• After 10:00 AM [The 7th Illinois] "In between Wallace's left, south of the Eastern Corinth road, and the right of Hurlbut's line located slightly southeast at Sarah Bell's field, the remnants of Prentiss's broken division (about 500 men), joined 575 members of the 23rd Missouri who had marched inland from the landing, took position..." The Hornets' Nest, National Park Civil War Series

• 10:30 AM [The 7th Illinois] "Fiercer and fiercer rages the battle." p. 50 Ambrose

• [The 7th Illinois] "The great Grant is moving on the field with a mighty power. But fearful odds are against us, and the army of the Tennessee is compelled to yield position after position." p. 50 Ambrose
• [The 7th Illinois] "... has been forced to yield many points to-day; at one time being so far in the advance, we were left without support, and had it not been for the quick perception of our gallant Major, we would have been cut off and captured." p. 50 Ambrose
• [The 7th Illinois] "Forming columns by divisions, we retreated from our critical position, and were compelled to fall back across an Open field. It was a trying time." The cannon fire made the earth tremble. p. 50 Ambrose
• [The 7th Illinois] "But there was no confusion in the Seventh no panic there. Led by the brave Rowett, they moved firmly, as if to say, that shot-pierced flag, tattered and torn, shall not go down to-day." p. 50 Ambrose
• [The 7th Illinois] "Major Rowett, with the aid of Captain Monroe, acting Major now form a new line with the Seventh. War's ruthless machine is moving with a relentless force." p. 50 - 51 Ambrose

• 11 AM to 4 PM [The 7th Illinois] "Confederate brigades charge into the dense underbrush. Each assault is shattered by a 'murderous storm' of Federal musketry and artillery. Confederate survivors label the position 'a hornets' nest.'" The Confederate Attack Stalls, National Park Civil War Series

• After 12:00 Noon [The 7th Illinois] "Confusion reigns; brave men are falling like rain drops. All seems dark seems that the Union army will be crushed by this wild sweep of treason. But on the crippled army of the Tennessee struggles; they still keep the flag up." p. 51 Ambrose

• 2:30 PM "... Johnston fell. The loss paralyzed operations in that part of the field, and for an hour there was here a lull." p. 153 Force

• 2:50 to 3:50 PM "The gunboat Tyler, commanded by Lieutenant Gwin, fired ... upon Breckenridge's brigades ... and ... later upon the portion of Bragg's command close to the river-bank, for thirty-five minutes." p. 155 Force

• 4:00 PM [The 7th Illinois] "Step by step the army is being driven back towards the river. The old Union banner seems to be drooping in the wrathful storm, but by an almost superhuman effort the tide is checked." p. 51 Ambrose

• [The 7th Illinois] "For a while there is a lull in the battle, but only to make preparations for the last desperate assault an assault in which the enemy expect to see the old flag come down to their feet." p. 51 Ambrose
• [The 7th Illinois] "Buell is said to be approaching; he is hourly expected." p. 51 Ambrose
• [The 7th Illinois] "Grant is now seen moving with a care-worn countenance. He moves amid the carnage to form his last grand line one-fourth mile from the Tennessee, where the advance is now driven. Grant's last line is formed. It is a line of iron, a line of steel, a wall of stout hearts, as firm, as powerful as Napoleon under like reverses ever formed in the days of his imperial power. It seems almost impossible for such a line to be formed at this hour so compact. On every available spot of earth an iron-lipped monster frowns. It is a trying moment, for Grant knows and his army knows that should this line be broken, the battle would be lost and the proud flag would be compelled to fall." p. 51 Ambrose

• Between 4:00 to 5:00 PM [The 7th Illinois] "General Wallace was stunned to learn of the breakup of Colonel Sweeny's brigade on his right. Many of Sweeny's men had retreated with McClernand's troops. Sweeny's breakup permitted the Confederates moving on the left to turn the right flank of Wallace's line and penetrate into the Federal rear." Surrender in the Center, National Park Civil War Series

• 4:30 PM [The 7th Illinois] "...Grant dashes through the woods. His voice rings out: 'They come! they come! Army of the Tennessee stand firm!' A breathless silence pervades these serried ranks, ... until broken by the deafening crash of artillery." p. 51 - 52 Ambrose

• [The 7th Illinois] "The last desperate struggle on Sunday evening now commences. One hundred brazen guns are carrying terror and death across Shiloh's plain." p. 52 Ambrose
• [The 7th Illinois] "The Seventh is at its place; every officer and soldier is at his post; Rowett and Monroe are at their stations, now on foot; (Rowett's horse killed in former charge; Monroe's disabled.)." p. 52 Ambrose
• [The 7th Illinois] "All the company officers are in their places, cheering and encouraging their gallant men, and as we gaze upon the bristling bayonets that are gleaming along the Seventh's line, we know that every brawny arm that is beneath them will be bared to shield the old flag." p. 52 Ambrose
• [The 7th Illinois] "The infantry are clashing now, but this line of stout hearts stands firm. The traitor hosts grow desperate; the earth trembles; the sun is hid behind the wrathful smoke, but amid all the deafening battle elements of the darkened field, the flag and its defenders stand...The storm still increases in its sweeping power." p. 52 Ambrose

• 5:00 PM [The 7th Illinois] "... both Wallace and Prentiss dispatched orders for their men to withdraw. But already, thousands of Southerners were advancing rapidly around both Wallace's and Prentiss's exposed flanks to threaten a complete envelopment of the Union center. In the ensuing confusion, some Union troops managed to shoot their way out and escape toward the landing through a narrow outlet along the Corinth road, but others never received orders." Surrender in the Center, National Park Civil War Series

• Approximately 5:00 PM [The 7th Illinois] "...the issue becomes doubtful; each seems to hold the balance, and like Napoleon at Waterloo, who prayed that night or Blucher would come, so we prayed that night or the army of Ohio would come." p. 52 Ambrose

• [The 7th Illinois] "About this time, Albert Sidney Johnson poured out his life-blood upon the altar of a vain ambition. At that fatal hour the enemy's lines waver, and the sun goes down with the army of the Tennessee standing victorious on their last great line." p. 52 - 53 Ambrose
• [The 7th Illinois] "When the Division Commander, General W. H. L. Wallace, was killed and the Brigade Commander, Colonel T. W. Sweeny, was wounded and taken off the field, Lieutenant Colonel Rowett obtained permission from General McClernand to form on his left and become a part of his line, where his horse was killed in a charge on the enemy." Official Regimental History
• [The 7th Illinois] "... was in the line that repulsed the last charge of the enemy ... when it was advanced to a picket line and remained there until relieved by General Buell’s command near daylight next morning." Official Regimental History

• Approximately 6:00 PM [The 7th Illinois] The sun was setting, and dark would fall by about 7:00 PM. Shiloh, Wikipedia

• [The 7th Illinois] "When night came the National troops held W.H.L. Wallace's camp and an adjoining portion of Hurlbut's..." p. 158 - 159 Force

• "Along the sheltered strip of beach between the river bank and the water was a confused mass of humanity - several thousands of men. They were mostly unarmed; many were wounded; some dead. All the camp-following tribes were there; all the cowards; a few officers. Not one of them knew where his regiment was, nor if he had a regiment. Many had not. These men were defeated, beaten, cowed. They were deaf to duty and dead to shame." Chapter V, Bierce

• "The appearance of Buell's advance, in the dark hours of that terrible Sabbath afternoon, was a spectacle the most inspiriting that despairing men ever looked upon. As they filed across the broad bottoms of the Tennessee, with colors flying, and filling the vale with their shouts of encouragement, the most despairing felt that the day was not entirely lost." De Hass

• "These lines were the regiments of Buells leading division, which having moved up from Savannah through a country presenting nothing but interminable swamps and pathless 'bottom lands,' with rank overgrowths of jungle, was arriving at the scene of action breathless, footsore and faint with hunger. It had been a terrible race; some regiments had lost a third of their number from fatigue, the men dropping from the ranks as if shot, and left to recover or die at their leisure." Chapter III, Bierce
• [The 7th Illinois] "Night comes, and with it Buell comes, but only in time to witness the closing scene... We thanked God for the arrival of the army of the Ohio, but we never thanked God for Don Carlos Buell when he rode across the Tennessee and spoke lightly of the great Grant, who had successfully stemmed the wildest storm of battle that ever rolled upon the American continent." p. 53 Ambrose

• "The sun went down in a red halo, as if the very heavens blushed and prepared to weep at the enormity of man's violence. Night fell upon and spread its funereal pall over a field of blood where death held unrestrained carnival! Soon after dark,- the rain descended in torrents, and all through the dreary hours of that dismal night it rained unceasingly. The groans of the dying, and the solemn thunder of the gunboats came swelling at intervals high above the peltings of the pitiless storm." De Hass

• "That evening the two Federal gunboats... kept up a methodical shelling of the enemy lines. Little damage was caused beyond the psychological effects on the enemy. The incident is mentioned in so many letters and diaries that the sound must have been tremendous. The same roar that kept the Confederates awake, of course, also played on the nerves of the Federals. 'These black monsters, for some reason, kept up their fire all through the night, and the roar of this cannonading and the shrieking of the shells . . . gave little opportunity for slumber,' noted a lad of the 24th Ohio in General Buell's army." A Night of Misery, National Park Civil War Series

• 10:00 PM "The real discomfort began about 10..., when the skies opened and rain fell in torrents. The Southerners found shelter in the captured Union tents. Federal soldiers had little choice but to tough it out. Sergeant C.C. Briant of the 6th Indiana well remembered the discomfort that evening. Exhausted and soaked to the skin, he walked about aimlessly in the woods, sometimes stepping on sleeping men, 'but I never halted to apologize.'" A Night of Misery, National Park Civil War Series
• 11:00 PM "... a heavy rain begins to pour. All the National troops and most of the Confederate lay on the ground without shelter. The gunboats every fifteen minutes through the night fired a shell over the woods, to explode far inland and banish sleep." p. 164 Force

• [The 7th Illinois] "Soon it commences to rain. Dark, dark night for the army of the Tennessee... The human pen will fail to picture the battle-field of Shiloh as it presented itself on Sunday night." p. 53 Ambrose
• [The 7th Illinois] "...was advanced to a picket line and remained there until relieved by General Buell’s command near daylight next morning." Official Regimental History
• [The 7th Illinois] "... tired and almost exhausted, drops down on the ground, unmindful of the falling rain, to rest themselves." p. 53 Ambrose
• "The pitiful cries of wounded and dying men on the fields between the armies could be heard in the Union and Confederate camps throughout the night. A thunderstorm passed through the area and rhythmic shelling from the Union gunboats made the night a miserable experience for both sides." Shiloh, Wikipedia

• "A famous anecdote encapsulates Grant's unflinching attitude to temporary setbacks and his tendency for offensive action. As the exhausted Confederate soldiers bedded down in the abandoned Union camps, Sherman encountered Grant under a tree, sheltering himself from the pouring rain. He was smoking one of his cigars while considering his losses and planning for the next day. Sherman remarked, 'Well, Grant, we've had the devil's own day, haven't we?' Grant looked up. 'Yes,' he replied, followed by a puff. 'Yes. Lick 'em tomorrow, though.'" Shiloh, Wikipedia
• "The army really did not know when it was whipped. A prominent Confederate officer afterward said: 'You were thoroughly beaten on Sunday, but did not know it.' This was literally true." De Hass

7 April Monday

• [The 7th Illinois] "All night long there was a chilling rain, and the April wind sighed mournfully around the suffering, wounded warriors. Many a wounded soldier died last night." p. 54 Ambrose

• [The 7th Illinois] The men hear cannon and gunfire. p. 54 Ambrose

• "The sheer power of the Federal thrust jolted the unsuspecting Southerners. 'They appeared to me like ants in their nest, for the more we fired upon them, the more they swarmed about; one would have said that they sprouted from the ground like mushrooms,' noted a member of the Crescent Louisiana Regiment of New Orleans. For the first time, Mississippi Private A.H. Mecklin recorded in his diary, 'I began to have doubts as to the issues [outcome] of this contest. I knew that the enemy were reinforced and stoutly.' Observed Pvt. Thomas C. Robertson of the 4th Louisiana: 'At daybreak our pickets came rushing in under a murderous fire and the first thing we knew we were almost surrounded by six or seven regiments of Yankees.'" Second Day of Battle, National Park Civil War Series

• "7:00 - 900 am: Grant and Buell advance. Skirmishing light as majority of Confederates retired south of Hamburg/Purdy road during night." Mc Pherson

• "In a few moments we had passed out of the singular oasis that had so marvelously escaped the desolation of battle, and now the evidences of the previous days struggle were present in profusion. The ground was tolerably level here, the forest less dense, mostly clear of undergrowth, and occasionally opening out into small natural meadows. Here and there were small pools - mere discs of rainwater with a tinge of blood. Riven and torn with cannon-shot, the trunks of the trees protruded bunches of splinters like hands, the fingers above the wound interlacing with those below. Large branches had been lopped, and hung their green heads to the ground, or swung critically in their netting of vines, as in a hammock. Many had been cut clean off and their masses of foliage seriously impeded the progress of the troops. The bark of these trees, from the root upward to a height of ten or twenty feet, was so thickly pierced with bullets and grape that one could not have laid a hand on it without covering several punctures. None had escaped... Angular bits of iron, concavo-convex, sticking in the sides of muddy depressions, showed where shells had exploded in their furrows. Knapsacks, canteens, haversacks distended with soaken and swollen biscuits, gaping to disgorge, blankets beaten into the soil by the rain, rifles with bent barrels or splintered stocks, waist-belts, hats and the omnipresent sardine-box - all the wretched debris of the battle still littered the spongy earth as far as one could see, in every direction. Dead horses were everywhere; a few disabled caissons, or limbers, reclining on one elbow, as it were; ammunition wagons standing disconsolate behind four or six sprawling mules. Men? There were men enough; all dead, apparently, except one, who lay near where I had halted my platoon to await the slower movement of the lint - a Federal sergeant, variously hurt, who had been a fine giant in his time.  He lay face upward, taking in his breath in convulsive, rattling snorts, and blowing it out in sputters of froth which crawled creamily down his cheeks, piling itself alongside his neck and ears.  A bullet had clipped a groove in his skull, above the temple; from this the brain protruded in bosses, dropping off in flakes and strings.  I had not previously known one could get on, even in this unsatisfactory fashion, wih so little brain.   One of my men, whom I knew fro a womanish fellow, asked if he should put his bayonet through him.  Inexpressibly shocked by the cold-blooded proposal, I told him I thought not; it was unusual, and too many were looking." Chapter VII, Bierce

• Noon - 3:00PM [The 7th Illinois] "... went into action before noon ... and was hotly engaged when the enemy retreated at 3 o’clock P.M." Official Regimental History

• [The 7th Illinois] "We are marched to the front, where we find Nelson engaged. His hounds of war are let loose. Inroads are being made." p. 54 Ambrose
• [The 7th Illinois] "... is filed into position and ordered to lie down." p. 54 Ambrose
• [The 7th Illinois] "Though the enemy has given ground, they still show stubbornness." p. 54 - 55 Ambrose
• [The 7th Illinois] "We are now in a sharp place; there is some uneasiness here. A cold chill creeps over the soldiers. How uncomfortable it is to be compelled to remain inactive when these whizzing minies come screaming through the air on their mission of death. From such places, under such circumstances, the Seventh would ever wish to be excused, for it grates harshly with the soldier, and is exceedingly distressing when he is prevented from returning compliment for compliment, as the Seventh will testify to-day." p. 55 Ambrose
• [The 7th Illinois] "But we do not remain here long, for from this place of inactivity, we are moved to a place cf action." p. 55 Ambrose
• [The 7th Illinois] "The battle is raging furiously. The army of the Ohio and the army of the Tennessee are striking hand to hand." p. 55 Ambrose
• [The 7th Illinois] "The tables are turning; step by step the rebels are being driven." p. 55 Ambrose
• [The 7th Illinois] "Position after position the Seventh is now taking. The sharp, positive crack of their musketry makes a terrible din along their line. It is apparent that the rebels are retreating." p. 55 Ambrose
• [The 7th Illinois] "Another day is waning... Many patriot, loyal soldiers died to-day, and as they died, many of them were seen to smile as they saw the old flag, the pride of their hearts, riding so proudly over the bloody field. Many shed a tear of joy as they beheld the beautiful streams of light falling on the crimson wings of conquest." p. 55 Ambrose
• [The 7th Illinois] "The rebels are now flying. Nelson is making a terrible wreck in the rear of the retreating army." p. 55 Ambrose 


• [The 7th Illinois] "Kind reader, stand with me now where the Seventh stands; look away yonder! Your eye never beheld a grander sight. It is the northwest's positive tread. They move firmly; there is harmony in their steps. Ten thousand bayonets flash in the blazing sunlight. They are moving in columns on the bloody plain. Their tramp sounds like a death knell. The band is playing 'Hail to the chief.' Its martial anthems seem to float as it were on golden chords through air, and as they fall around the weary soldier their hopes of glory beat high." p. 55 - 56 Ambrose

• [The 7th Illinois] "They are retreating now; the rear of the rebel army is fast fading from Shiloh's field. Before the northwest's mighty power how they dwindle into littleness, as turrets and spires beneath the stars. They are far away now, and the great battle of Shiloh is over; the fierce wild drama is ended; the curtain falls ; the sun is hid, and night has come." p. 56 Ambrose

• "2:00-4:00 pm: Breckinridge, supported by massed artillery south of Shiloh Branch ravine, checks Union advance and Confederates retire from field. Federals reclaim possession of the field and bivouac." Mc Pherson

• 3:00 PM The battle is ended. p. 177 Force

• [The 7th Illinois] "... goes into camp on the battle-field; their camp fires are soon burning, and those noble ones, who have fought so well, lie down, worn and weary, to rest themselves. They have passed through two days of fearful battle; amid thunder, smoke and perils they bore their tattered flag, and when the storm-king was making his most wrathful strides, it still waved in the wind and never went down, for strong arms were there and they held it up. But how painful it is to know that some comrades who were with us in the morning, are not with us now." p. 56 Ambrose

• [The 7th Illinois] "Heavy rain fell again Monday night." p. 182 Force

8 April Tuesday

• "...Grant sent Sherman south along the Corinth Road on a reconnaissance in force to ascertain if the Confederates had retreated, or if they were regrouping to resume their attacks." Shiloh, Wikipedia.

• [The 7th Illinois] "Oh! what a terrible scene does Shiloh's field present this morning. It is a scene of death; its victims lay everywhere. The blood of about thirteen thousand warriors has been shed here in the last two days." p. 57 Ambrose

• [The 7th Illinois] "In these two days of battle the Seventh sustained a heavy loss." p. 57 Ambrose

• [The 7th Illinois] At the hospital steamer. "The Seventh's wounded lay here...Some have lost a leg, others have frightful wounds in the face; but these are their patents of nobility. Dr. Hamilton, our popular Assistant Surgeon, as ever, has a care for the unfortunate ones. He is now, with his usual promptness, preparing to send them north." p. 62 - 63 Ambrose
• [The 7th Illinois] "Large parties are now at work burying the dead of both armies. Shiloh will be one vast grave-yard, but it will be destitute of marble slabs. Hundreds of Union soldiers will sleep here, and in the years to come, the patriot pilgrims will tread the earth above them, and know not that beneath sleeps Shiloh's martyrs." p. 64 Ambrose

Continue to Timeline for the 7th Illinois Infantry at the Battle of Shiloh Part III (American Civil War) [1]

Return to Timeline for the 7th Illinois Infantry at the Battle of Shiloh Part I (American Civil War) [2]

Related Articles

Other articles on We Relate regarding the 7th Illinois Infantry include:

• Official Regimental History of the 7th Illinois Infantry (American Civil War) [3]
  
• 7th Illinois Infantry (American Civil War) [4]
  
• Timeline for the 7th Illinois Infantry in the Campaigns Against Forts Henry and Donelson (American Civil War) [5]
  

Each of these articles includes separate lists of resources, with some repetition from those cited here, as well as additional sources.

• Veterans of the 7th Illinois Infantry with pages on WeRelate