Thank you! Beyond a general accuracy check, I have been unable to find the name of the hill where the 61st supported Richardson's battery or the area where they relieved a regiment at, what I think was, the Peach Orchard. Any help there would be greatly appreciated.
Here is the text. It has not been reviewed yet for grammar or sentence structure, my wife generally does that for my writing, but I think it is readable as it is written.
DAve
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It was seven o`clock in the morning, Sunday, April 6th 1862. The men in Company F of the 61st Illinois Infantry had finished their breakfast and were attending to simple chores. Camp put to order, breakfast cleaned up, muskets brightened and polished. The morning was bright, quiet, and still until the soft “PUM” of artillery in the distance came to the camp. First a single shell, then two, then more. What followed was unmistakably the rattle of muskets as volleys were fired in the distance and the battle begun.
Within seconds, an officer on a hard rode horse arrived in a cloud of dust and declared “My God, this regiment not in line yet! They have been fighting on the right for an hour!” Within minutes, the men of the 61st had buckled on their cartridge belts and picking up their muskets, formed up. As the men marched across Spain field to the south of their camp, they formed into line on the colors, facing the woods at the south side of the field listening breathlessly as the sound of musket fire came ever closer. The battle of Shilo had begun and the 61st Illinois, armed with their new Austrian rifles, were as of yet unproven in battle.
The 61st had waited at the edge of Spain field for only a few minutes when the brown line of Rebels came into view on their right. The Regiment as a whole fired in order into the advancing troops that were now pressing hard on General Prentiss left flank. The 61st was quickly ordered to fall back to other side of the field they now fought on and did so in good order. From that new line at the edge of the woods, they fought hard for over an hour, holding back Confederate General Gladden’s Alabama Brigades now fighting from the line they had earlier abandoned.
When the line to their right began to give way, the 61st was again ordered to fall back, they were sent to support Richardson’s Battery of artillery on the east side of the Corinth road. Lying on a gentle slope to the rear of the cannons, they watched as the opposing forces engaged in ferocious fighting.
At 2 o’clock, the 61st was once again ordered to move. Taking their position on the left of General Hurlbut’s line, they relieved a tired regiment that had been holding well for over four hours at a place now well remembered as the Peach Orchard. There, at the last line of Federal troops, they fought until they had expended their ammunition and were in turn relieved by a fresh Regiment. Filling their cartridge boxes, the 61st returned to their former position supporting the battery of artillery. By late afternoon, the fighting lulled and a silence fell over the field of battle. The fighting had been hard, desperate, and relentless. But, the day was not over for the 61st Illinois.
During the lull in fighting, the 61st was yet again ordered to fall back. As they did, they realized that they were one of the last units to be recalled. All was quiet during the movement until a sudden and unexpected volley of firing came from behind and a rain of bullets began. The orderly movement to the rear became a rush and long lines of blue headed up the road as quickly as they could. Upon breaking into a field the 61st saw before them a long line of blue uniforms standing both sides of the Corinth road, extending out of sight to the left and the right. Those lines of blue, the full unbroken Federal line, had been falling back all day, but was still in the fight!
Taking their position behind the remains of Hurlbut’s Division, the 61st turned about and reformed, ready to fight once more. Once in place, they heard a tremendous roar, quickly followed by more in succession. The gunboats on the Tennessee river had joined the battle, and were presently shelling the ravines south of Pittsburg Landing, halting any pursuit by Johnson’s Army of the Mississippi. As the 61st stood there listening to the barrage, fresh new soldiers came up to the line. The 63rd Indiana, the advance guard of General Don Carlos Buell, had arrived to strengthen the Federal line on the left.
No more fighting would happen that day as Confederate General PT Beauregard believed General Buell and General Lew Wallace would not arrive to reinforce General Grant’s lines. Beauregard believed he had won the battle, and he broke off the fight. The morning would tell a different story as an overwhelming force of Federal troops retake the field and send the Army of the Mississippi back to Corinth.