Ole Miss
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Regtl. Staff Shiloh 2020
Asst. Regtl. QM Stones River / Franklin 2022
- Joined
- Dec 9, 2017
- Location
- North Mississippi
Sarah Bell's Cotton Field, located on the Confederate right flank, was the scene of heavy fighting all during the Battle of Shiloh. It ran North from the Hambug/Purdy Road with the woods adjacent to Davis' Wheat Field bordering on the West and the Hamburg/Purdy road to the East. It ran into her Peach Orchard in the North end with the Sunken Road entering in from the Northwest.
During the fighting on the Sunday, elements of the Confederate brigades of Adams (Gladden), Bowen, Chalmers, Jackson and Statham attacked the Federals across Bell’s Cotton Field as well as her adjacent Peach Orchard. Units from Hurlburt’s 4th Division, W.H.L. Wallce’s 2nd Division and Prentiss’ 6th Division held the North end of the field till later that afternoon when a general withdrawal was ordered.
Hundreds of men lost their lives in this 30 plus acre small cotton filed and even more wounded. It is believed that General Johnston received his fatal wound while leading and organizing soldiers. There are no known Confederate Burial Trenches on the Eastern side of the battlefield, yet a member of the 8th Ohio who established their camp Monday night just South of the cotton field graphically described burying dead Rebels on Tuesday morning.
“Heavy details began burying the dead that same afternoon. On our immediate front, at least, the rebels were generally buried first, the Union dead being left longer, in order to afford surviving friends opportunities for recognizing them. A hundred yards from Company B's place of bivouac, the burial party dug a trench about fifty feet long, six feet wide, and three or four feet deep, toward which they continued bringing rebel dead nearly all the afternoon. I saw more than twenty bodies lying on the edge of the trench at one time.”
I have a few photos of Sarah Bell’s Cotton Field to I will share.
Regards
David
Looking North from near the Hamburg/Purdy Road with the George Manse Cabin in the background
During the fighting on the Sunday, elements of the Confederate brigades of Adams (Gladden), Bowen, Chalmers, Jackson and Statham attacked the Federals across Bell’s Cotton Field as well as her adjacent Peach Orchard. Units from Hurlburt’s 4th Division, W.H.L. Wallce’s 2nd Division and Prentiss’ 6th Division held the North end of the field till later that afternoon when a general withdrawal was ordered.
Hundreds of men lost their lives in this 30 plus acre small cotton filed and even more wounded. It is believed that General Johnston received his fatal wound while leading and organizing soldiers. There are no known Confederate Burial Trenches on the Eastern side of the battlefield, yet a member of the 8th Ohio who established their camp Monday night just South of the cotton field graphically described burying dead Rebels on Tuesday morning.
“Heavy details began burying the dead that same afternoon. On our immediate front, at least, the rebels were generally buried first, the Union dead being left longer, in order to afford surviving friends opportunities for recognizing them. A hundred yards from Company B's place of bivouac, the burial party dug a trench about fifty feet long, six feet wide, and three or four feet deep, toward which they continued bringing rebel dead nearly all the afternoon. I saw more than twenty bodies lying on the edge of the trench at one time.”
I have a few photos of Sarah Bell’s Cotton Field to I will share.
Regards
David
Looking North from near the Hamburg/Purdy Road with the George Manse Cabin in the background