- Joined
- Oct 17, 2019
- Location
- Corinth MS
Late in the afternoon of April 5, 1862, with the rain still falling, General Albert Sidney Johnston was tired, frustrated and eager for a fight was in no mood to listen to cautious advice. General P.G.T. Beauregard’s suggestion they cancel the proposed attack on the Union army camped on the Shiloh plateau for the next day was answered with the statement "I would fight them if they were a million."
Johnston had been steadily losing ground since he had assumed command of Department 2 in September of 1861. He was unable to hold this extended line of battle and the loses of Forts Henry and Donaldson had forced him to retreat to defend the vital railroad junction. Aware that General Don Carlos Buell, commander of the Army of the Ohio, was on the march to join Grant’s forces at Pittsburg Landing, Johnston was anxious to engage the enemy and fight them separately.
Upon hearing the guns early Sunday morning he climbed in the saddle , laid spur to ole Fire Eater and announced " Gentlemen we will water our horses tonight in the Tennessee River "