The following extract from the official War Bulletin is complimentary to the commanding generals : WAR DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON, April 9, 1862. That the thanks of the Department are hereby given to Major-Generals Grant and Buell, and their forces, for the glorious repulse of Beauregard, at Pittsburg, in Tennessee. A salute of one hundred guns was fired at the National Capital; and from every part of the North the responsive echoes of gratitude and joy were heard. It will be seen by the details of the struggle, that the first day the success seemed to be entirely on the side of the rebels, and on that ground, General Beauregard, who succeeded General Johnston, telegraphed to the rebel government as follows: TO THE SECRETARY OF WAR, RICHMOND: CORINTH, Tuesday, April 8, 1862 We have gained a great and glorious victory. Eight to ten thousand prisoners, and thirty-six pieces of cannon. Buell re-enforced Grant, and we retired to our intrenchments at Corinth, which we can hold. Loss heavy on both sides. Beauregard. From the following correspondence, it does not appear that the rebels could have moved about at will, or had even the consolation of a victory : HEAD-QUARTERS, DEPARTMENT OF MISSISSIPPI, } MONTEREY, April 8, 1862. SIR:-At the close of the conflict yesterday, my forces being exhausted by the extraordinary length of the time during which they were engaged with yours, on that and the preceding day, and it being apparent that you had received, and were still receiving, re-enforcements, I felt it my duty to withdraw my troops from the immediate scene of the conflict. Under these circumstances, in accordance with the usages of war, I shall transmit this under a flag of truce, to ask permission to send a mounted party to the battle-field of Shiloh, for the purpose of giving decent interment to my dead. Certain gentlemen wishing to avail themselves of this opportunity to remove the remains of their sons and friends, I must request for them the privilege of accompanying the burial party; and in this connection, I deem it proper to say, I am asking what I have extended to your own countrymen under similar circumstances. Respectfully, General, your obedient servant, P. G. T. BEAUREGARD, General Commanding. To Major-General U. S. GRANT, Major-General, Commanding United States Forces, Pittsburg Landing. General P. G. T. BEAUREGARD, Commanding Confederate Army on Mis sissippi, Monterey, Tenn. : Your dispatch of yesterday is just received. Owing to the warmth of the weather, I deemed it advisable to have all the dead of both parties buried immediately. Heavy details were made for this purpose, and it is now accomplished. There cannot, therefore, be any necessity of admitting within our lines the parties you desired to send on the ground asked. I shall always be glad to extend any courtesy consistent with duty, and especially so when dictated by humanity. I am, General, respectfully, your obedient servant, U. S. GRANT, Major-General Commanding. On the morning of April 8th, General Sherman, the commander of the Fifth Division, at the head of a cavalry force and two brigades of infantry, made a reconnoissance along the Corinth road, where he found the abandoned camps of the rebels lining the roads, with hospital flags for their protection. Shortly after he came upon the rebel cavalry, which, after a skirmish, was driven from the field. He then destroyed the rebel camp, including the ammunition intended for the rebels' guns. General Sherman found the road to Corinth strewed with abandoned wagons, ambulances, and limber-boxes, and other indications of a hasty retreat. The enemy had succeeded in removing the guns; but crippled his batteries by abandoning the limber-boxes of at least twenty pieces. The retreat of the enemy's infantry was evidently a disorderly one, and, had not the cavalry been in great force to protect the rear, might soon have been turned into a disastrous rout. When the news of this battle reached St. Louis, General Halleck, the commander of the department, determined to take to the field himself, and inquire into the real results of the "Battle of Shiloh." On his arrival at Pittsburg Landing, he issued the following order to the troops : HEAD-QUARTERS, DEPARTMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI, I. The major-general commanding this department thanks Major General Grant and Major-General Buell, and the officers and men of their respective commands, for the bravery and endurance with which they sustained the general attacks of the enemy on the 6th, and for the heroic manner in which, on the 7th instant, they defeated and routed the entire rebel army. The soldiers of the great West have added new laurels to those which they have already won on numerous battle-fields. III. Major-Generals Grant and Buell will retain the immediate command of their respective armies in the field. By command of Major-General HALLECK. Cavalry skirmishes still continued, at intervals, to take place along the outposts of the Union army; but nothing important occurred until April 17, 1862, when the movement was made toward Corinth. The hero of Shiloh gave his story of the contest in these words: Captain N. H. MOLEAN, Assistant Adjutant-General, Department of Mississippi, St. Louis: CAPTAIN-It becomes my duty again to report another battle, fought by two great armies, one contending for the maintenance of the best government ever devised, and the other for its destruction. It is pleasant to record the success of the army contending for the former principle. On Sunday morning our pickets were attacked and driven in by the enemy. Immediately the five divisions stationed at this place were drawn up in line of battle to meet them. The battle soon waxed warm on the left and centre, varying at times to all parts of the line. There was the most continuous firing of musketry and artillery ever heard on this continent kept up until nightfall. The enemy, having forced the entire line to fall back nearly half way from their camps to the Landing, at a late hour in the afternoon a desperate effort was made by the enemy to turn our left and get possession of the Landing, transports, &c. This point was guarded by the gunboats Tyler and Lexington, Captains Gwin and Shirk commanding, with four twenty-four-pounder Parrott guns, and a battery of rifled guns. As there is a deep and impassable ravine for artillery or cavalry, and very difficult for infantry, at this point, no troops were stationed here, except the necessary artillerists and a small infantry force for their support. Just at this moment the advance of Major-General Buell's column and a part of the division of General Nelson arrived. The two generals named |