Personal Narrative: First Regiment, Nebraska Volunteer Infantry

Company Aytch, a memoir written by Sam Watkins, tells the personal tale of a lowly private fighting four long years in the American Civil War. Watkins was from Columbia, Tennessee, and was a part of Company H, 1st Tennessee Infantry. He recounts his military career in chronological order, from before the Battle of Shiloh in 1862 to the day the Confederacy surrendered at Nashville in 1865. Watkins is a humble writer, often reminds the reader that he is not aiming to provide a comprehensive account of the entire war, but rather a collection of personal stories. Military history books often recount the lives of generals and of great strategies, but this book insists that history should not exclude the common men who filled the ranks of the military.

The second phase of the Battle of Shiloh starts as reinforcements from General Buell’s Army of the Ohio and a unit of Grant’s own reserve division joined the Union Army now positioned at Pittsburg Landing. These reinforcements added over 22,500 men to the Union lines13 bringing the total number of Union forces to over 45,000, which is more than they had on 6 April, the first day of fighting.14 On April 7, General Grant renewed the fighting with an aggressive counteract.15 Greatly outnumbered (Confederate forces now around 25,000) and disorganized the Confederate forces now under General Beauregard fought hard but eventually had to retreat to back Corinth.16 The second phase of the Battle of Shiloh was won by General Grant and his Union forces due to two main reasons. The first, Union troop numbers greatly outnumbered their enemy, over 45,000 to 25,000 respectively. And secondly, the reinforcements received by General Grant had not fought the day before and were fresh and excited to fight, unlike the exhausted remaining Confederate troops.17 This was the bloodiest battle fought on American soil up to that point, with 23,746 casualties (Union: 13,047; Confederate: 10,699).18 The Union lost more men but claimed the victory because the Confederate Army retreated back to Corinth, Mississippi.

Civil War historians view the Battle of Chancellorsville as General Robert E. Lee’s “greatest and most remarkable” victory (Sears 1). Lee, facing an army twice his size, defies all military doctrine and divides his army multiple times in order to out-maneuver and surprise the Union forces. The daring maneuver succeeds and ultimately forces the Union’s Army of the Potomac to retreat. The victory was another major blow to Union troops, but it came at a huge cost to the Confederacy: the loss of General Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson. By evaluating the battle through the lens of the mission command activities, one can see how Lee’s daring maneuver was actually very calculated and his only option for victory. Throughout the rest of this paper, I will describe the timeline of the battle and how General Lee used the mission command activities of understand, visualize, assess, and lead to ultimately achieve victory at Chancellorsville.

Late in the afternoon of July 2, 1863, on a hillside in southern Pennsylvania, Union Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain made history, leading his 20th Maine Regiment in the most famous counterattack of the Civil War. This battle was one of the battles that changed the tide in the war for good. Before the battle, Colonel Chamberlain placed his men on a hill called Little Round Top. The fight for Little Round Top was an intense fight within the larger Battle of Gettysburg. The struggle to control a strategic hill on the battle’s second day became legendary because the bravery of the men from the 20th Main. Once the men were on the mountain they began building a small wall for them to hide behind unfortunately this did not give much protection.

In the Battle of the Wilderness, he describes, Rebel troops that could produce entrenchments and palisades that were impressive in both scale and build time. In that same skirmish, Grant was described as exasperated by his subordinates who, because of the reputation that followed Lee, were somewhat overly jumpy in their desire to know Lee’s next move. Further, aside from the descriptive analysis of in-war feats and failures, Grimsley also covers the political emotions felt by the American citizenry. Northern reactions fluctuated. When the match at Mule Shoe took place, for example, the tone within accounts bounced from elation to dejection. Southern war responses, according to the volume, “remained upbeat throughout the campaign.” Whether giving account of the war efforts, the political atmosphere of the war, or of civilian reactions, Grimsley paints a picture that generates a sense of coexistence with these national ancestors. His work is thoroughly researched and he provides personal glimpses into the minds and thoughts of those who influenced or were touched by the war through newspaper articles, letters and diary

The Union enjoyed overall success in the Western Theater in 1862, but the year also brought defeat and setbacks between the times of Grant’s River War and the Battle at Stones River during the Civil War. These events contradicted the Unions success with strategic embarrassments that demonstrated the Union’s youth in military strategy in handling two separate theaters and management of men and goods.

A large part of the Confederate Army’s ability to continue to fight the Union for as long as they did can be attributed to its soldiers. The size of the Confederation and the fact that it had just been formed should have made for a quick Union victory, but the Confederation’s soldiers twisted the future in a way that no one

The soldiers participating in Pickett’s Charge had started out with optimism and feelings that they would be a huge part in American history, but as things turned to chaos causing a domino effect, in which the whole charge was compromised. The Union artillery fire was devastating to the Confederates. It reduced their morale and quickly depleted their numbers. Those soldiers that did reach Union lines, were faced with intense musket fire. After all that destruction, it was imperative that the Confederates retreat, or risk having many more casualties. Fortunately, for the Confederates, the Union forces did not chase after them. The results would have been much more disastrous if that was the case.

This is similar to the scene where the soldiers shared rumors with each other in Soldier’s Heart. One rumor that the soldiers made up was that the new commander, McClellan, was “afraid to fight” and that “he was only trying to be easy on the men,” which caused President Lincoln to be unsatisfied with McClellan’s “lack of bite” (59). These two events share that the camp at Washington allowed the soldiers to contemplate their battle and recent days. Another comparison between Soldier’s Heart and the article, “The Battle of Bull Run” is the lack of communication and delay in the Confederate army. For example, in the text, it says “They [the Confederates] were still coming, but slower…” (49). Due to the lack of communication between the soldiers, this caused bemusement in their force and the retreatment of the men. “The Battle of Bull Run” also mentions the unorganized army in its text; “...the Confederate plans were several communication failures and general lack of coordination between units” (2). To add on, the article also mentions that after the Confederates had victory over the Union, their forces were “too disorganized to pursue” (3). With this in mind, even

Picture a scene of complete and utter chaos, a scene of terror and fear. Now imagine that you are in the thick of it, except that scene is the Siege of Petersburg. Around you are the sounds of muskets firing, hundreds at a time, their smoke clouding your vision, the smell of burning gunpowder filling the air, and the boom of artillery as it reigns down around you. You are a Confederate soldier hiding behind the fortifications of what remains of Petersburg, vastly outnumbered by the seemingly never-ending supply of Union Yankees. You wonder whether you will make it out with your life, or become yet another rebel casualty to the failing Confederate cause. “When will this end?” you ask yourself. Little do you know, it is far from over…291...291 more days of the brutality that we call war. However horrific, war brings good things as well. In the case of Petersburg, forcing the Confederate surrender.

Dated July 18, 1864, the message from General Joseph E. Johnston, commander of the Confederacy’s army of Tennessee, spelled the downfall of Atlanta. For weeks Davis had watched Johnston’s operations in Georgia with mounting dissatisfaction (Wert 1). If the federals captured Atlanta, Southerners perhaps faced inevitable defeat. On July 10, the Yankees crossed the Chattahoochee River, forcing the Rebels to abandon their works North of the stream. The Chattahoochee was the last natural barrier between Sherman’s troops and Atlanta, which lay 6 miles from the river. Throughout these weeks, Davis and Johnston exchanged numerous telegrams concerning the conduct of the campaign. Neither man liked the other (Wert

The armies left in the early morning, Grant arriving first, waiting for Lee's army. Every one of Lee's soldiers knew that Grant's ranks were heavily supplied, and aware of the fact that the odds were against them. The Confederates had unshaken

Late in the afternoon troops started to approach Beauregard. He prepared to retreat, unsure whose army the soldiers belonged to(“Battle Of”). Early in the civil war, the Union and Confederate flags were very similar in design and color and it was very hard to tell the difference between the two. Both flags had stripes and a blue square in the corner. The additional natural chaos of the battlefield didn't help with the confusion(“Not”). As the troops got closer to Beauregard he could see that the troops belonged to the Confederacy and that it was Johnston with reinforcements. The new addition to the Confederate’s force gave them the upper hand and they attacked the unsuspecting Union army(“Battle Of”). Colonel James Brown charged into the Union line into a section of confused New Yorkers(“The”). The union army was forced into a chaotic retreat. The also disorganized Confederates did not pursue the fleeing army(“Battle Of”). The disorganized Union army ran into panicking citizens who had started to flee upon seeing the Union's defeat. Along with the narrow bridges, overturned wagons, and cannons the citizens of Washington DC made the retreat nearly

Stepping away from his usual spot on the observational platform above the gate, the Silent Orphan went to the small table that was directly behind him. From there, he placed the pair of binoculars aside and picked up the field radio that happened to be on the table at the time. He spoke to his subordinate, the one responsible for relaying instructions to the machine gun crews. “Tell your men to hold your fire; we got friendlies approaching.”

Private Turner was gazing in awe towards General Pepper as he and I followed him, pushing forward and taking heavy fire. As I look back, I can see all of my comrades providing cover fire for one another as we all push forward.