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Now appearing on the Western Theater in the Civil War website/blog: https://www.westerntheatercivilwar.com/post/the-unlucky-13th-at-shiloh

Benjamin Prentiss: Good one. He was a politician but not a major one. John McClernand: John McClernand Henry Wager Halleck: He seems to have owed his position to the support of Winfield Scott. Halleck, while a master of army politics, was not quite so good at getting patrons among the politicians. George B. McClellan: Montgomery Blair Lew Wallace: I think Oliver Morton, although from a different party, took a shine to Wallace. Stephen Hurlbut: Abraham Lincoln, who thought Hurlbut was one of the finest public speakers in the country. John A. Logan: John A. Logan John Fremont: The various radicals in Congress. Albert Sidney Johnston: Jefferson Davis Braxton Bragg: Thomas Bragg, Thomas Overton Moore PGT Beauregard: Jacques Villere, John Slidell, Pierre Soule, although I have not been able to figure out if Soule held it against Beauregard for marrying into the Slidell family. Soule and Beauregard were pretty tight in 1852.

I have always seen what happened to them as a perfect storm. They were poorly placed by Hurlbut, poorly trained, and poorly led. One thing I recently ran into was the Captain Felix Robertson's thoughts on the matter. He felt their withdrawal was due to both his accurate cannon fire and a lack of infantry support. Robertson did not think that Hurlbut's first position on the south end of Sarah Bell Field was ever occupied, but rather Hurlbut said the division was positioned there after the battle to cover what happened to the 13th Ohio Battery. It would be a scandal sending a green battery far ahead of the infantry. After sifting through reports and recollections, I think Robertson exaggerated, but there is some truth to the idea that the 13th Ohio Battery was not properly supported. I think Hurlbut's first line was only half formed, and mostly on the eastern end of the field. Once the battery routed and Adams' brigade approached, Hurlbut wisely fell back.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5406/jillistathistsoc.107.3-4.0296 Both Newton and Wilcox were at the protracted 1863 Court Martial of Col. Silas Baldwin of the 57th Illinois. Newton was a witness for the prosecution and Col John S Wilcox was a member of the Court, which convicted Baldwin. A Newton letter confirms that Wilcox went to Chicago on orders from Halleck just prior to the battle at Pittsburg Landing. Newton sent a letter home with Wilcox, apparently. Wilcox had testified at the proceeding involving fraud over a rations contract that involved the 52nd's Col Wilson and his QM Charles Wells.. After letters lauding Wilson from Illinois politicians were received by the Federal Judge (Drummond) Wilson's indictment by a Federal Grand Jury was quashed in 1863. Wilcox was not convinced that Wilson was innocent and began an unsuccessful petition to get Judge Wilson taken off the Illinois Bench. Wilson was also involved is some shenanigans over the purchase of horses. Wilson was the father of Edmund Beecher Wilson, author of The Cell and a ground breaking biologist and geneticist. BTW, John Wilcox's (14 years) older brother Silvanus had been Halleck's room mate at West Point but resigned over ill health. Silvanus returned to Elgin where he had been Wilson's law partner (briefly). Silvanus ran into Halleck at the Planter's Hotel in St. Louis in late 1861. Halleck reportedly exclaimed: "Wilcox I thought you were dead." Did Wilcox miss the fun at Shiloh because of all this? No wonder no one bothered to pile up some logs or entrench, they were too busy with internecine warfare to bother about the Rebs. ps: I posted some of this a while back in this thread. Rations_fraud_Wilson_Wells_Wilcox 26 Nov 1861 Chicago Tribune part 1 of 2 Entire page from LOC.pdf Wilson Wells Trial in Federal Court motion to quash indictment.pdf Wilcox_petition_to_remove_Wilson_from_the_Bench (1).pdf Isaac_Wilson_C_B__Wells_Case_nolle_prosequi_by_District_Attorney.pdf

Had to read through the attachment to “The Western Theatre in the Civil War (The Unlucky 13th at Shiloh)” a couple of times to glean the full story. But, if true, it is damning: Captain Myers reported with his battery to Savannah “about the 20th of March” and was told by the Commanding General [on 20 March 1862 this would be Major General Grant] to “take your company on shore at Pittsburg Landing, and go up on the bank and search out ground for [your] camp wherever [you] please, and wait for further orders.” These orders did not come until early April, when it appears Burrow’s 14th Ohio Battery was transferred from Hurlbut to McClernand, and Myer’s 13th Ohio Battery was assigned to BGen Hurlbut. (Hurlbut indicates the 13th Ohio Battery reported to him for duty on Friday 4 April.) [A similar re-assignment resulted in Munch’s Minnesota Battery and Hickenlooper’s 5th Ohio Battery reporting to BGen Prentiss at about the same time…] As regards the performance of the 13th Ohio Battery on the morning of 6 April 1862 there appears to be a combination of bad luck; poorly considered decision as regards battery placement; and inexperience of the officers and men of the 13th Battery. The lack of familiarity with BGen Hurlbut did not help matters. The hit accomplished by Confederate Artillery (believed to be Robertson’s Alabama) which exploded the ammunition chest likely killed and disabled horses and panicked the men. Such a lucky strike, with resultant thunderous roar and shrapnel, would likely have panicked any green unit: the men of the 13th Ohio Battery were unfortunate that THEIR unit was the one so affected. But, the attempt to “pin the blame” on Stephen Hurlbut was misguided: BGen Hurlbut did not direct Myer’s Ohio Battery to Pittsburg Landing without adequate instructions; and BGen Hurlbut was not responsible for the explosion of the ammunition chest. An excellent, thought-provoking article...

https://doncarlosnewton.wordpress.com/2020/05/03/we-leave-tomorrow-for-tennessee/amp/ This is a very well done collection of Don Carlos Newton's correspondence. Recently another Newton letter appeared on ebay. https://www.ebay.com/itm/CIVIL-WAR-LETTER-52nd-Illinois-Infantry-Slave-Cook-Whiskey-GREAT-CONTENT/224213491121?_trksid=p2485497.m4902.l9144 Don Carlos Newton to Mary after Shiloh Stark Herrington Legore Prindle.pdf