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 Attacking without adequate
support, the 4th Kentucky suffered their greatest casualties of the battle here in the
Duncan Field. Maj. Thomas B. Monroe was killed, and his brother Ben was mortally wounded.
Also killed was Gov. George Johnson, fighting in Capt. Ben Monroe's company. Hugh Henry,
an Irishman who had served in the British Army at Waterloo, stood to his task in the ranks
after repeated wounds, until he, too, was killed. When the day ended, the 4th Kentucky had
lost just under fifty percent casualties.
L to R -- Maj. Thomas Monroe, Gov. George Johnson , Wm. L. Rogers
Forced to fall back by the advance of the fresh
Federal reinforcements, the Kentuckians regrouped near Shiloh Church, where they fell in
with other Confederate units in a final delaying action. Cobb's Battery was again engaged
near Water Oaks Pond, but was soon forced to retire. Breckinridge's Corps formed the
army's rear guard, and the Kentuckians bivouacked a few miles from Shiloh Church, on the
road to Corinth. The next day they moved back to Mickey's House and guarded the
Confederate hospitals, assisting Forrest's Cavalry in repelling a Federal attack. Moving
back to Corinth, the Orphan Brigade went to work on the trenches in that area.
Shiloh had a devastating effect on the Orphan
Brigade, like many other commands. The men had indeed seen the elephant, and it was a rude
awakening. Cobb's Battery was nearly shattered, and was forced to make up its losses by
the breakup of Byrne's Battery. The 4th Kentucky was at little over half-strength. The
other regiments had also suffered severe losses; Johnny Green took the colors of the
5th/9th regiment after the entire color-guard was lost. The Brigade lost nearly 850 men in
total. Many men who had enthusiastically gone to war only half a year earlier were now
lying in hospitals with shattered limbs, or in Northern prison camps, or dead on the
field, awaiting burial in mass graves.
Confederate mass grave on the battlefield, near where the Orphan Brigade first
into action
References
- William C. Davis, ed., Diary of a Confederate Soldier (Columbia: University of South
Carolina Press, 1990), pp. 30-33.
- Basil Duke, History of Morgan's Cavalry (Cincinnati: Miami Printing & Publ., 1867),
p. 147.
- Clement A. Evans, ed., Confederate Military History , Vol. 9 (Atlanta: Confederate Publ.
Co., 1899), p. 67.
- William Preston Johnston, "Albert Sidney Johnston at Shiloh," in Battles and
Leaders of the Civil War, Vol. 1 (New York: Thomas Yoseloff, 1956), p. 562.
- "Kentucky State Guard War Song," Confederate Veteran, Vol. 1, No. 1 (1893), p.
32.
- Albert D. Kirwan, ed., Johnny Green of the Orphan Brigade (Lexington: University of
Kentucky Press, 1956), pp. 25-37.
- John L. Marshall (under pseudonym of Nondescript), "Heel and Toe," Part II,
The Southern Bivouac, Vol. 1, No. 7 (March 1883), pp. 301-304.
- John Adair McDowell, Col., Battle of Shiloh Report, April 9, 1862; in Official Records,
Ser. 1, Vol. 10. Pt. 1, pp. 254-255.
- Ed Porter Thompson, History of the Orphan Brigade (Louisville, 1898), pp. 81-107.
- J.H. Weller, "The Fourth Kentucky," The Southern Bivouac , Vol. 1, Nos. 9
& 10 (May-June 1883), p. 351a.
- J.H. Weller (under pseudonym of Fred Joyce), "The Irishmen of Company D, Fourth
Kentucky Infantry," The Southern Bivouac, Vol. 2, No. 6 (Feb. 1884), pp. 268-269.
- Lot D. Young, Reminiscences of a Soldier of the Orphan Brigade (Paris, KY, n.d. [ca.
1918]), pp. 27-28.
- Names of Men Who Returned Without Arms, 5th Kentucky Regiment. National Archives
Microfilm M836, Roll 4.
- Report of the Killed, Wounded, and Missing of the Reserve Corps, Corinth, Miss., April
14, 1862. National Archives Microfilm M836, Roll 4.
Copyright � 1997, Geoffrey R. Walden, all rights reserved.
Back to Shiloh,
part 1
Reminiscence
of Shiloh, Lt. Cunningham, 4th Ky. Inf.
Letter from
Shiloh, Capt. Trice, 4th Ky. Inf.
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