He saw in the flash of the firing
that the Southern ranks were thin, very thin, and he knew that there was
no break in their own advance.
Now the sanguine Northern generals planned the entire destruction of
the Southern army. There was only one road by which Beauregard could
retreat to Corinth. A whole Northern division rushed in to block the
way. Sherman, in his advance, came again to the ground around the
little Methodist chapel of Shiloh which he had defended so well the
day before, and crowded his whole force upon the Southern line at that
point. Once more the primitive church in the woods looked down upon one
of the most sanguinary conflicts of the whole war. If Sherman could
break through the Southern line here Beauregard's whole army would be
lost.
But the Southern soldiers were capable of another and a mighty effort.
Their generals saw the danger and acted with their usual promptness and
decision. They gathered together their shattered brigades and hurled
them like a thunderbolt upon the Union left and center. The shock was
terrific. Sherman, with all his staunchness and the valor of his men,
was compelled to give way. McClernand, too, reeled back, others were
driven in also. Whole brigades and regiments were cut to pieces or
thrown in confusion. The Southerners cut a wide gap in the Northern
army, through which they rushed in triumph, holding the Corinth road
against every attack and making their rear secure.
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