Confederate Attack

An early morning skirmish in Fraley Field alerted forward Union commanders to tens of thousands of Confederate soldiers descending on their southernmost camps. General Benjamin M. Prentiss hastily organized a battle line along the next ridge to engage the Confederate assault. Fighting continued there for about an hour as Union troops halted and hurled back the initial attacks. As more Confederate brigades entered the fight and threatened their exposed flanks, Prentiss' troops retired their line one-quarter mile north to defend their camps. Private Henry Morton Stanley of Company E, 6th Arkansas Infantry, recalled advancing under fire and seeing little globes of pearly smoke streaked with crimson breaking out with quickness from a long line of blue figures.

Shiloh, Tennessee · United States