Walker's. Seeing this, I rode down to
Mercer and told him to take his Brigade and charge right into it, which he
did. It was quite a time before I could tell what the result was, but I
soon saw prisoners coming back and knew then that Mercer had them. He had
that Division at a great disadvantage, and captured a great many prisoners
out of it and several battle-flags. See report Second Brigade, Second
Division Sixteenth Army Corps, volume 38, part 3, page 450, Army Records.
That charge, no doubt, saved my line, because I had a very thin line, and
with the most of Hardee's Corps coming at me in double column, as it was,
I have no doubt that if it had reached me it would have given me trouble;
but they never got to me on any of their attacks. We were fortunate
enough to break them before they could reach the line, though on Fuller's
front they were right up to it when Walker fell.

There was a great dispute between Hood and Hardee about this movement to
the rear, Hood claiming that Hardee should have reached there early in the
morning, while Hardee claimed he did not receive the order in time to get
there before he did--a very fortunate fact for us, for if he had reached
the rear of the Seventeenth and Fifteenth Corps, and Cheatham and Stewart
had attacked in the front, it would have been rough times for the old Army
of the Tennessee; but no doubt they would have come out of it with honor
in some way.

I think there is no doubt about the time McPherson was killed--it was just
about two hours after the battle had opened. Of course there are all kinds
of time given, but the fact of the stopping of the watch of the signal
officer, Sheffly, when he fell against the tree at two minutes past two,
is almost conclusive evidence. See his statement, volume 11-13, page 242,
records Society Army of the Tennessee. You can judge of that yourself,
because even before McPherson got up to my right, where he stood, as
Strong says, watching me, I had been fighting some time, for he had to
ride from near Sherman's headquarters up there, a distance of two to three
miles. If you will read carefully the address I am sending you, and the
report Blair made--also the address of Strong--I think you will come to
the same conclusions I give you. An article on the death of General
McPherson, by W. W. Allen, of San Diego, California, Signal Officer of the
Army of the Tennessee, appeared in an issue of the National Tribune some
time this year, but of wha