f a hostile line of
battle. At the same time Pond's brigade and Ketchum's battery became
aware of the fact that only the valley of Brier Creek separated them
from troops that had arrived in the night. Colonel Pond was dismayed by
the further discovery that he was nearly a mile in advance of his
nearest support. After a short engagement he withdrew his infantry,
leaving Wharton's regiment of mounted Texas Rangers to support the
battery. After a sharp artillery duel, Ketchum drew off his battery,
covered by the mounted regiment. General Grant directing Wallace to push
his line of attack to the west, directly from the river, the division
advanced, the brigades in echelon, the First to the front and left, the
Third to the right and rear, sweeping the bluffs facing Snake Creek and
Owl Creek, and coming out in the fields in rear of Sherman's camps.
Wheeling the division to the left, he soon became hotly engaged, first
Thompson's battery with another battery, then infantry with opposing
infantry.

There was yet a gap between Sherman and Wallace, but the conflict now
raged about Shiloh Church with a fury surpassing any portion of the
battle of Sunday. McCook, with his well closed division, McClernand and
Sherman with their attenuated but persistent commands, Wallace with his
fresh and compact division, with the batteries of Bouton, McAllister,
Wood, Thompson, and Thurber, formed a curved line concentrating upon the
convex line comprised of part of Clark's division, Wood's brigade,
Trabue's brigade, Cheatham's division, and Ruggles' division, with the
batteries of Ketchum, Byrne, Bankhead, and others. McClernand, Sherman,
and Wallace all speak with admiration of the splendid fighting of
McCook's division. Ammunition was becoming exhausted. Buckland withdrew
his regiments to fill their boxes. Stuart's brigade, now commanded by
Colonel Kilby Smith, plunged forward to make up with renewed vigor for
diminished numbers. Wallace's left flank was exposed. The Eleventh
Indiana, changing front, faced the danger on its flank. The First
Nebraska having used its last cartridge, the Seventy-sixth Ohio leaped
to its place. Thompson's battery having expended its last round,
Thurber's guns took their place so quickly that there was no
intermission in the fire. The Twentieth Ohio, sent off to the right to
meet a force springing up in that quarter, met with a sudden discharge
at close range, dashed through a fringe of bushes, and drove a battery