Project Gutenberg's "Shiloh" as Seen by a Private Soldier, by Warren Olney

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Title: "Shiloh" as Seen by a Private Soldier
With Some Personal Reminiscences

Author: Warren Olney

Release Date: February 8, 2008 [EBook #24548]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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WAR PAPER

No. 5.

Commandery
Of the State
OF
CALIFORNIA

MILITARY ORDER
OF THE
Loyal Legion
OF THE
UNITED STATES.

"SHILOH"
AS
SEEN BY A PRIVATE SOLDIER.

A PAPER READ BEFORE
CALIFORNIA COMMANDERY
OF THE
MILITARY ORDER
OF THE
Loyal Legion of the United States,
MAY 31, 1889.

BY COMPANION
WARREN OLNEY,
LATE CAPTAIN 65TH U. S. C. Inf.
(Insignia No. 4862.)

THE BATTLE OF SHILOH.

With Some Personal Reminiscences.

Very interesting descriptions of the great battles of the late war,
written by prominent generals, have been lately published and widely
read. It seems to me, however, that it is time for the private soldier
to be heard from.

Of course, his field of vision is much more limited than that of his
general. On the other hand, it is of vital importance to the latter to
gloss over his mistakes, and draw attention only to those things which
will add to his reputation. The private soldier has no such feeling. It
is only to the officers of high rank engaged that a battle can bring
glory and renown. To the army of common soldiers, who do the actual
fighting, and risk mutilation and death, there is no reward except the
consciousness of duty bravely performed. This was peculiarly the case
in the late war, when more than a million of young men, the flower of
our country, left their workshops and farms, their schools and
colleges, to endure the hardships of the march and the camp, to risk
health, limb and life, that their country might live, expecting
nothing, hoping nothing for themselves, but all for their fatherland.

The first really great battle of the war was that of Pittsburg Landi