Buell’s Thanks to the Army of the Ohio After Shiloh

Shiloh was the apogee of Don Carlos Buell’s career. He brought the reinforcements that were vital to victory on April 7. He was constantly at the front, actively moving units and often under fire. After Shiloh, he was widely praised by not just his Army of the Ohio, but also Ulysses Grant’s Army of West Tennessee. The newspapers were filled with accolades.

“Buell came just in time to save us.” – Edward Myers, 46th Ohio

“Buell’s force came and that gave our men new life I tell you.” – Erman Mastick, 2nd Iowa

“Had it not been for the reinforcements of Buell, we would have [been] entirely annihilated, killed, or taken prisoners. We had no General nor Generalship until he [Buell] came. Grant is played out most decidedly.” – Lawrence B. Worth, 7th Iowa

“Our dropping hearts were cheered by the sound of distant music and the information that Buell had just arrived with 20,000 of his advance. Such a cheer as rent the heavens will never again be heard in the forests of Tennessee!” – Martin Beem, 13th Missouri

“At this time our case looked doubtful, but relief was at hand. Buell had arrived and his troops were crossing the river and came marching up at 5 o’clock on quick time, their bands playing the Star Spangled Banner. Never did music sound as well and never did men take such new courage. – George W. Browning, 54th Ohio

“Gen. Buell everywhere inspired confidence as he rode along the lines and addressed words of cheer to his troops. His superior generalship completely foiled the rebels in all their maneuvers, and whilst he preserved his own line of battle intact, he completely broke theirs, driving them from one position to another until we had regained all the ground lost on the preceding day.” – Anonymous, 7th Iowa

“General Grant should be courtmartialed for allowing himself to be surprised. He was notified time after time that the enemy were near his lines in strong force & intended to attack him. He hooted at the idea of them attacking him & for two days suffered things to go on in this way & his army to be surprised. I have always disliked the man & worse now than ever. He is not fit for a military man.” – Anonymous, 2nd Iowa

These are only a handful. Letters, whether private or published, constantly praise Buell. They equated him to Blucher at Waterloo. The acclaim would not last though. The reasons were many.

Being a conservative Democrat in a war where the Radical Republicans gradually gained more power was never going to go well. Democrats who enjoyed some success, such as John Schofield and William Rosecrans, accepted emancipation to varying degrees. Buell, himself once a slave owner, refused to do so.

In time, his army was riven by pro and anti-Buell factions, which were so poisonous that how one felt about Buell dictated how one felt when Jefferson C. Davis murdered William Nelson. Lastly, while Buell did well at Shiloh, he did not do well at Perryville, and having earned the hatred of Abraham Lincoln and Edwin Stanton, Buell’s career was at an end. Stanton even set up a court to convict Buell and do to him what he did to Charles Stone and Fitz John Porter. Buell won that battle by avoiding conviction, and it helped that Lew Wallace was actually a decent man.

Yet, there is another reason for Buell’s downfall, and it is contained in the congratulations he gave the Army of the Ohio on April 8. The two paragraphs contrast in tone and sentiment and most of all show that while Buell could be inspiring on a battlefield, as he was in Mexico and at Shiloh, but he was too severe and taciturn to win men over the way Rosecrans, McClellan, Hooker, McPherson, and other Union officers could.

Here from the Official Records is Buell’s message to his men, which is on page 297 of volume X, part 1. It was written on April 8 for an army that awoke to bury the dead. These men had little food and no tents, all the baggage being left at Savannah to hurry into battle. I wish I could see their reactions to it:

“The general congratulates the army under his command on the imperishable honor which they won yesterday on the battle-field of Shiloh, near Pittsburg Landing. The alacrity and zeal with which they pressed forward by forced marches to the succor of their comrades of a sister army imperiled by the attack of an overwhelming force; the gallantry with which they assaulted the enemy, and the persevering courage with which they maintained an incessant conflict against superior numbers from 6 o’clock in the morning until evening, when the enemy was driven from the field, are incidents which point to a great service nobly performed. The general reminds his troops again that such results are not attained by individual prowess alone; that subordination and careful training are essential to the efficiency of every army, and that the success which has given them a brilliant page in history is greatly due to the readiness with which they have seconded the labors of their division, brigade, and regimental commanders, who first disciplined them in camp and then led them judiciously and gallantly in battle.”

Newspapers and Archive Cited

Cleveland Plain Dealer, April 26, 1862

The Jeffersonian Democrat, April 25, 1862

Mineral Point Weekly Tribune May 14, 1862

The Alton Telegraph, April 25, 1862

Weekly Lancaster Gazette, April 24, 1862

The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, April 19, 1862

The Cadiz Democratic Sentinel, April 23, 1862

Worth to Father, April 11, 1862, Lawrence B. Worth Letters, Will Griffing Collection