RACEALONG 211 



WHY GRANT WON SHILOH 



''Buell saved Grant and his army at Shiloh," re- 

 marked Charles P. Warfield of Clarksville, Tenn., 

 while he was assisting me in tracing the breeding of 

 the dam of Peter the Great. "After the close of the 

 war Major Overton of Nashville told me that Buell 

 would not have reached Pittsburgh Landing in time 

 to prevent Grant's defeat if three of Forrest's 

 troopers had burned a bridge as ordered. 



''Grant was at Pittsburgh Landing on the Ten- 

 nessee River with 33,000 troops the first week of 

 April 1862. General Sidney Johnston was at Corinth 

 eighteen miles away with 40,000. Grant had sent to 

 Nashville for reinforcements. Johnston heard of it 

 and decided to attack. 



''Before setting his army in motion Johnston gave 

 Forrest orders to burn all of the bridges between 

 the Tennessee River and Nashville. One of them was 

 over a rapid stream which could not be forded and 

 which would require at least a day to replace. 



"Three troopers were detailed to burn this bridge. 

 Before they set it on fire a farmer named McEwen 

 joined them. He said that he was hauling supplies 

 across the bridge and that if they would leave it, 

 he would see that it was burned that night when 

 the work was completed. The troopers took McEwen 

 at his word and galloped away to join his command. 



"McEwen did not burn the bridge-. Buell crossed 

 it and was able to join Grant in time to turn the 

 defeat of the day before into a victory." 



