For more information or to register for the next Battle of Shiloh Tour (usually in April) please contact us.

#16 - Duncan Field

Return to the Table of Contents

Quotes from Actual Battlefield Participants

Notes from the Field . . .

The Union line in the Hornets' Nest sector (Stop 15) continued along the "Sunken Road" to and beyond this point, held by the four Iowa regiments of Col. James M. Tuttle's brigade of W. H. L. Wallace's division. Beyond them were the 7th and 58th Illinois regiments of Col. Thomas W. Sweeny's brigade, also of Wallace's division. Tuttle's men participated in fending off the same series of Confederate attacks, most of which extended across this front as well. Some Confederate attacks were launched exclusively across the field in front of this position. A soldier of the 12th Iowa later recalled, "Col. Tuttle rode along behind our column and told us to 'keep cool and remember that we were from Iowa.'" The field in front of this position was a cotton field belonging to a farmer named Joseph Duncan. The Duncan farm buildings were located alongside the Corinth Road in the middle of the field and were briefly occupied by Union troops before they were shelled out by Confederate artillery.

Shortly before 4:00 p.m. the Confederates succeeded in driving back the Union forces on both sides of the Hornets' Nest sector. To the southeast, in area of the Peach Orchard (Stop 13), Hurlbut had to fall back toward the landing. To the north, McClernand's division retreated another half mile. Wallace's division, in line here, along with the remnant of Prentiss's, back on the other side of the Hornets' Nest, now had both flanks in the air and were in imminent danger of being encircled. Rebels began sweeping around both flanks. Prentiss curled his left flank back was almost in the shape of a horseshoe but determined to hold his ground. Wallace realized that the time had come to get out and ordered his troops to fall back. Already the Confederates were getting in rear of them, and it looked like they would have to cut their way out. About 4:15 p.m. the division moved out, with Wallace riding at the head of the column followed by the 2nd and 7th Iowa regiments. They were about 250 yards northeast of here, nearing the intersection of the Corinth and Eastern Corinth roads, when Wallace's aide (and brother-in-law) Lt. Cyrus Dickey called the general's attention to what he believed were Confederate troops in the woods on their left front. Wallace rose and stood in the stirrups to get a better look, and a bullet smacked into his head. The general toppled to the ground. Dickey scrambled to his side and found him unconscious. With three others, the lieutenant carried Wallace about a quarter mile, but then, believing Wallace was as good as dead and with the Rebels closing in fast behind them, they put him down and made their escapes. Wallace had not heard that his wife had arrived at the landing on a surprise visit that morning, and Ann Wallace, now serving as a volunteer nurse for the thousands of wounded pouring into the landing, did not yet know of her husband's fate.

Meanwhile, those regiments of his division that had received the order to withdraw struggled to the rear as best they could through heavy Confederate fire. Several regiments never got the order and remained in line alongside Prentiss's men.

Today, an up-ended cannon monument marks the spot where Wallace fell.

Return to the Table of Contents
Previous Stop - Hornets' Nest
Next Stop - Ruggle's Battery

Copyright 2003, The Center for the Study of the American Civil War. All rights reserved. Contact Us.