April 9, 1862

April 9, 1862:  In Albuquerque, the cautious Col. Canby orders a retreat from Albuquerque, southward, without re-taking Albuquerque for the Union.

The Richmond Daily Dispatch claims the Battle of Shiloh as a Southern victory:

The victory at Shiloh is grand in its consequences. It is full of satisfaction to the Southern mind. . . . It is most grateful and cheering to all of our people. It proves that the South can rise equal to the exigency of its situation, and is the very best sign of the war of our unconquerable determination and spirit. Let Shiloh be our example and our watchword, and the enemy must be hurled back like the wave that drives against the solid rock.

If this victory is gratifying and cheering to us, it must fill the heart of the enemy with mortification and despair. Such a sudden elevation of a feeble rebel army from disaster, flight, and disorder, to a grand victory over their immense, well equipped, and well disciplined troops, is enough to fill them with despondency and to suggest the hopelessness of their effort to subjugate the South. . . .

The news of this victory will change the face of things in Europe. There our cause had been damaged by disaster here. The press and the politician had begun to change the tone of their speculations. Our friends, even, were less confident in their prognostications. Shiloh proves that the Yankee effort at subjugation is only another labor of Sisyphus; the stone has rolled again to the bottom of the mountain, and the laborer, contemplating the fruitlessness of his exertions, must proceed with what heart he can to renew them.

Meantime, sons of the South ! let us continue the glorious work to which we are now fully aroused. Let us not relax one single effort. We should be vigilant and unflagging — with “eye that never winks and wing that never tires.” We should pursue the enemy, and never let him rest until the country is rid of his hateful presence.

 

---Judith White McGuire, in Richmond, writes her mourning reaction to the death of Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston at Shiloh:

9th.—Our victory at Shiloh complete, but General Albert Sydney Johnston was killed. The nation mourns him as one of our most accomplished officers. He fell while commanding in the thickest of the fight. It is an overwhelming loss to the Western army, and to the whole country. Beauregard pursued the enemy, but their General (Grant) having been reinforced very largely, our army had to retreat to Corinth, which they did in good order. This was done by order of General Johnston, should Buell reinforce Grant. They are now at Corinth, awaiting an attack from the combined forces. Van Dorn reinforced Beauregard. We are anxiously awaiting the result.

---Sergeant Alexander G. Downing, of the 11^th Iowa Infantry, records his experience with burying the dead at Shiloh:

We are still burying the dead. It rained again today. The ground is so thoroughly soaked that it is difficult to dig the graves deep enough and keep out the water. We bury our dead by companies, all of one company in one grave, and if only one of a company is killed, the body is placed in a grave by itself. The bodies of the rebels’ dead are placed side by side in long graves. The carcasses of horses are removed by burning them.