Our birthday boy today is general Hugh Thompson Reid (1811-1874). At the battle of Shiloh, one of the members of the 15th Iowa Infantry Regiment wrote: We formed in line on the bluff overlooking the river...in great confusion Col. Reid and (Lt. Col.) Dewey galloped back and forth without seeming to know exactly what they were doing. Col. Dewey did a considerable amount of hard swearing, and I had time to notice him wheel his horse around and take some consolation through the neck of a pint bottle. This seemed to give him a stronger flow of swear language than before. However, Colonel Reid in his after action report remembered the fight this way: It must be remembered that this regiment had just received its arms and that the men had never had an opportunity of learning the use of them until they came on the battlefield...they fought the enemy without the support of artillery in a position from which more experienced troops had been compelled to retire. The enemy, too, against whom we fought, the Twenty-second Tennessee and two Louisiana regiments, are understood to be among their best troops.
Posted on: Sat, 18 Oct 2014 17:00:01 +0000
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