First Brigade - Reserve Corps - Army of
the Mississippi
Colonel Robert P. Trabue
This brigade formed the advance of the reserve corps and reached the forks of the Bark and Pittsburg roads about 8 a.m. Sunday morning, April 6, 1862. It was sent forward on Pittsburg road to support General Polk's line and soon after deployed to the left of the road in the following order from left to right: Fourth Kentucky, Sixth Kentucky, Thirty-first Alabama, Fifth Kentucky, Fourth Alabama, Crew's Tennessee battalion, Third Kentucky, with Cobb's (Kentucky) battery and Byrne's (Mississippi) battery in the rear. It passed Shiloh Church in line of battle about 11.30 a.m.- the Fifth Kentucky opening to right and left to pass the Church (Lofland's statement). It advanced due north from the Church to the "verge of a large crescent-shaped field." Here the Third Kentucky, Fourth Alabama, and Crew's battalion and Byrne's battery were detached by General Beauregard and ordered to support General Anderson on the right. The Third and Fourth Kentucky remained detached all day; there is no record of place where they were engaged. Cobb's battery was put in position in front of the Fifth Kentucky in the avenue in front of Marsh's brigade camp. Colonel Trabue sheltered his command in a slight ravine, on the verge of the field, and rode forward to make observations. He discovered two camps to his left and front (Hare's and Marsh's), the enemy still occupying the camps. He moved his command by the left flank into this field and confronted the enemy. Here he was joined on the left by parts of Russell's and Cleburne's brigades-Twenty-second Tennessee, part of Eleventh Louisiana, Fifth Tennessee (Venable), and Fifth Tennessee (Hill)-and on his right by part of Anderson's brigade. The Union troops mentioned by Trabue in front were the Forty-sixth Ohio, Sixth Iowa, and Thirteenth Missouri. After an engagement of one hour and a quarter, commencing about noon, Trabue ordered a charge and drove the enemy through their camps (Marsh's) and into the woods in the rear, where he encountered and dispersed a Missouri regiment and soon after reached the field where Prentiss surrendered, where his left joined the troops from the right, and Crew's battalion was detached with prisoners. In the meantime Cobb's battery, occupying its first position in Marsh's camp, had been taken and retaken. It had lost all of its horses and was abandoned. Four of its guns were removed with mules Sunday night, but the battery was not again in action. Byrne's battery was engaged in Ruggles's artillery line. After the surrender of Prentiss, Trabue, with the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Kentucky and Thirty-first Alabama joined Breckinridge and moved down the ridge south of Dill Branch and occupied a position on the crest of the hill, at mounds, overlooking the Tennessee River, where he came under fire from gunboats, which he endured until nearly dark, when he withdrew to the crossroads, where he was joined by the Third Kentucky, Fourth Alabama, and Byrne's battery, and then retired to the camps of the Sixth Iowa and Forty-sixth Ohio, where he passed Sunday night. Trabue says he rode until 11 o'clock, trying to find a general officer to whom he could report for orders, and then sent an aid with escort, who rode all night without success. On Monday morning the brigade formed on the Purdy Road, Byrne's battery at Owl Creek Bridge. In a short time the brigade was moved by the flank to a point three-fourths of a mile east of Shiloh Church, and formed in line on the left and perpendicular to the road, Byrne's battery on the road at edge of a field (Duncan's), with Andersona on the left and Bowen's brigade on the right. This position was held four hours and then the brigade, except the Fourth Kentucky and Fourth Alabama, moved to the right of the Duncan House and was then engaged for one hour more, when it fell back to the right of Shiloh Church. The Fourth Kentucky and Fourth Alabama were engaged in severe conflict north of Duncan Field, where they lost very heavily. Major Monroe, Fourth Kentucky, was killed here. At Shiloh Church the contest was continued two hours, when the brigade fell back to the forks of Bark and Pittsburg roads, where it remained as a rear guard Monday night, and on Tuesday retired to Mickey's where it remained three days.
Clifton's 4th Alabama Battalion - Major James M. Clifton31st Alabama - Lieutenant Colonel Montgomery Gilbreath
3rd Kentucky - Lieutenant Colonel Benjamin Anderson
4th Kentucky - Lieutenant Colonel Andrew R. Hynes
5th Kentucky - Colonel Thomas H. Hunt
6th Kentucky - Colonel Joseph H. Lewis
Crews' Tennessee Infantry Battalion - Colonel James M. Crews
Cobb's Kentucky Battery - Captain Robert Cobb
Byrne's Mississippi (Kentucky) Battery - Captain Edward P. Byrne
