Battle Reaches Duncan's Farm

Battle Reaches Duncan's Farm. . Some of the most severe fighting during the Battle of Shiloh occurred on Joseph Duncan's Farm in front of you. By mid-morning on the first day, General Albert Sidney Johnston's attack on the Union army had advanced the battle lines more than a mile northward from where fighting began at Fraley Field. Under the initial Confederate onslaught, Generals William T. Sherman and Benjamin Prentiss requested assistance from Union divisions camped further north. While General John A. McClernand moved to support Sherman, Generals William H.L. Wallace and Stephen A. Hurlbut encountered Prentiss' scattered remnants retreating north from their abandoned camps. Hurlbut deployed his troops one-half mile southeast of here on Sarah Bell's farm, while Wallace occupied Duncan's farm, his line fronted this field and extended southward through the thicket beyond., The new Union center had 6,200 men massed along this half-mile sector, with 3,000 more in reserve. Confederate brigades advancing north from Prentiss' captured camps attacked this hastily formed front after 10 am., (captions) , General William H.L. Wallace, 1 . Prentiss' troops retreat from their camps under heavy Confederate attack. , 2 . Confederates advance north from Prentiss' captured camps to assault Union forces occupying Duncan's farm. , 3 . Johnston shifts some of his army east to attack a strong Union force reported to be threatening the Confederate right.