ed
the battery and drove it and its supports away. General C.F. Smith, in
pursuance of the authority given him by General Halleck, selected this
as the point of assembly of the army.

Lick Creek, above the landing, and Snake Creek, below it, empty into the
river about three miles apart, the landing being nearer the mouth of
Snake Creek. Lick Creek, rising in a swamp, flows eleven miles nearly
northeast to the river. Snake Creek flows nearly east to the river. Owl
Creek flows nearly parallel to Lick Creek, at a distance from it varying
from three to five miles, and empties into Snake Creek something more
than a mile from its mouth. The land enclosed between these creeks and
the river is a rolling plateau from eighty to a hundred feet above the
river-level. The riverfront of this plateau is cut by sundry sloughs
and ravines, which were at that time overflowed by back-water. One of
these deep ravines, running back at right angles to the river, is
immediately above the bluff at the landing. About a mile back from the
river, and about a mile above the landing, is a swell in the ground, not
marked enough to be called a ridge. From this higher ground extend the
head ravines of Oak Creek,[1] a rivulet or brook flowing to the west,
passing within a few hundred yards of Shiloh Church, and then turning to
the northwest and flowing into Owl Creek. In the reports of Sherman's
division this rivulet is treated as the main branch of Owl Creek, and
called by that name. From the same rising ground, ravines, wet only
after a rain, extend east and southeast to Lick Creek. From the same
position extend the head ravines of Brier Creek,[1] a deep ravine with
little water, which flows almost due north and empties into Snake Creek
a little below the mouth of Owl Creek. The three principal creeks, Lick,
Snake, and Owl, flow through swampy valleys, bordered by abrupt bluffs.
Oak Creek, from the neighborhood of Shiloh Church to its mouth, flows
through a miry bottom bordered by banks of less height. The land was for
the most part covered with timber, partly with dense undergrowth; in
places were perhaps a dozen open fields containing about eighty acres
each. A road, lying far enough back from the river to avoid the sloughs,
led from the landing to Hamburg Landing, about six miles above. Another
road from the landing crossed Brier Creek and Snake Creek just above
their junction, and continued down the river to Crump's Landing. The
road to Corinth f