nt would not advance. General
Breckenridge, foiled and irritated, rode to General Johnston and
complained he had a Tennessee regiment that would not fight. Governor
Harris, of Tennessee, who was with Johnston, remonstrated, and riding to
the Forty-fifth, appealed to it, but in vain. General Johnston moved to
the front of the brigade, now standing in line, rode slowly along the
front, promised to lead them himself, and appealed to them to follow.
The halting soldiers were roused to enthusiasm. Johnston, Breckenridge,
and Governor Harris in front, followed by the brigade, charged up the
slope and down the hollow beyond. Unchecked by the hot fire of the
Illinois regiments, they pushed up the higher slope, and the position
was gained.

The Illinois regiments fell back slowly, halting at intervals to turn
and fire, and were not pursued. One of those Parthian shots struck
General Johnston, cut an artery, and, no surgeon being at hand, he bled
to death in a few minutes. His body was carried at once by his staff
back to Corinth. General Beauregard, at his station at Shiloh Church,
was notified of the death, and assumed command. Albert Sydney Johnston
was a man of pure life, and, like McPherson, full of the traits that
call out genuine and devoted friendships. He was esteemed by many the
ablest general in the Confederate service. His death was deplored in the
South as a fatal loss. It was half-past two when Johnston fell. The loss
paralyzed operations in that part of the field, and for an hour there
was here a lull. The two Illinois regiments, though not followed, failed
to rally, and fell back to a bluff near the landing, where Colonel
Webster was putting batteries into position.

General Bragg, hearing of the death of General Johnston while he was
superintending operations in front of Prentiss and W.H.L. Wallace, rode
to the Confederate right. He there found a strong force, consisting of
three parts, without a common head: General Breckenridge, with two
brigades of his reserve division, pressing forward; General Withers,
with his division greatly exhausted and taking a temporary rest; and
General Cheatham, with his division of Polk's corps, to their left and
rear. Bragg at once assumed command, and began to assemble these
divisions and form them for a general advance. Hurlbut, observing these
preparations, moved Lauman's brigade, which had already twice
replenished its boxes and expended one hundred rounds of cartridges--to