EXECUTING A WITHDRAWAL UNDER fire is always a hazardous proposition, but by a few minutes past 10:00 a.m., William Sherman’s Fifth Division, or what was left of it, was established in a new position linking up with John McClernand’s First Division.1 Colonel Jesse Hildebrand stayed with his remaining regiment, the Seventy-seventh Ohio, until it started retiring from the Shiloh Church position. The regiment fell into disorder, the men disappearing in all directions. Hildebrand became separated, lost heart, and washing his hands of the affair galloped over to McClernand’s headquarters, where he attached himself to the First Division as a volunteer aide.2
Buckland’s three regiments also reached the Purdy Road line in a state of confusion. Cockerill and part of the Seventieth Ohio wandered off, but eventually wound up with McClernand. Colonels Sullivan and Buckland made repeated efforts to rally the brigade, but the more faint-hearted soldiers went scattering in all directions.3 Cursing and yelling, officers managed to collect fragments from the various regiments and formed them up about two hundred yards west of the crossroads.