idea of an attack (general one) being made upon us." But the
skirmishing farther south on Friday had warned Grant, as well as
Sherman and the vigilant Prentiss, that Johnston might be trying
a reconnaissance in force--the very thing that Beauregard wished
the Confederates to do.

Long before the beautiful dawn of Sunday, the fateful sixth of
April, Prentiss had thrown out from the center a battalion which
presently met and drove in the vanguard of the first Confederate
line of assault. The Confederate center soon came up, overwhelmed
this advanced battalion, and burst like a storm on the whole of
Prentiss's division. Then, above the swelling roar of
multitudinous musketry, rose the thunder of the first big guns.
"Note the hour, please, gentlemen," said Johnston; and a member
of his staff wrote down: "5:14 A.M."

Johnston's admirable plan was, first, to drive Grant's left clear
of Lick Creek, then drive it clear of Pittsburg Landing, where
the two Federal ironclads were guarding the ferry. This, combined
with a determined general assault on the rest of Grant's line,
would huddle the retreating Federals into the cramped angle
between Owl Creek and the Tennessee and force them to surrender.
But there were three great obstacles to this: Sherman on the
right, the "Hornet's Nest" in the center, and the gunboats at the
Landing. Worse still for the Confederates, Buell was now too
close at hand. Three days earlier Johnston had wired from Corinth
to the Government at Richmond: "Hope engagement before Buell can
form junction." But the troubles of the march had lost him one
whole priceless day.