Mary Anne Tucker was born on 30 October 1835, the daughter of the farmer Abijah Tucker and Maria Clark Tucker, of Strafford Township, Orange County, Vermont. At some point in the 1850s Abijah Tucker moved his family west, to Nora Township, Jo Daviess County, Illinois, in the far northwestern corner of the state. By the time she wrote the letter here transcribed, on 28-29 April 1862, Mary Tucker had married a New York native named Lucius Crowell—the first of her four husbands—and was living on a farm in Nora, close by that of her father. When it fought at Shiloh the 15th Illinois Infantry was attached to the 2nd (Veatch's) Brigade, 4th (Hurlbut's) Division of Grant's Army of the Tennessee. Early on the first day of the battle, though, Veatch's brigade was separated from the rest of Hurlbut's division when it was ordered away to the Federal right, to support the divisions of Sherman and McClernand in repulsing the Confederate attacks then taking place. Moving into a position some 30 yards behind McClernand along the Purdy Road, Veatch's men watched as the brigade to their front broke before the sustained late-morning attack of Confederate Brig. Gen. Sterling A. M. Wood. Chaos ensued as the position was stampeded by fleeing Federals, with Wood's troops close on their heels. Moreover, the 15th Illinois, situated on the right of Veatch's line, found itself flanked as another of McClernand's brigades was pushed back. The regiment held for a time, despite losing its staff officers (Lt. Col. Edward Ellis and Maj. William Goddard, mentioned in Crowell's letter), most of its company commanders, and upwards of one hundred men. Ultimately it broke; most of the survivors remained separated from the brigade for the rest of the day. The great majority of the casualties sustained by the 15th Illinois at Shiloh—more than 160 overall, out of perhaps 500 engaged—must have occurred during this attack. The 13,000 Union casualties at Shiloh dwarfed those of any previous battle and led to widespread criticism of Grant, both within the Army of the Tennessee and across the North. Crowell writes: I wish you could hear R[ufus] tell about the battle he says all wee read is not half as bad as it realy is. he had thinks the Gen. is to blame about the great loss, as there were no Picket Guard out, and he knew well enough that the rebels intended to attact them the Genrals head quarters were at Savannah 10 miles from the battle field, and R says he did not see Gen Grant on the field the first day, and he was there all the time. he was wounded in the early part of the day. so were nearly all of them the attact was so unexpected there was a great many more killed than need be if every one had done his duty. R sayes he hopes Gen Grant will be hung Some of this is unfounded, and echoes the outrage first voiced in an article published by the correspondent Whitelaw Reid of the Cincinnati Gazette. In fact, Grant was culpable precisely because he did not believe an attack possible, and so took inadequate defensive precautions. But the 15th Illinois' casualties did not occur because the men were taken by surprise; moreover, Grant was on the field by around 8:30 AM on 6 April (and even had personal interaction with remnants of the 15th Illinois later in the day, seeking to direct them back into line). And he did, after all, win the battle, acting capably enough once the attack occurred. Ironically, Grant was himself a resident of Jo Daviess County just prior to the war, when working as a clerk in a family-owned leather goods store at Galena. As it happened, both Rufus and Henry Tucker survived the war. Mary Crowell's husband, Lucius, enlisted in the 96th Illinois Infantry later in 1862, and died at Chattanooga on 3 November 1863.