two o'clock
Under cover of the darkness on the morning of the fifteenth , the men were marched from their trenches and massed on the Federal right . But a handful were left to guard the entrenchments on the Confederate right . At the first streak of dawn , the concentrated lines of the Confederates were hurled on the division of McClernand . Before two o'clock Grant 's right wing had been crushed into a shapeless mass with the loss of his artillery . The way was open to Nashville and the discordant commanding generals of the Confederacy paused . Buckner ordered up his artillery and reserves to pursue the enemy or hold his newly-won position . Pillow flatly refused to allow a single gun to be withdrawn from the entrenchments and sent peremptory orders to his victorious subordinate to return to the trenches on the right .