Bell soon became lieutenant colonel of the 12th Tennessee Infantry Regiment and commanded it at the Battle of Belmont because Colonel Robert Milton Russell was in command of a brigade.[1][4] With Russell again in command of a brigade, Bell led the regiment the Battle of Shiloh, where he was wounded in the leg by the fall of his horse, one of two shot from under him during the battle, and also suffered a serious bullet wound.[2][4][5][6]