THE BATTLE OF SHILOH 

1862

GRANT                                        JOHNSTON

Following the capture of Fort's Henry and Donelson along the Tennessee River, General Albert Sidney Johnston was forced to withdraw his Confederate army south west leaving Union General Ulysses S. Grant free to advance towards the heart of the Confederacy.

General Grant moved his army south to Pittsburg landing on the western shore of the Tennessee River. He was then directed by Major General Halleck to await the arrival of General Buell’s army of the Ohio marching on his position in support.  

Confederate General Johnston was resolved to attack Grant before he could be joined by Buell’s force. On April 3rd, the Confederate army of Mississippi numbering 45,000 men marched out of Corinth, north east towards General Grant’s camp.    

General Grant had taken few precautions to secure his camp against attack. No field fortifications were built, no cavalry screens deployed and the infantry pickets were to sparsley positioned to give sufficient notice of a Confederate attack.  

On April 5th General Grant fell from his horse and was injured and spent the night recuperating ten miles from his camp in Savannah. That same evening the Confederate army had completed its march and now lay within three miles of the unsuspecting federal encampment. 

At first light on April 6th, Johnston ordered his two center Infantry corps under Major Generals Hardee and Bragge supported by Brigadier General Breckinridge on the right and Major General Polk on the left to move forward in an all out attack on the Union positions. 

The Federal troops awoke to hear the screams of the Confederate rebel yell and the roar of cannons and gunfire as Hardee and Polk fell on General William Tecumseh Sherman's 5th division. The surprise of the Union troops was complete with many soldiers just cooking breakfast or still asleep.

Sherman’s troops were driven back with ease while In the center of the the 2nd and 6th  divisions under Brigadier General's Wallace and Prentiss attempted to form defensive positions against increasingly frenzied Confederate attacks in what was later to become known as the Hornet’s Nest. 

General Grant arrived on the battlefield at around 8am to find his army being pushed back everywhere but at the Hornet’s Nest. Grant then ordered his army to fall back and establish new Union lines along the road leading from Pittsburg landing to the Hamburg Savannah turnpike while he rode through the Federal positions getting a feel for the situation from his commanders while encouraging the troops.

By mid afternoon the Union army had fallen back to there new line, leaving Prentiss and Wallace's divisions surrounded within the Hornet’s Nest. General Johnston now ordered sixty Confederate cannons brought up to blast the trapped Federals into surrender. 

After a three hour murderous barrage General Wallace ordered what was left of his division to fight there way out of the Hornet's Nest but was virtually destroyed with himself being fatally wounded.  

At around 6pm General Prentiss could do no more and surrendered what was left of his shattered division amounting to some 4,000 wounded troops. The Federal stand in the Hornet’s Nest held off the Confederate attack for sufficient time to enable Grant to hold the thin Union line long enough for darkness to bring an end to the fighting.

The day long battle for the Hornets Nest was now over and casualties were high on both sides, including General Johnston himself who while leading an assault on the Federal positions was shot in the leg with the round severing his main artery. Johnston bled to death within half hour, leaving command of the Confederate army to General Beauregard.

As night was falling Beauregard called a halt to the Confederate attacks. That night General Beauregard wrote a dispatch to Confederate President, Jefferson Davis in Richmond claiming victory and a major defeat over the Union army, “Victory is ours” he wrote.

BEAUREGARD

During the fighting on April 6th General Grant had been sending urgent requests to Major General Don Carlos Buell's 18,000 strong Army of the Ohio to march with all hast in support of his army.  

Buell’s Army arrived at the river crossing around midnight and were brought over the Tennessee River to Pittsburg Landing by Federal gun boats and were in line with Grant's army by the morning of the 7th. 

With a force of some 66,000 men, Grant ordered a general advance against the enemy positions. Unknown to Grant the Confederate army was still in a state of confusion after the fighting the day before and most units had not been effectively re supplied with ammunition.   

Now outnumbered and outgunned the suprised Confederates were driven back all along the line by the unexpected Federal assault. With his troops exhausted and running out of ammunition, Beauregard was forced to concede the field and ordered a retreat back to Corinth.

Union casualties at the Battle of Shiloh were 2,000 dead, 8,400 wounded and 3,000 captured. Confederate losses numbered 1,700 dead, 8,000 wounded and 1,000 missing or captured.

The battle was considered a Federal victory, however General Grant was subjected to considerable criticism for allowing his army to be surprised on the first day of the battle.  President Lincoln was subjected to pressure from the opposition as well as his general staff to sack Grant, which Lincoln resisted firmly stating “I cannot lose this general, he stands and fights.”

Nevertheless, General Halleck took command of the joint Federal armies, relegating Grant to second in command for the advance on Corinth.