Shiloh Church / Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee
April 6-7, 1862
In February 1862, Brig. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant captured Fort Donelson in northwest Tennessee [see map]. The Confederates lost 15,000 men (including 12,000 who laid down their arms to "Unconditional Surrender Grant"), compared to just 2,300 Union casualties. This opened the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers to the Federals and forced Confederate General Albert Sidney Johnston, commander in the Army of the Mississippi, to withdraw and give up Kentucky and much of Tennessee. As Grant moved South, Johnson chose Corinth, Mississippi, a major transportation center, as the staging area for an offensive against the Federal army. Grant received orders to wait at Pittsburg Landing, on the western bank of the Tennessee River just above the Mississippi state line, for Maj. Gen. Don Carlos Buell’s slow-moving Army of the Ohio. Grant set about drilling his men, many of which were raw recruits (he was later criticized for failing to fortify his position). Johnston attacked on the morning of April 6, catching Grant's army by surprise and breaking W. T. Sherman's line at Shiloh Church (see map 1). Late in the afternoon, as his army was being driven back toward the river, Grant ordered Gen. Benjamin Prentiss to hold his position at a sunken road known as the “Hornets Nest.” Repeated Rebel attacks failed to carry the Hornets Nest, but massed artillery helped to turn the tide as Confederates surrounded Prentiss and captured, killed, or wounded most of his men (Prentiss surrendered with 2,200 men). Johnston had been mortally wounded earlier that day and his second in command, P.G.T. Beauregard, took over. Grant established another line covering Pittsburg Landing, anchored with artillery and augmented by Buell’s men who finally began to arrive and take up positions. Fighting continued until after dark and the Federals held. By the next morning, the combined Federal forces numbered about 40,000, outnumbering Beauregard’s army of less than 30,000. Unaware of the arrival of Buell’s army, Beauregard launched a counterattack in response to an advance by a division of Buell’s army (see map 2). Initially pushed back, Buell's men stiffened and launched a counteroffensive. Beauregard stopped the Union advance and finally withdrew back toward Corinth. On the 8th, Grant sent Sherman with two brigades, and Brig. Gen. Thomas J. Wood with his division, in pursuit of Beauregard. They ran into the rearguard commanded by Col. Nathan Bedford Forrest at Fallen Timbers. Forrest’s aggressive tactics convinced the weary Union troops to return to Pittsburg Landing. Both sides suffered heavy casualties at Shiloh (13,000 Federals and 10,700 Confederates). With a combined total of 65,000 Union troops (against 45,000 Confederates), Grant had won an important victory. Still, Grant was criticized for getting caught off guard and then letting Beauregard escape. He was temporarily relieved by Maj. Gen. Henry Halleck, who took personal command of the Union march toward Corinth.
© 2004 David C. Hanson, Virginia Western Community College
