April 6, 2017 - Shiloh National Military Park

The next stop was the Shiloh National Military Park in southwestern Tennessee, on the banks of the Tennessee River, where on April 6–7, 1862 the Union and Confederate armies slugged it out in the bloodiest engagement of the Civil War up to that point.

The Confederate Army of the Mississippi, under General Albert Sydney Johnson, surprised and hit Major Genera U.S. Grant's army at Shiloh, driving it all the way back to a small defensive perimeter around Pittsburg Landing on the river. Although hurt, Grant's army hung on that first day, and that night, received reinforcements. The next day Grant took the offensive and drove the Confederates back to their starting positions.

Both sides suffered heavy losses in the two day battle. Bloody Shiloh was a shock to both sides. Says Jeff Shaara: "A combined total of nearly twenty-four thousand men are killed, wounded, or missing in a battle in which nothing of significance is gained by the victor. The war does not end, no great cities are captured, no treasured landmarks change hands. For two days, two armies stand face-to-face and massacre each other across a stretch of rural Tennessee countryside. Shiloh is the first big of graphic evidence that the cost of this war will in fact be much higher and much more horrible than anyone could have previously imagined."

We toured the small but interesting Visitor Center -- which is very close to Pittsburg Landing. They show a short movie about the battle which is excellent.

After his victory at Fort Henry and Fort Donelson in February 1961 -- the first Union victory of the war -- U.S. Grant moves his army Army of the Tennessee down the Tennessee River to Pittsburg Landing. After taking Nashville in Februrary, Buell's Army of the Ohio moves toward Pittsburg Landing as well.

Confederate western forces, using the railroads, consolidated at Corinth, Missisippi, under the command of A.S. Johnston. From Corinth, Johnston launched his surprise attack at Shiloh in early April.

Map downloaded from Wikipedia.

Early Sunday morning on April 6, five of Grant's six divisions were camped between the Shiloh Church area and the Tennessee River. The Shiloh camps did not form a defensive line, and no entrenchments were made because nobody expected a fight at that location. Only a few pickets were in place.

The Confederate Army had been amassing at Corinth, but Grant believed this was in order to defend the city. In reality, they gathered to mount an attack on Grant’s army before it could be reinforced by General Don Carlos Buell’s Army of the Ohio. Confederate General Sidney Johnston learned on April 2nd that Buell was just a few days away from arriving at Pittsburg Landing. The attack was supposed to happen on the 4th, but heavy rains made the roads muddy and generally impassible. Finally, on April 5th, Johnston’s army was within striking distance of the Union soldiers at Shiloh Church.

Confederate and Union troops had run into each other and fought small skirmishes during the two prior days. Confederate generals Pierre Beauregard and Braxton Bragg were sure that the element of surprise had been lost and wanted to return to Corinth, but Johnston thought otherwise and ordered the attack to begin on the morning of April 6th.

At the other side of that field straight ahead is where the battle began, when Confederate troops suddenly emerged from the woods around 5:30 am.

The battlefield is pretty much the same as it was back in 1862: nothing but forest then and nothing but forest now. The dense woods made coordination between units difficult if not impossible.

The Shiloh church -- replica of the original church on the left -- where heavy fighting took place.

Built in the early 1850s, the church survived the battle and even served as a hospital directly after it, but due to damage it fell down a few weeks later. Today a modern church (1952) stands in its place, and a replica has been erected next to it. The replica was completed in 2001 and is based on historical records.

General William Sherman’s troops, as well as Sherman’s headquarters, occupied the Shiloh Church and the surrounding area, a position that placed his men at the right of the most forward Union troops.

The Shiloh Church at the park is a nearly exact representation of the original, constructed using 150-year-old timber.[

Churches weren't quite as fancy back in the day as they are now.

This is the spot where in the early afternoon of the first day the Confederate commander General Albert Sidney Johnston was shot in the leg. Johnston quickly bled to death from a torn artery in his right leg. He died at 2:30 PM. The chances of Confederate victory probably died with him for his successor did not have Johnston's aggressiveness and determination to finish the Union forces off. Johnston was the highest-ranking soldier killed in combat in the American Civil War.

Here, Don simulates Johnston being shot in the leg.

The Peach Orchard, where lined up across the Hamburg-Savannah Road, the Union soldiers were in a very good defensive position. Fighting in the area went on from 10 AM until around 3 PM, with ground being taken by Johnston’s men and then given back when confronted with heavy Union artillery fire. Eventually the Confederates were able to advance to the Peach Orchard and drive the Union troops back towards Pittsburg Landing, not away from it as Johnston had hoped.

The "Bloody Pond" located between the Peach Orchard and Wicker Field. and the scene of heavy fighting on both days of the battle. This pond was used by Union and Confederate troops as a source of drinking water and a place to wash wounds. According to witnesses, the water turned red from all of the blood.

The remains of the largest Indian mound complex on the Tennessee River are located here.

An old Indian mound.

Looking south down the Tennessee River. The Union's naval control of the river was a huge advantage.

Naval forces were used to bring in reinforcement and supplies, as well as provide naval gunfire support.

The Confederate forces just did not have the strength to smash the Union defensive perimeter around Pittsburg landing.

Looking down at Pittsburg Landing.

In the distance is Shiloh National Cemetery. The cemetery at Shiloh (originally called the Pittsburg Landing National Cemetery) opened in 1866 for the purpose of being the final resting place for those who died at Shiloh, as well as those who were killed anywhere along the Tennessee River. Shiloh National Cemetery was closed in 1984 and now holds around 3,900 graves. Soldiers up through the Vietnam War are buried here.

With a few exceptions, Confederate troops were not allowed to be buried in the National Cemeteries. Many Confederates were buried in town cemeteries by the locals who lived by the battlefield, especially if the battle ended in Confederate victory. In the case of Union victories, Confederate dead not spoken for by family or friends ended up in mass graves, for the task of burying the dead fell upon the victor.

I would overfly the Shiloh battlefield on one of my long cross-countries in June 2019: Link.

Here is one of the five known mass Confederate graves at Shiloh. Another half dozen or so mass graves are reported to exist but have never been found.

The original Confederate plan was to push Grant's army away from Pittsburg Landing, and pin it against the northern creeks where it could not move quickly or get resupplied. Instead, Grant had been forced back to a defensible position at Pittsburg Landing where he could be reinforced and resupplied.

That night, Grant was reinforced with a portion of the Army of the Ohio, under the command of Major General Don Carlos Buell, 18,000 men available for the battle.

Earlier in the day, Colonel James B. McPherson, Grant's chief engineer, asked Grant if preparations should be started for a retreat. Grant's response was: "Retreat? No! I propose to attack at daylight and whip them."

Sherman found Grant resting under a tree around midnight, and said: "Well, Grant, we've had the devil's own day, haven't we?" Grant replied: "Yes. Lick'em tomorrow, though."

While Grant’s Last Line is the first stop on the tour of Shiloh National Military Park, it’s actually where Grant’s army formed a defensive line towards the end of the first day’s fighting on April 6, 1862, in a last ditch effort to halt the seemingly unstoppable Confederate Army. The line, which consisted of around 80 cannon and 20,000 infantrymen, was near Pittsburg Landing (spelled correctly, not as the city) where the Union army had originally landed. Most Union soldiers manning the line felt the end was near, and the retreating, bloodied comrades who were fleeing from the front lines of fighting back towards them only furthered their sense of dread. However, Union troops held the position until dark, at which time Confederate General Pierre Beauregard called off the attack, confident that Grant would be defeated the next day. Later that night Union General Don Carlos Buell’s reinforcements arrived, as did the men of General Lew Wallace who were camped six miles north at Crumps Landing. The Union Army now had nearly 50,000 men, most of them fresh, to begin the fighting on Sunday, April 7th. In contrast, the Confederates had started the day with 44,000 troops, were down to about 20,000, and had received only 600 inexperienced reinforcements.

The Confederate Memorial. The idea for the Confederate Monument at Shiloh National Military Park was born in 1905, but it took twelve more years before the monument was finally dedicated on May 17, 1917. Money had to be raised, and it took two design contests to finally come up with a monument that the United Daughters of the Confederacy approved. Frederick C. Hibbard from Chicago was the contest winner.

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