The Battle of Shiloh
...one
of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War
Grant
Born Hiram Ulysses Grant in Ohio but through confusion at West Point he became Ulysses Simpson Grant. Appointed to the military academy, he found it distasteful and hoped that Congress would abolish the institution, freeing him. He excelled only in horsemanship for that he had displayed a capability early in life and graduated in 1843, 2lst out of 39 graduates. His return to civilian life proved unsuccessful. Farming on his father-inlaw's land was a failure, as was the real estate business and attempts to gain engineering and clerk posts in St. Louis. He finally became a clerk in a family leather goods store in Galena, which was run by his two younger brothers.
Beaureguard
The services of "The Hero of Fort Sumter," Pierre G.T. Beauregard, were not utilized to their fullest due to bad blood between the Confederate general and Jefferson Davis. The native Louisianan had graduated second in the 1838 class at West Point. There he had become a great admirer of Napoleon and was nicknamed "The Little Napoleon." As a staff officer with Winfield Scott in Mexico he won two brevets and was wounded at both Churubusco and Chapultepec. In 1861 he served the shortest term ever-January 23-28 as superintendent at West Point. Southern leanings probably resulted in his prompt removal. On February 20, 1861, he resigned his captaincy in the engineers and offered his services to the South.
Sherman
Sherman was born on May 8, 1820, in Lancaster, Ohio, and educated at the U.S. Military Academy. After an undistinguished military career he resigned from the army in 1853 to become a partner in a banking firm in San Francisco. He was president of a military college in Alexandria, La. (now Louisiana State University) from 1859 to the beginning of 1861, when Louisiana seceded from the Union. At the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, he offered his services to the Union army and was put in command of a volunteer infantry regiment, becoming a brigadier general of volunteers after the first Battle of Bull Run. Only five cadets of the class of 1840 graduated ahead of him, and he was appointed to the artillery. He received a brevet for his services in California during the Mexican War but resigned in 1853 as a captain and commissary officer.
Johnston
At the beginning of the Civil War it was almost universally agreed that the finest soldier, North or South, was Albert Sidney Johnston. But his Civil War career was a definite disappointment to the Confederacy. The Kentucky-born Johnston was appointed to West Point from Louisiana and graduated eighth in the class of 1826.Albert
Sidney Johnston
and the Shiloh Campaign
by his son, William Preston Johnston
Map of Shiloh Park Today...click to Enlarge
Topographical Plan of the Battlefield, from the Official Map.
Notes of a Confederate Staff Officer at Shiloh, Thomas Jordan
The
Battle of Shiloh was one of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War
Shiloh
Time Line
Another
View of Shiloh from the CSA, Confederate
Military, Volume 8, Tennessee
During the
winter of 1861-62 Federal forces pushing southward from St. Louis captured
Forts Henry and Donelson on the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers. This
action forced Gen. Johnston to abandon southern Kentucky and much of West
and Middle Tennessee. After withdrawing further south, he established a
new line covering the Memphis and Charleston Railroad, the only
all-weather link between Richmond and Memphis. Realizing that he could not
wait for another Federal advance, Johnston began concentrating forces at
Corinth, Mississippi, where he hoped to take the offensive and destroy
General Grant's Army of the Tennessee before it could be joined by General
Don Carlos Buell's Army of the Ohio.
to right of
the field and Gen. Daniel Ruggles in command at the center. Gen. Ruggles
having witnessed 11 unsuccessful charges ordered a line of 62 pieces to
bombard the Union line. The Confederate troops seeing the bombardment
attacked with new energy and courage. The Union soldiers on the left and
right routed toward the Landing leaving Prentiss and W.H.L. Wallace
isolated in the Hornet's Nest. The Confederates then circled around
Wallace and Prentiss which who was under fire. Wallace seeing this gave
the order to withdraw. To do this they had to pass threw a ravine which
was already under the cross fire of the encircling Rebels. Wallace was
mortally wounded but 2 of his regiments passed through the valley.
Prentiss held out till about 5:30 and then surrendered with 2,200
troops-all that remained of the 2 divisions. The next day Union
troops{20,000 strong}, from Generals Lew Wallace and Buell reinforced
Grant. On the night of April 6, the long-awaited arrival of Don Carlos
Buell's reinforcements arrived. Through the cover of gunboat fire, his
troops came in on steamboats. The gun boats fired on fifteen minute
intervals, allowing Buell's forces to come aground, and robbing the
Confederates of their greatly needed rest. 
