Battle of Shiloh
The Battle of Shiloh, also known as the Battle of Pittsburg Landing, was a major battle in the American Civil War fought on April 6–7, 1862. The fighting took place in southwestern Tennessee, which was part of the war's Western Theater. The battlefield is located between a small, undistinguished church named Shiloh and Pittsburg Landing on the Tennessee River. Two Union armies combined to defeat the Confederate Army of Mississippi. Major General Ulysses S. Grant was the Union commander, while General Albert Sidney Johnston was the Confederate commander until his battlefield death, when he was replaced by his second-in-command, General P. G. T. Beauregard.
The Confederate army hoped to defeat Grant's Army of the Tennessee before it could be reinforced and resupplied. Although it made considerable gains with a surprise attack during the first day of the battle, Johnston was mortally wounded and Grant's army was not eliminated. Overnight, Grant's Army of the Tennessee was reinforced by one of its divisions stationed farther north, and was also joined by portions of the Army of the Ohio, under the command of Major General Don Carlos Buell. The Union forces conducted an unexpected counterattack in the morning, which reversed the Confederate gains of the previous day. The exhausted Confederate army withdrew further south, and a modest Union pursuit started and ended on the next day.
Though victorious, the Union army had more casualties than the Confederates,[1] and Grant was heavily criticized. Decisions made on the battlefield by leadership on both sides were questioned, often by those who were not present for the fighting. The battle was the costliest engagement of the Civil War up to that point, and its nearly 24,000 casualties made it one of the bloodiest battles in the entire war.[2]
Fallen Timbers, April 8[edit]
At 10:00 am on April 8, Union forces commanded by Sherman and Wood began a pursuit of the Confederate forces.[235] Breckinridge's covering force included about 350 cavalrymen commanded by Colonel Forrest. This group was a mixture of Forrest's men, John Hunt Morgan's Kentucky Cavalry, Texas Rangers, and the 1st Mississippi Cavalry (Adams' Cavalry). They were armed with revolvers and shotguns, and were instructed to fire only when they were within 20 steps of the enemy. On the left, two brigades from Wood's Union division skirmished with Wirt Adams' Cavalry Regiment and then returned to camp. On the right, a group led by Forrest attacked Sherman's men as they were clearing fallen timber near a small creek, causing some of them to run for their lives. Unofficial Union casualties were 15 killed, 25 wounded, and 53 taken prisoner. Among the few Confederate wounded was Forrest, who escaped after being shot at close range. Sherman ended the pursuit, and Breckinridge continued south.[236]
Aftermath[edit]
Casualties[edit]
Multiple sources list Union casualties as 13,047, with 1,754 killed, 8,408 wounded, and 2,885 missing or captured.[237][28] Grant's army had 10,944 casualties, while Buell's had 2,103.[27] Without counting those captured or missing, the brigades commanded by Sweeny, Veatch, and Colonel Nelson G. Williams all had over 600 killed or wounded.[238] The report in the Official Records lists two brigade commanders as killed or mortally wounded, five wounded (including Sweeny), and one captured.[239][Note 24] One historian believes that the high number of officer losses caused casualty figures to be understated, and that they really total closer to 14,500.[241]
Confederate casualties totaled to 10,699, with 1,728 killed, 8,012 wounded, and 959 missing or captured.[27] Additional sources agree with those figures.[242][28] The Confederate totals do not include reporting for cavalry or the 47th Tennessee Infantry Regiment that arrived for the second day of the battle.[27] Similar to the understatement for Union casualties, one historian believes Confederate casualties were probably closer to 12,000.[241] Using the commonly quoted statistics, Cleburne's brigade had 790 wounded and 188 killed, both numbers higher than those for any brigade in any of the armies at the battle.[243] In addition to the wounding of Johnston (mortal) and Hardee (slight), Beauregard's report mentions six casualties for major generals and brigadier generals—one killed, three severely wounded, one slightly wounded, and one injured when his horse was shot.[244] Another Confederate soldier killed was Samuel B. Todd, brother of President Abraham Lincoln's wife, Mary Todd Lincoln.[245]
At the time, the battle was the largest fought in America.[246] The high number of casualties helped convince many Union leaders that the war was not going to end quickly in the west.[247] About 20,000 men were killed or wounded at Shiloh, while earlier major battles at Manassas (a.k.a. Bull Run), Wilson's Creek, Fort Donelson, and Pea Ridge combined to only 12,000.[247] Shiloh's total casualties of 23,746 (which may be understated) puts it in the top ten (6th or 7th) in the American Civil War.[248][Note 25]