What Happened; A Summary of The Battle of Shiloh
Both the Union and the Confederates had their minds focused on their own goals before they collided. The Union was planning on taking Corinth, a very important rail center, to take control of the region. Meanwhile the Rebels had been traveling up the Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers, eyes set on Kentucky.
It was on April 6th of 1862 that the Union had completed their journey through Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois to finally find theirselves facing the Southerners poised for battle in Tennessee. It was there they attacked the Confederates who had been formerly traveling up the Tennessee River. The South was lead by Albert Sidney Johnston. The North was under the control of future President Ulysses S. Grant, accompanied by General Don Carlos Buel and his additional 20,000 troops. They each had a game plan, it was a battle of both brains and brute as the two forces clashed with eachother. The Southerners attempted to push back the Union by driving them futher and further away from their camps. It was then that the Northerners proposed their strategy of forming a battle line at sunken in road called "The Hornet's Nest". Towards the beginning of this bloody battle it seemed like a guaranteed Rebel victory since the Confederates had a larger army the higher ground. That was when Buell's backup started arriving and turning the tables. By then Johnston and his troops had already pushed the Union back up to the Pittsburgh Landing. Once Buell joined Grant their army suddenly became much stronger and larger than the Confederates. It was a long struggle lasting two days of constant bloodshed, but with the Union's reinforcements they were able to push the Rebels back to Corinth and in the end it was announced as a Union Victory. Shiloh was the bloodiest battle in America at that point. There more than 23,000 casualties that occured over the course of only two days, around 13,000 Yankees, and 10,700 Confderates, including their General, Albert Sidney Johnston. This reminds us of the hardship of battle and the pain it ensues. |