What was the battle of Shiloh?
Why is Shiloh so important?

The battle of Shiloh or Pittsburg Landing is a critical battle in the Western Theater of the American Civil War.

April, 1862. Ulysses S. Grant advances to Savannah, Tennessee. The Army of the Tennessee unloads up the Tennessee River at Pittsburg Landing, near a Methodist church called Shiloh. Don Carlos Buell's Army of the Ohio is approaching to rendezvous with Grant.

Meanwhile, Albert Sidney Johnston and Pierre Beauregard are rejoining the Confederate armies of the west at Corinth, Mississippi. Johnston plans to hit Grant before Buell meets with him.

The Confederate advance is slowed by April rains. But on April 6, 1862, the Confederates are aligned just south of the Union lines near Shiloh church. Hardee, Bragg, Polk, and Breckinridge strike.

Sherman and Prentiss are at the front of the Union lines. They are driven back in the morning to the Hamburg-Purdy Road. The Confederates take Sherman and Prentiss' camps.

But Hurlbut, WHL Wallace, and McClernand move up to support Sherman and Prentiss. Grant arrives on the field. Sherman and McClernand are pushed back toward the Pittsburg Landing, but WHL Wallace, Prentiss, and Hurlbut hold the Sunken Road, which becomes known as the "Hornet's Nest."

Bragg and Breckinridge strike the Hornet's Nest. Hurlbut is thrown out of the Peach Orchard, but Albert Sidney Johnston is killed. But the rebels train cannon on the road. Then WHL Wallace is wounded. Hurlbut and WHL Wallace pull out. Prentiss remains, and he holds the Hornet's Nest until he is surrounded. 2,200 Union soldiers are trapped at the Sunken Road and become captured.

Night falls. Just about 120 miles from the Shiloh battlefield, the ironclads Carondelet and Pittsburg have passed through the defenses at Island Number (No.) 10 on the Mississippi River.

Buell arrives in the night at Savannah. His men steam down to the Union front near Pittsburg Landing. The next morning, Grant and Buell plan a counterattack. The timberclads, the Tyler and the Lexington, arrive on the Tennessee River and hold back a Confederate drive by Chalmers and Jackson near the landing. Lew Wallace arrives from Crump's Landing, and reforms the Union right wing.

On the morning of April 7, Buell and Grant hit back. The Confederates are pushed back down the battlefield. Fighting restarts between Buell's divisions under Crittenden and Nelson near the Sunken Road. Chalmers attacks. But the Union line drives them back.

McClernand and McCook come down the center, retaking McClernand's old camps. Sherman is now near his Shiloh camps.

Beauregard knows he cannot hold. Breckinridge is put in line to form a cover. Hardee, Polk, and Bragg pull back down the road to Corinth. The Battle of Shiloh is over.

Both sides lose over 10,000 men in the worst battle in North America up to that point. The next day, General Pope and the ironclads take Island No. 10, and the Union advance in the west progresses.

This film was made by Jeffrey Meyer, historian and research librarian, Iowa.
Images from the Library of Congress.
Satellite images from Google Maps

This is a visual map presentation of the battle of Shiloh.