United states army space and missile defense command april 2000 Shiloh

-Writer George Washington Cable

Hardin County, Tennessee

Shiloh means “Place of Peace” in Hebrew
Campaign

Federal Penetration up the Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers in 1862

Union: Major General Ulysses S. Grant and Major General Don Carlos Buell

Confederate: General Albert Sidney Johnston and General P.G.T. Beauregard
Forces Engaged

Union: Army of the Tennessee and Army of the Ohio, 65,085

Confederate: Army of the Mississippi, 44,968
Estimated Casualties

Total: 23, 746

Union: 13,047

Confederate: 10,699
After the fall of Forts Henry and Donelson in the winter of 1862, General Albert Sidney Johnston, commander of the Confederate forces in the West, retreated southward, abandoning Kentucky and most of Tennessee. He selected Corinth, Mississippi, as the staging area for a bold strike against Major General Ulysses S. Grant, hoping to destroy his Army of the Tennessee, before it could be reinforced by the Army of the Ohio, commanded by Major General Don Carlos Buell.
Hoping to capitalize on the Confederate withdrawal, Major General Henry W. Halleck, commander of Union forces in the area, decided to mount an offensive against Johnston at Corinth. He directed Grant to concentrate his troops along the Tennessee River, and wait for reinforcements from Buell. Grant made his base at Shiloh, or Pittsburg Landing, a position in enemy territory with its back to the river. Grant neglected, however, to fortify the encampment. Instead, he spent much of his time drilling his men, many of whom were untested in battle.
Johnston originally intended to attack Grant on April 4, but muddy terrain, green troops, and poor coordination slowed the Confederate advance and postponed the assault for two days. The delay would prove costly. On the morning of April 6, thousands of screaming Confederates poured out of the woods near Shiloh and routed many of the slumbering northern troops. Many dispirited soldiers broke for the rear and fled to the banks of the Tennessee, refusing to fight. Severely battered and facing disaster, other Federal troops rallied and began making fierce, determined stands. By the afternoon, they had established a formidable battle line at a sunken road, named the “Hornets Nest” by Confederates because of the stinging hail of bullets and shell they faced. Repeated frontal assaults failed to take the stronghold. Finally, a massive artillery barrage and flanking attacks turned the tide and the rebels overwhelmed the northerners, capturing, wounding, or killing most of the stalwart defenders.

Earlier in the battle, General Johnston had received a mortal wound while directing a frontline charge against the “Hornets Nest,” and his successor, General P.G.T. Beauregard, suffering from a chronic respiratory illness, took charge. The Confederate assault grew increasingly disorganized and soon faltered. General Grant and his beleaguered Union troops managed to set up another defensive line near Pittsburg Landing, bristling with an array of 53 cannon and bolstered by the fortuitous influx of General Buell’s soldiers. Fighting raged until after dark, but the Federals held.