Day one at the Battle of Shiloh: A Yankee Nightmare

By Bob Ford Special to

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The Battle of Shiloh/Pittsburg Landing was the first massive clash of the Civil War. On April 6 and 7, 1862, two armies fought on the banks of the Tennessee River in a bloodbath that saw as many casualties as the Battle of Waterloo. What no one knew at the time was that the American Civil War had 20 more Waterloos to go.

General Ulysses S. Grant and his 50,000 man army of Tennessee were on a roll. In February of 1862, Grant’s army captured Ft. Henry on the Cumberland River and a week later Ft. Donelson on the Tennessee, taking 12,000 prisoners. These two strategic forts were the first important victories by Grant in the West, with the capture of Ft. Donelson, the Eastern newspapers dubbed the general, “unconditional surrender” Grant.

After those losses, the Rebels were reeling and needed to devise a bold plan to halt Grant’s march south. Confederate Generals Albert Sidney Johnston and P. T. G. Beauregard had a brave idea.

Rivers and railroads were key to controlling an army’s ability to maneuver and supply itself.

Now that Grant had conquered the South’s northern rivers in Kentucky and Tennessee, it was time to move on the rail hubs. Corinth, Mississippi has four square feet of strategically important real estate that thousands of men would lose their lives fighting to control. It’s where the Mobile and Ohio intersects the Memphis and Charleston Railroad. These routes were vital for the Confederacy to be able to continue the fight and defend themselves.

Johnston received intelligence that Grant’s army had moved down the Tennessee, utilizing dozens of river boats in a flotilla and set-up camp at Pittsburg Landing only 20 miles north of Corinth. Rebels now had assembled more than 44,000 of their own green troops to defend the rail junction.

The plan was simple: “force march to Pittsburg Landing, surprise Grant and attack his Army before General Don Carlos Buell’s Army of the Ohio could join up,” says Woody Harrell, superintendent emeritus of the Shiloh National Battlefield.

Remember as numbers are mentioned, multiply the death toll by 10 to understand the impact on the United States now, as the population then was 30 million compared to 300 million plus today.

Forty four thousand Rebels left Corinth in heavy rain on April 3. They were enthused, scared, poorly trained, without uniforms and mostly carrying their own weapons. Nearly all had never experienced battle, which meant the commanders would have to lead from the front.

Once in position on the morning of April 6, a stray Yankee unit consisting of Missouri regulars — rousted early without superior’s orders by St Joseph’s own Colonel Everett Peabody — patrolled the southern forests bordering the Union camp because Peabody “sensed” something wrong. They ran into the vanguard of the Rebel column and exchanged fire. In reporting the contact, Peabody was reprimanded by his commander General Prentiss for acting without orders, but in a couple hours he would realize the Colonel may have saved the Army from complete destruction. A few Yankee regiments who believed Peabody had just enough warning to act, knowing the enemy was on their doorstep getting ready to release hell.

At 4:55 a.m. the Confederates came out of the woods unleashing three corps simultaneously, about 15,000 men, attacking a mainly unaware and disbelieving Yankee Army.

“The approaching Confederate battle line must have looked magnificent, flags flying, officers leading on horseback, swords drawn, dawn breaking, cannons firing with sergeants barking out orders … quite a terrifying sight if it was coming at you,” smiled Woody.

Once General Sherman heard the fighting, he didn’t think it was a serious attack by a “substantial group.”

Riding to the action with his staff, they were fired upon by skirmishers, wounding the general. The exchange also killed an aide next to him when he was shot in the head … Sherman now believed.

As the day progressed, it couldn’t have gone better for the Rebels. Every time the Yankees tried to set up a line of defense it was overrun by the Rebs. Disaster for the Army of the Tennessee was at hand until Sherman ordered General Benjamin Prentiss and his regiment to hold his position, “no matter what!”

He did, that defensive stance in a stand of pines became known as the Hornet’s Nest because of the constant buzzing of bullets through the air. After eight unsuccessful rebel assaults and hours of fierce fighting in a blue haze, General Prentiss, who survived and is buried in Bethany, Missouri, with his 2,200 men that were left, surrendered. They had bought Grant precious time to set up their final defensive line a few hundred yards from the Tennessee River.

Outside the Hornets Nest leading his Southern comrades on horseback, Albert Sydney Johnston was struck by shrapnel just above his boot in the back of his knee, hitting the femoral artery. Years earlier in a duel that he won, Johnston was shot in the hip that numbed his lower leg, the same leg that was now hemorrhaging. He bled to death, right there. In the heat of battle, Johnston nor his aides knew he was wounded until it was too late.

I have been to the Hornets Nest and the shallow ravine where Johnston died … it’s humbling.

Beauregard, now in command, was so certain of victory the next day, he allowed Johnston’s staff to accompany the general’s body that evening back to Corinth. Beauregard’s famous dispatch to the Confederate Capital in Richmond reflected his confidence, “tomorrow we will be watering our horses in the Tennessee!”

At the end of day one, many Confederates were in overrun Yankee tents eating their food and getting some rest for the “mopping up” attack tomorrow.

As darkness descended the final Union line held next to the river, with gun boat support. Heads would roll however, Sherman with his arrogance didn’t set up any defenses, very few pickets were deployed.

“This Army is built to attack, not defend,” he stated. Grant initially was nine miles away in his palatial plantation headquarters … drinking?

Then there’s General Lew Wallace leading his 3rd division in the wrong direction after receiving handed down verbal orders. Wallace will defend his action at Shiloh the rest of his life. He would prove to be a better writer (what epic novel did he author?) than a General. But the biggest problem was the Army of the Tennessee being caught flat footed, unsuspecting, it was embarrassing. Overall Western Commander, Union General Henry Halleck and the eastern press roasted the ill-prepared Union brass at Shiloh.

It had been an exhausting devastating day on both sides, at the time the bloodiest day in American history, with all surviving combatants thinking of tomorrow and what it would bring.

The South lost their senior General but had the upper hand. This was a battle that could determine the fate of the West. The Union Army of the Tennessee was holding on by a thread and praying … where was the Army of the Ohio?