Day two at the Battle of Shiloh: A Rebel Nightmare

By Bob Ford Special to

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As day one of the Battle of Shiloh/Pittsburg Landing came to an end, General Grant’s Army of the Tennessee hung onto a precarious defensive position along the Tennessee River.

P. G. T. Beauregard and his Confederate Army of Mississippi had their way on the first day and were planning to “mop up” in the morning by pushing Grant’s Army into the river or swamp.

That night, both sides realized the enormous cost of the day’s fighting. The dead and dying still littered throughout the field as medical teams did their best.

What the Rebels didn’t know was that Union prayers had been answered. Like a movie script where the hero rides in on a white horse, the 15,000-man Army of the Ohio came overland from Nashville arriving during the night to save the day. The addition of General Don Carlos Buell’s army meant the Union got what the Confederates needed, fresh troops. Grant basically received in numbers the equivalent in men he lost the day before.

“Day two at Shiloh was the opposite of what happened on day one.” said Superintendent Emeritus of the Battlefield Woody Harrell.

On April 7, in an attempt to rectify the debacle of day one by Grant, Sherman and Wallace, Grant ordered an attack at dawn.

That night Grant slept under a tree because his opulent plantation headquarters had been taken over by surgeons, treating the wounded, amputating limbs … trying to save lives. In contrast, General Beauregard slept in General Sherman’s abandoned tent close to the small building where the battle got its name, Shiloh Church.

Just like Sherman on day one, Beauregard took no precautions for a Yankee counter-attack. He would regret it and have to, like the Yankee generals, answer for it.

Again as St. Joseph’s Colonel Peabody — who did not survive the battle — felt the day before Confederate Cavalry Colonel Nathan Bedford Forrest “sensed” something was wrong. He ordered some of his men to put on Yankee uniforms, infiltrate enemy lines and see what was happening at Pittsburg Landing.

Sure enough, his men reported the arrival of the new Army with thousands of fresh troops. Forrest reported to his superior General Hardee who told him to find Beauregard … he couldn’t. In his unread report Forrest stated, “if this army does not attack between now and daylight, we will be whipped like hell by 10 o’clock.”

Grant and Buell didn’t like each other, but agreed to work in concert for the dawn assault. Even General Lew Wallace’s 5,000-man 3rd Division — who got lost on day one — joined the now formidable 57,000-man army ready for the assault. The Union line was over a mile long with Wallace on the right flank and Buell’s 3 divisions taking the left.

When the attack came, Beauregard could only muster 20,000 exhausted men to counter. They fought gallantly but soon, outnumbered and drained; they would give up all the territory won the day before. As Union troops advanced over yesterday’s battlefield, the dead and dying were everywhere. Several groups of wounded Yankees and Rebels huddled together through the cold night trying to survive another day and keep each other warm. A Union officer wrote, “the groans and cries were heart wrenching, the gory corpses lay all about us … it was shocking to behold.”

Buell’s men regained the Hornet’s Nest by about noon. Confederates counter attacked but nothing was sustainable. The southern soldier, marching then fighting for two straight days, was spent.

Beauregard hoped to get what Grant received, another army to join the fight. General Earl Van Doren’s Army of the West was out there somewhere but as it turned out, it was closer to Memphis, too far away. In the afternoon Beauregard ordered the inevitable, a general withdrawal of all Rebel troops back to where it started, Corinth Mississippi.

Lore has it that Confederate Cavalry Colonel Nathan Bedford Forrest was commanding the rear guard protecting the withdrawal. He was caught behind lines and rode through a Union picket. Taking fire, he grabbed a wounded Yankee and put him on the back of his horse, using the Yankee as a needed shield to make his escape.

Grant wanted to pursue the retreating Rebels but his troops were exhausted. He asked, not ordered, Buell to give chase … he declined. The opportunity to destroy the Confederate Army of Mississippi was lost due to the arrogance of two Union Generals. The Battle of Shiloh was over but the South lived on to fight another day, both sides had mismanaged opportunities that could have changed the war in the West.

Shiloh woke up America to the massive cost of this conflict. No longer would the Yankees think it was a 90 day rebellion that could be squashed with one decisive battle. The Rebels lost good men they couldn’t replace.

I like what Spencer Tracy said about the battle in his narration of the film, “How the West Was Won.” He sadly stated, “After Shiloh, the South never smiled.”

The shocking two day battle casualty count (killed, wounded, missing) stunned America. For the Union, 13,047 out of 42,000 were impacted and on the Confederate side, 10,694 out of about 40,000.

One of my favorite Confederate Generals, Patrick Cleburne, saw his brigade of 2,750 troops reduced to 58 survivors.

Grant was surprised on day one and would deny it the rest of his life.

Sherman now knew there would be no negotiated peace, “the South would have to be totally defeated.”

General Lew Wallace, who got lost on day one, went on to write his novel … Ben-Hur. There was a disgraced General in that book too if I recall.

Beauregard’s army limped back into Corinth, where slowly the Union Army followed, surrounding the city with 120,000 troops for a one month siege seeking control of those four square feet, the rail junction.

As the Union noose tightened, Beauregard slipped what was left of his army out on rail further south. Grant, now in control of the railroad hub, could concentrate on the South’s next crucial stronghold which controlled the mighty Mississippi … Vicksburg.

In two columns a Civil War battle such as Shiloh can’t be justly covered, as with all articles I hope this stimulates you to want to know more, read, research or better yet go, become involved, it’s about our country.

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