Tuesday 4 April 2017

Shiloh - Railroads and Rivers (1862)


In the 1860s armies in the field were entirely dependent on the movement of men and material by rail or waterway. Following the loss of Kentucky and Mid Tennessee in February 1862 the Confederacy was obliged to protect the strategically important Mississippi valley and therefore amassed a force of 44,000 men under the command of General Albert Sidney Johnson at the major rail hub of Corinth.

Corinth Railroad Crossing
Corinth retains a 'time stands still' charm although nowadays
Highway 61 and the Natchez Trace have turned the place into something of a backwater. The rail intersection (North / South and East / West) is still the centre of the town though and every few minutes a freight train thunders through.

Freight Train - Corinth
In mid March, 22 miles northeast of Corinth, General Ulysses S. Grant disembarked his 40,000 strong force at Pittsburg Landing on the busy Tennessee River. Expecting the Confederates to hunker down in Corinth, Grant ordered his men to set up camps in the area around Shiloh Church. His instructions were to await reinforcements in the form Don Carlos Buell's Army of the Ohio which was en-route overland from Nashville.

Pittsburg Landing - Then and Now
Johnston took full advantage of Grant's complacency in not fortifying the camps by launching a surprise attack. At dawn on the 6th April 1862 a tide of well armed, highly motivated Confederate troops swept through the Federal lines. Many of the units under Grant's command stubbornly contested the Confederate advance but over a period of six hours the defending troops were gradually pushed back towards the gullies surrounding the landing site. 

Picket Fence & Gun Battery at Shiloh

Both sides were using Napoleonic tactics and regiments fought in line two men deep. Accurate rifle fire and plentiful artillery wreaked havoc on the lines. In particular canister shot from amassed guns blew large gaps in the ranks of infantry. The casualty rate was truly horrific - amounting to 28% of those who fought once the final roll calls were taken at the end of the battle. One of the most poignant spots on the modern day battlefield is the Hornet's Nest where Union forces held on for several hours in the face of determined assaults by Confederate infantry supported by massed artillery (Ruggles' Grand Battery).
The southern face of the Hornet's Nest
Despite the determined assault, Grant showed his mettle by hanging onto the Pittsburg Landing bridgehead. As the Federal Army's line contracted so Grant was able to concentrate his fire more effectively. Suffering extreme fatigue and mounting losses the force of the attack began to diminish. With Buell's Brigades starting to arrive on the evening of 6th April the advantage began to swing to the Union side.

Confederate Battlefield Cemetery - Shiloh
The battlefield is a complex one to interpret so we enlisted the services of accredited guide Gary Millett. Gary did a great job in taking us through the sequence of events, enlivening his narrative with personal observations about some of the units and commanders involved. 

Gary Millett explaining how regiments fought 'in line'
On Day 2 - the 7th April 1862 'the spring decompressed' and the larger Union Force began to push back on the Confederate attackers. The Confederates had been further disadvantaged the previous day by the loss of their commander - General Albert Sidney Johnson. Johnson was mortally wounded whilst directing the final - successful - assault on the Peach Orchard. General P.G.T. Beauregard took command of the Confederate Army but the loss of Johnson - an inspirational figure - affected morale and impacted the strategic direction of the Confederate effort. 

In seeing Robert E. Lee's statue in New Orleans a few hours drive down Highway 61 I couldn't help reflecting on whether Johnson might have been given this honour had he survived Shiloh and gone on the fight further battles - after all Lee did not fight in the Western theatre.
Red Light for Robert E. Lee in New Orleans
On the morning of the 7th April, the Union force aided by 25,000 reinforcements unleashed a counter-offensive. Despite ragged command and control on account of Grant and Buell's failure to communicate with each other effectively, the attacking Brigades pushed the Confederate defenders back through the broken camps which had been the scene of such difficult fighting the previous day. 

Union Artillery at 'Bloody Pond'
After six hours of bitter fighting, Beauregard ordered a retreat to Corinth. The exhausted Union force did not pursue the retreating Confederates - a criticism which has since been made. Corinth was abandoned by Beauregard three weeks later as Halleck's 100,000 strong Union Army began to threaten a decisive assault on the beleaguered town. Nowadays the Battlefield Park at Shiloh is a beautifully preserved site which is home to an abundance of wildlife including several large herds of deer.


Many of the Union dead are interred in a large cemetery at Pittsburg Landing in proximity to the modern day Visitor Centre. As for the Confederate dead, many are buried where they fell - in particular in five mass graves  around the battlefield. As is the case with so many American Civil War battlefields, the ground is marked by numerous memorials and the position of batteries is shown by the careful placement of guns.

Defeated Victory
One of the most impressive memorials was erected in 1917 by 'the United Daughters of the Confederacy'. Designed by Frederick Hibbard it is rich with imagery and meaning. The picture above shows a representation of the Confederate cavalry and endeavours to acknowledge the frustration experienced by horsemen at Shiloh who were unable to deploy effectively on ground covered in thick undergrowth and criss-crossed by deep gullies.