Battle of Shiloh Union Army Order of Battle

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Union Army : Union Order of Battle : Battle of Shiloh
April 6-7, 1862

ARMY OF THE TENNESSEE
Maj. Gen. ULYSSES S. GRANT, Commanding

FIRST DIVISION
Maj. Gen. JOHN A. McCLERNAND

First Brigade
Col. ABRAHAM M. HARE (wounded), 11th Iowa
Col. MARCELLUS M. CROCKER, 13th Iowa
8th Illinois:
Capt. James M. Ashmore (wounded)
Capt. William H. Harvey (killed)
Capt. Robert H. Sturgess
18th Illinois:
Maj. Samuel Eaton (wounded)
Capt. Daniel H. Brush (wounded)
Capt. William J. Dillion (killed)
Capt. Jabez J. Anderson
11th Iowa:
Lieut. Col. William Hall (wounded)
13th Iowa:
Col. Marcellus M. Crocker

Second Brigade
Col. C. CARROLL MARSH, 20th Illinois
11th Illinois:
Lieut. Col. Thomas E. G. Ransom (wounded)
Maj. Garrett Nevins (wounded)
Capt. Lloyd D. Waddell
Maj. Garrett Nevins
20th Illinois:
Lieut. Col. Evan Richards (wounded)
Capt. Orton Frisbie
45th Illinois:
Col. John E. Smith
48th Illinois:
Col. Isham N. Hayniea
Maj. Manning Mayfield

Third Brigade
Col. JULIUS RAITH (mortally wounded), 43d Illinois.
Lieut. Col. ENOS P. WOOD, 17th Illinois
17th Illinois:
Lieut. Col. Enos P. Wood
Maj. Francis M. Smith
29th Illinois:
Lieut. Col. Charles M. Ferrell
43d Illinois:
Lieut. Col. Adolph Endelmann
49th Illinois:
Lieut. Col. Phineas Pease (wounded)

Unattached
Dresser's Battery (D), 2d Illinois Light Artillery, Capt. James P. Timony
McAllister's Battery (D), 1st Illinois Light Artillery, Capt. Edward McAllister (wounded)
Schwartz's Battery (E), 2d Illinois Light Artillery, Lieut. George L. Nispel
Burrows' Battery, 14th Ohio Light Artillery, Capt. Jerome B. Burrows (wounded)
1st Battalion, 4th Illinois Light Cavalry, Lieut. Col. William McCullough
Carmichael's Company Illinois Cavalry, Capt. Eagleton Carmichael
Stewart's Company Illinois Cavalry, Lieut. Ezra King

SECOND DIVISION
Brig. Gen. WILLIAM H. L. WALLACE (mortally wounded)
Col. JAMES M. TUTTLE, 2d Iowa

First Brigade
Col. JAMES M. TUTTLE
2d Iowa:
Lt. Col. James Baker
7th Iowa:
Lt. Col. James C. Parrott
12th Iowa:
Col. Joseph J. Woods (wounded and captured)
Capt. Samuel R. Edgington (captured)
14th Iowa:
Col. Wm. T. Shaw (captured)

Second Brigade
Brig. Gen. JOHN McARTHUR (wounded)
Col. THOMAS MORTON, 81st Ohio
9th Illinois:
Col. August Mersy
12th Illinois:
Lieut. Col. Augustus L. Chetlain
Capt. James R. Hugunin
13th Missouri:
Col. Crafts J. Wright
14th Missouri:
Col. B. S. Compton
81st Ohio:
Col. Thomas Morton

Third Brigade
Col. THOMAS W. SWEENY (wounded), 52D Illinois
Col. SILAS D. BALDWIN, 57th Illinois
8th Iowa:
Col. James L. Geddes (wounded and captured)
7th Illinois:
Maj. Richard Rowett
50th Illinois:
Col. Moses M. Bane (wounded)
52d Illinois:
Maj. Henry Stark
Capt. Edwin A. Bowen
57th Illinois:
Col. Silas D. Baldwin
Capt. Gustav A. Busse
58th Illinois:
Col. Wm. F. Lynch (captured)

Artillery
Willard's Battery (A), 1st Illinois Light Artillery, Lieut. Peter P. Wood
Maj. J. S. Cavender's Battalion Missouri Artillery:
Richardson's Battery (D), 1st Missouri Light Artillery, Capt. Henry Richardson
Welker's Battery (H), 1st Missouri Light Artillery, Capt. Frederick Welker
Stone's Battery (K), 1st Missouri Light Artillery, Capt. George H. Stone

Cavalry
Company A, 2d Illinois Cavalry, Capt. John R. Hotaling
Company B, 2d Illinois Cavalry, Capt. Thomas J. Larison
Company C, 2d United States Cavalry, Lieut. James Powell
Company I, 4th United States Cavalry, Lieut. James Powell

THIRD DIVISION
Maj. Gen. LEW WALLACE

First Brigade
Col. MORGAN L. SMITH, 8th Missouri
11th Indiana:
Col. George F. McGinnis
24th Indiana:
Col. Alvin P. Hovey
8th Missouri:
Lieut. Col. James Peckham

Second Brigade
Col. JOHN M. THAYER, 1st Nebraska
23d Indiana:
Col. William L. Sanderson
1st Nebraska:
Lieut. Col. William D. McCord
58th Ohio:
Col. Valentine Bausenwein
68th Ohio:
(not engaged at Shiloh; remained at Crump's Landing)
Col. Samuel H. Steadman

Third Brigade

Col. CHARLES WHITTLESEY, 20th Ohio
20th Ohio:
Lieut. Col. Manning F. Force
56th Ohio:
(not engaged at Shiloh; remained at Crump's Landing)
Col. Peter Kinney
76th Ohio:
Col. Charles R. Woods
78th Ohio:
Col. Mortimer D. Leggett

Artillery
Thompson's Battery, 9th Indiana Light Artillery, Lieut. George R. Brown
Buel's Battery (I), 1st Missouri Light Artillery, Lieut. Charles H. Thurber

Cavalry
3d Battalion, 11th Illinois Cavalry, Maj. James F. Johnson (not engaged at Shiloh; remained at Crump's Landing)
3d Battalion, 5th Ohio Cavalry, Maj. Charles S. Hayes (not engaged at Shiloh; remained at Crump's Landing)

FOURTH DIVISION
Brig. Gen. STEPHEN A. HURLBUT

First Brigade
Col. NELSON G. WILLIAMS (wounded), 3d Iowa
Col. ISAAC C. PUGH, 41st Illinois
28th Illinois:
Col. Amory K. Johnson
32d Illinois:
Col. John Logan (wounded)
41st Illinois:
Col. Isaac C. Pugh
Lieut. Col. Ansel Tupper (killed)
Maj. John Warner
Capt. John H. Nale
3d Iowa:
Maj. William M. Stone (captured)
Lieut. George W. Crosley

Second Brigade
Col. JAMES C. VEATCH, 25th Indiana
14th Illinois:
Col. Cyrus Hall
15th Illinois:
Lieut. Col. Edward F. W. Ellis (killed)
Capt. Louis D. Kelley
Lieut. Col. William Cam, 14th Illinois
46th Illinois:
Col. John A. Davis (wounded)
Lieut. Col. John J. Jones
25th Indiana:
Lieut. Col. William H. Morgan (wounded)
Maj. John W. Foster

Third Brigade
Brig. Gen. JACOB G. LAUMAN
31st Indiana:
Col. Charles Cruft (wounded)
Lieut. Col. John Osborn
44th Indiana:
Col. Hugh B. Reed
17th Kentucky:
Col. John H. McHenry, jr.
25th Kentucky:
Lieut. Col. Benjamin H. Bristow
Maj. William B. Wall (wounded)
Capt. B. T. Underwood
Col. John H. McHenry, jr., 17th Kentucky

Artillery
Ross's Battery, 2d Michigan Light Artillery, Lieut. Cuthbert W. Laing
Mann's Battery (C), 1st Missouri Light Artillery, Lieut. Edward Brotzmann
Myers's Battery, 13th Ohio Light Artillery, Capt. John B. Myers

Cavalry
1st and 2d Battalions 5th Ohio Cavalry, Col. William H. H. Taylor

FIFTH DIVISION
Brig. Gen. WILLIAM T. SHERMAN (wounded)

First Brigade
Col. JOHN A. McDOWELL (disabled), 6th Iowa
40th Illinois:
Col. Stephan G. Hicks (wounded)
Lieut. Col. James W. Boothe
6th Iowa:
Capt. John Williams (wounded)
Capt. Madison M. Walden
46th Ohio:
Col. Thomas Worthington

Second Brigade
Col. DAVID STUART (wounded), 55th Illinois
Lieut. Col. OSCAR MALMBORG, 55th Illinois
Col. T. KILBY SMITH, 54th Ohio
55th Illinois:
Lieut. Col. Oscar Malmborg
54th Ohio:
Col. T. Kilby Smith
Lieut. Col. James A. Farden
71st Ohio:
Col. Rodney Mason

Third Brigade
Col. JESSE HILDEBRAND, 77th Ohio
53d Ohio:
Col. Jesse J. Appler
Lieut. Col. Robert A. Fulton
57th Ohio:
Lieut. Col. Americus V. Rice
77th Ohio:
Lieut. Col. Willis De Hass
Maj. Benjamin D. Fearing

Fourth Brigade
Col. RALPH P. BUCKLAND, 72d Ohio
48th Ohio:
Col. Peter J. Sullivan (wounded)
Lieut. Col. Job R. Parker
70th Ohio:
Col. Joseph R. Cockerill
72d Ohio:
Lieut. Col. Herman Canfield (killed)
Col. Ralph P. Buckland

Artillery
Maj. EZRA TAYLOR, Chief of Artillery
Taylor's Battery (B), 1st Illinois Light Artillery, Capt. Samuel E. Barrett
Waterhouse's Battery (E), 1st Illinois Light Artillery:
Capt. Allen C. Waterhouse (wounded)
Lieut. Abial R Abbott (wounded)
Lieut. John A. Fitch
Morton Battery, 6th Indiana Light Artillery, Capt. Frederick Behr (killed)

Cavalry
2d and 3d Battalions 4th Illinois Cavalry, Col. T. Lyle Dickey
Thielemann's two companies Illinois Cavalry, Capt. Christian Thielemann

SIXTH DIVISION
Brig. Gen. BENJAMIN M. PRENTISS (captured)

First Brigade
Col. EVERETT PEABODY (killed), 25th Missouri
12th Michigan:
Col. Francis Quinn
21st Missouri:
Col. David Moore (wounded)
Lieut. Col. H. M. Woodyard
25th Missouri:
Lieut. Col. Robert T. Van Horn
16th Wisconsin:
Col. Benjamin Allen (wounded)

Second Brigade
Col. MADISON MILLER (captured), 18th Missouri
61st Illinois:
Col. Jacob Fry
18th Missouri:
Lieut. Col. Isaac V. Pratt (captured)
18th Wisconsin:
Col. James S. Alban (killed)

Not Brigaded
16th Iowa:
(15th and 16th Iowa were on right in an independent command)
Col. Alexander Chambers (wounded)
Lieut. Col. Addison H. Sanders
15th Iowa:
(15th and 16th Iowa were on right in an independent command)
Col. Hugh T. Reid (wounded)
23d Missouri:
(arrived on field about 9o'clock April 6)
Col. Jacob T. Tindall (killed)
Lieut. Col. Quin Morton (captured)

Artillery
Hickenlooper's Battery, 5th Ohio Light Artillery, Capt. Andrew Hickenlooper
Munch's Battery, 1st Minnesota Light Artillery:
Capt. Emil Munch (wounded)
Lieut. William Pfaender

Cavalry
1st and 2d Battalions, 11th Illinois Cavalry, Col. Robert G. Ingersoll

Unassigned Troops
15th Michigan:
(temporarily attached Monday to Fourth Brigade, Army of the Ohio)
Col. John M. Oliver
14th Wisconsin:
(temporarily attached Monday to Fourteenth Brigade, Army of the Ohio)
Col. David E. Wood
Battery H, 1st Illinois Light Artillery, Capt. Axel Silfversparre
Battery I, 1st Illinois Light Artillery, Capt. Edward Bouton
Battery B, 2d Illinois Artillery, siege guns, Capt. Relly Madison
Battery F, 2d Illinois Light Artillery, Capt. John W. Powell (wounded)
8th Battery, Ohio Light Artillery, Capt. Louis Markgraf

ARMY OF THE OHIO
Maj. Gen. DON CARLOS BUELL, Commanding

SECOND DIVISION
Brig, Gen. ALEXANDER McD. McCOOK

Fourth Brigade
Brig. Gen. LOVELL H. ROUSSEAU
6th Indiana:
Col. Thomas T. Crittenden
5th Kentucky:
Col. Harvey M. Buckley
1st Ohio:
Col. Benjamin F. Smith
1st Battalion, 15th United States:
Capt. Peter T. Swain, Maj. John H. King
1st Battalion, 16th United States:
Capt. Edwin F. Townsend, Maj. John H. King
1st Battalion, 19th United States:
Maj. Stephen D. Carpenter, Maj. John H. King
 
Fifth Brigade
Col. EDWARD N. KIRK (wounded), 34th Illinois
34th Illinois:
Maj. Charles N. Levanway (killed)
Capt. Hiram W. Bristol
29th Indiana:
Lieut. Col. David M. Dunn
30th Indiana:
Col. Sion S. Bass (mortally wounded)
Lieut. Col. Joseph B. Dodge
77th Pennsylvania:
Col. Frederick S. Stumbaugh

Sixth Brigade
Col. WILLIAM H. GIBSON, 40th Ohio
32d Indiana:
Col. August Willich
39th Indiana:
Col. Thomas J. Harrison
15th Ohio:
Maj. William Wallace
49th Ohio:
Lieut. Col. Albert M. Blackman
 
Artillery
Terrill's Battery (H), 5th United States Artillery, Capt. William R. Terrill
 
FOURTH DIVISION
Brig. Gen. WILLIAM NELSON
 
Tenth Brigade
Col. JACOB AMMEN, 24th Ohio
36th Indiana:
Col. William Grose
6th Ohio:
Lieut. Col. Nicholas L. Anderson
24th Ohio:
Lieut. Col. Frederick c. Jones
 
Nineteenth Brigade
Col. WILLIAM B. HAZEN, 41st Ohio
9th Indiana:
Col. Gideon C. Moody
6th Kentucky:
Col. Walter C. Whitaker
41st Ohio:
Lieut. Col. George S. Mygatt
 
Twenty-second Brigade
Col. SANDERS D. BRUCE, 20th Kentucky
1st Kentucky:
Col. David A. Enyart
2d Kentucky:
Col. Thomas D. Sedgewick
20th Kentucky:
Lieut. Col. Charles S. Hanson
 
FIFTH DIVISION
Brig. Gen. THOMAS L. CRITTENDEN
 
Eleventh Brigade
Brig. Gen. JEREMIAH T. BOYLE
9th Kentucky:
Col. Benjamin C. Grider.
13th Kentucky:
Col. Edward H. Hobson.
19th Ohio:
Col. Samuel Beatty.
59th Ohio:
Col. James P. Fyffe.
 
Fourteenth Brigade
Col. WILLIAM SOOY SMITH, 13th Ohio
11th Kentucky:
Col. Pierce B. Hawkins
26th Kentucky:
Lieut. Col. Cicero Maxwell
13th Ohio:
Lieut. Col. Joseph G. Hawkins
 
Artillery
Bartlett's Battery (G), 1st Ohio Light Artillery, Capt. Joseph Bartlett
Mendenhall's batteries (H and M), 4th United States Artillery, Capt. John Mendenhall
 
SIXTH DIVISION
Brig. Gen. THOMAS J. WOOD
(This division arrived upon the field about 2 o'clock on Monday. Wagner's brigade reached the front and became engaged, the 57th Indiana losing 4 men wounded.)
 
Twentieth Brigade
Brig. Gen. JAMES A. GARFIELD
13th Michigan:
Col. Michael Shoemaker
64th Ohio:
Col. John Ferguson
65th Ohio:
Col. Charles G. Harker
 
Twenty-first Brigade
Col. GEORGE D. WAGNER, 15th Indiana
15th Indiana:
Lieut. Col. Gustavus A. Wood
40th Indiana:
Col. John W. Blake
57th Indiana:
Col. Cyrus C. Hines
24th Kentucky:
Col. Lewis B. Grigsby

Source: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies

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Recommended Reading: The Battle of Shiloh and the Organizations Engaged (Hardcover). Description: How can an essential "cornerstone of Shiloh historiography" remain unavailable to the general public for so long? That's what I kept thinking as I was reading this reprint of the 1913 edition of David W. Reed's “The Battle of Shiloh and the Organizations Engaged.” Reed, a veteran of the Battle of Shiloh and the first historian of the Shiloh National Military Park, was tabbed to write the official history of the battle, and this book was the result. Reed wrote a short, concise history of the fighting and included quite a bit of other valuable information in the pages that followed. The large and impressive maps that accompanied the original text are here converted into digital format and included in a CD located within a flap at the back of the book. Author and former Shiloh Park Ranger Timothy Smith is responsible for bringing this important reference work back from obscurity. His introduction to the book also places it in the proper historical framework. Continued below…

Reed's history of the campaign and battle covers only seventeen pages and is meant to be a brief history of the subject. The detail is revealed in the rest of the book. And what detail there is! Reed's order of battle for Shiloh goes down to the regimental and battery level. He includes the names of the leaders of each organization where known, including whether or not these men were killed, wounded, captured, or suffered some other fate. In a touch not often seen in modern studies, the author also states the original regiment of brigade commanders. In another nice piece of detail following the order of battle, staff officers for each brigade and higher organization are listed. The book's main point and where it truly shines is in the section entitled "Detailed Movements of Organizations". Reed follows each unit in their movements during the battle. Reading this section along with referring to the computerized maps gives one a solid foundation for future study of Shiloh. Forty-five pages cover the brigades of all three armies present at Shiloh.

 

Wargamers and buffs will love the "Abstract of Field Returns". This section lists Present for Duty, engaged, and casualties for each regiment and battery in an easy to read table format. Grant's entire Army of the Tennessee has Present for Duty strengths. Buell's Army of the Ohio is also counted well. The Confederate Army of the Mississippi is counted less accurately, usually only going down to brigade level and many times relying only on engaged strengths. That said, buy this book if you are looking for a good reference work for help with your order of battle.

 

In what I believe is an unprecedented move in Civil War literature, the University of Tennessee Press made the somewhat unusual decision to include Reed's detailed maps of the campaign and battle in a CD which is included in a plastic sleeve inside the back cover of the book. The cost of reproducing the large maps and including them as foldouts or in a pocket in the book must have been prohibitive, necessitating this interesting use of a CD. The maps were simple to view and came in a PDF format. All you'll need is Adobe Acrobat Reader, a free program, to view these. It will be interesting to see if other publishers follow suit. Maps are an integral part of military history, and this solution is far better than deciding to include poor maps or no maps at all. The Read Me file that came with the CD relays the following information: 

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The maps contained on this CD are scans of the original oversized maps printed in the 1913 edition of D. W. Reed's The Battle of Shiloh and the Organizations Engaged. The original maps, which were in a very large format and folded out of the pages of this edition, are of varying sizes, up to 23 inches by 25 inches. They were originally created in 1901 by the Shiloh National Military Park under the direction of its historian, David W. Reed. They are the most accurate Shiloh battle maps in existence.

 

The maps on the CD are saved as PDF (Portable Document Format) files and can be read on any operating system (Windows, Macintosh, Linux) by utilizing Adobe Acrobat Reader. Visit http://www.adobe.com to download Acrobat Reader if you do not have it installed on your system.

 

Map 1. The Field of Operations from Which the Armies Were Concentrated at Shiloh, March and April 1862

 

Map 2. The Territory between Corinth, Miss., and Pittsburgh Landing, Tenn., Showing Positions and Route of the Confederate Army in Its Advance to Shiloh, April 3, 4, 5, & 6, 1862

 

Map 3. Positions on the First Day, April 6, 1862

 

Map 4. Positions on the Second Day, April 7, 1862

 

Complete captions appear on the maps.

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Timothy Smith has done students of the Civil War an enormous favor by republishing this important early work on Shiloh. Relied on for generations by Park Rangers and other serious students of the battle, The Battle of Shiloh and the Organizations Engaged has been resurrected for a new generation of Civil War readers. This classic reference work is an essential book for those interested in the Battle of Shiloh. Civil War buffs, wargamers, and those interested in tactical minutiae will also find Reed's work to be a very good buy. Highly recommended.

 

Recommended Reading: Shiloh: A Battlefield Guide (This Hallowed Ground: Guides to Civil War), by Mark Grimsley (Author), Steven E. Woodworth (Author). Description: Peabody’s Battle Line, McCuller’s Field, Stuart’s Defense, the Peach Orchard, and Hell’s Hollow—these monuments mark some of the critical moments in the battle of Shiloh but offer the visitor only the most meager sense of what happened on the banks of the Tennessee in April 1862. This battlefield guide breathes life into Civil War history, giving readers a clear picture of the setting at the time of engagement, who was where, and when and how the battle progressed. Continued below…

Designed to lead the user on a one-day tour of one of the most important battlefields of the war, the guide provides precise directions to all the key locations in a manner reflecting how the battle itself unfolded. A wealth of maps, vivid descriptions, and careful but accessible analysis makes plain the sweep of events and the geography of the battlefield, enhancing the experience of Shiloh for the serious student, the casual visitor, and the armchair tourist alike.

About the Authors: Mark Grimsley is a professor of history at Ohio State University. He is the author of And Keep Moving On: The Virginia Campaign, May–June, 1864, and the co-editor of Civilians in the Path of War, both published by the University of Nebraska Press. Steven E. Woodworth is a professor of history at Texas Christian University. He is the author of Chickamauga: A Battlefield Guide and Six Armies in Tennessee: The Chickamauga and Chattanooga Campaigns.

 

Recommended Reading: Guide to the Battle of Shiloh, by Army War College. Description: As Ulysses S. Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman prepared their inexperienced troops for a massive offensive by an equally green Confederate army in April 1862, the outcome of the Civil War was still very much in doubt. For two of the most chaotic and ravaging days of the War, the Union forces counterattacked and fended off the Rebels. Losses were great--more than 20,000 casualties out of 100,000 Union and Confederate troops. Continued below…

But out of the struggle, Grant and Sherman forged their own union that would be a major factor in the Union Army's final victory. For the Confederates, Shiloh was a devastating disappointment. By the time the siege was over, they had lost both the battle and one of their ablest commanders, Albert Sidney Johnston. Eyewitness accounts by battle participants make these guides an invaluable resource for travelers and nontravelers who want a greater understanding of five of the most devastating yet influential years in our nation's history. Explicit directions to points of interest and maps--illustrating the action and showing the detail of troop position, roads, rivers, elevations, and tree lines as they were 130 years ago--help bring the battles to life. In the field, these guides can be used to recreate each battle's setting and proportions, giving the reader a sense of the tension and fear each soldier must have felt as he faced his enemy. This book is part of the U.S. Army War College Guides to Civil War Battles series.

 

Recommended Reading: Shiloh: The Battle That Changed the Civil War (Simon & Schuster). From Publishers Weekly: The bloodbath at Shiloh, Tenn. (April 6-7, 1862), brought an end to any remaining innocence in the Civil War. The combined 23,000 casualties that the two armies inflicted on each other in two days shocked North and South alike. Ulysses S. Grant kept his head and managed, with reinforcements, to win a hard-fought victory. Continued below…

Confederate general Albert Sidney Johnston was wounded and bled to death, leaving P.G.T. Beauregard to disengage and retreat with a dispirited gray-clad army. Daniel (Soldiering in the Army of Tennessee) has crafted a superbly researched volume that will appeal to both the beginning Civil War reader as well as those already familiar with the course of fighting in the wooded terrain bordering the Tennessee River. His impressive research includes the judicious use of contemporary newspapers and extensive collections of unpublished letters and diaries. He offers a lengthy discussion of the overall strategic situation that preceded the battle, a survey of the generals and their armies and, within the notes, sharp analyses of the many controversies that Shiloh has spawned, including assessments of previous scholarship on the battle. This first new book on Shiloh in a generation concludes with a cogent chapter on the consequences of those two fatal days of conflict.

 

Recommended Reading: Shiloh--In Hell before Night. Description: James McDonough has written a good, readable and concise history of a battle that the author characterizes as one of the most important of the Civil War, and writes an interesting history of this decisive 1862 confrontation in the West. He blends first person and newspaper accounts to give the book a good balance between the general's view and the soldier's view of the battle. Continued below…

Particularly enlightening is his description of Confederate General Albert Sidney Johnston, the commander who was killed on the first day of the battle. McDonough makes a pretty convincing argument that Johnston fell far short of the image that many give him in contemporary and historical writings. He is usually portrayed as an experienced and decisive commander of men. This book shows that Johnston was a man of modest war and command experience, and that he rose to prominence shortly before the Civil War. His actions (or inaction) prior to the meeting at Shiloh -- offering to let his subordinate Beauregard take command for example -- reveal a man who had difficulty managing the responsibility fostered on him by his command. The author does a good job of presenting several other historical questions and problems like Johnston's reputation vs. reality that really add a lot of interest to the pages.

 

Recommended Reading: Shiloh and the Western Campaign of 1862. Review: The bloody and decisive two-day battle of Shiloh (April 6-7, 1862) changed the entire course of the American Civil War. The stunning Northern victory thrust Union commander Ulysses S. Grant into the national spotlight, claimed the life of Confederate commander Albert S. Johnston, and forever buried the notion that the Civil War would be a short conflict. The conflagration at Shiloh had its roots in the strong Union advance during the winter of 1861-1862 that resulted in the capture of Forts Henry and Donelson in Tennessee. Continued below…

The offensive collapsed General Albert S. Johnston advanced line in Kentucky and forced him to withdraw all the way to northern Mississippi. Anxious to attack the enemy, Johnston began concentrating Southern forces at Corinth, a major railroad center just below the Tennessee border. His bold plan called for his Army of the Mississippi to march north and destroy General Grant's Army of the Tennessee before it could link up with another Union army on the way to join him. On the morning of April 6, Johnston boasted to his subordinates, "Tonight we will water our horses in the Tennessee!" They nearly did so. Johnston's sweeping attack hit the unsuspecting Federal camps at Pittsburg Landing and routed the enemy from position after position as they fell back toward the Tennessee River. Johnston's sudden death in the Peach Orchard, however, coupled with stubborn Federal resistance, widespread confusion, and Grant's dogged determination to hold the field, saved the Union army from destruction. The arrival of General Don C. Buell's reinforcements that night turned the tide of battle. The next day, Grant seized the initiative and attacked the Confederates, driving them from the field. Shiloh was one of the bloodiest battles of the entire war, with nearly 24,000 men killed, wounded, and missing. Edward Cunningham, a young Ph.D. candidate studying under the legendary T. Harry Williams at Louisiana State University, researched and wrote Shiloh and the Western Campaign of 1862 in 1966. Although it remained unpublished, many Shiloh experts and park rangers consider it to be the best overall examination of the battle ever written. Indeed, Shiloh historiography is just now catching up with Cunningham, who was decades ahead of modern scholarship. Western Civil War historians Gary D. Joiner and Timothy B. Smith have resurrected Cunningham's beautifully written and deeply researched manuscript from its undeserved obscurity. Fully edited and richly annotated with updated citations and observations, original maps, and a complete order of battle and table of losses, Shiloh and the Western Campaign of 1862 will be welcomed by everyone who enjoys battle history at its finest. Edward Cunningham, Ph.D., studied under T. Harry Williams at Louisiana State University. He was the author of The Port Hudson Campaign: 1862-1863 (LSU, 1963). Dr. Cunningham died in 1997. Gary D. Joiner, Ph.D. is the author of One Damn Blunder from Beginning to End: The Red River Campaign of 1864, winner of the 2004 Albert Castel Award and the 2005 A. M. Pate, Jr., Award, and Through the Howling Wilderness: The 1864 Red River Campaign and Union Failure in the West. He lives in Shreveport, Louisiana. About the Author: Timothy B. Smith, Ph.D., is author of Champion Hill: Decisive Battle for Vicksburg (winner of the 2004 Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters Non-fiction Award), The Untold Story of Shiloh: The Battle and the Battlefield, and This Great Battlefield of Shiloh: History, Memory, and the Establishment of a Civil War National Military Park. A former ranger at Shiloh, Tim teaches history at the University of Tennessee.

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