Battle of Shiloh

Battle of Shiloh (Battle of Pittsburg Landing)
Part of the American Civil War
Battle of Shiloh, by Thure de Thulstrup.
Date April 6–7, 1862 Location Hardin County, Tennessee 35°09′02″N 88°19′19″W / 35.15068°N 88.32183°W / 35.15068; -88.32183Coordinates: 35°09′02″N 88°19′19″W / 35.15068°N 88.32183°W / 35.15068; -88.32183 Result Union victory
Belligerents
United States (Union)	Confederate States
Commanders and leaders
Ulysses S. Grant Don Carlos Buell	Albert Sidney Johnston † P. G. T. Beauregard
Units involved
Army of the Tennessee; Army of the Ohio	Army of Mississippi
Strength
∼ 63,000 (estimated): Army of the Tennessee: 44,895; Army of the Ohio: ∼ 18,000	40,335
Casualties and losses
13,047 (1,754 killed;  8,408 wounded;  2,885 captured/missing)	10,699 (1,728 killed;  8,012 wounded;  959 captured/missing)

Shiloh National Military Park
Ruggles' Battery at Shiloh National Military Park.
Location	Shiloh, Hardin County, Tennessee & Corinth, Mississippi, USA
Nearest city	Savannah, Tennessee
Area	3,996.64 acres (16.1738 km2)
Established	December 27, 1894
Visitors	315,296 (in 2005)
Governing body	National Park Service

∼ 63,000 (estimated):

The Battle of Shiloh, also known as the Battle of Pittsburg Landing, was a major battle in the Western Theater of the American Civil War, fought April 6–7, 1862, in southwestern Tennessee. A Union army under Major General Ulysses S. Grant had moved via the Tennessee River deep into Tennessee and was encamped principally at Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee on the west bank of the river, where Confederate forces under Generals Albert Sidney Johnston and Pierre G. T. Beauregard launched a surprise attack on Grant's army. Johnston was killed in action during the fighting; Beauregard, who thus succeeded to command of the army, decided against pressing the attack late in the evening. Overnight Grant was reinforced by one of his own divisions stationed further north and was joined by three divisions from another Union army under Maj. Gen. Don Carlos Buell. This allowed them to launch an unexpected counterattack the next morning which completely reversed the Confederate gains of the previous day.

On April 6, the first day of the battle, the Confederates struck with the intention of driving the Union defenders away from the river and into the swamps of Owl Creek to the west. Johnston hoped to defeat Grant's Army of the Tennessee before the anticipated arrival of General Buell's Army of the Ohio. The Confederate battle lines became confused during the fierce fighting, and Grant's men instead fell back to the northeast, in the direction of Pittsburg Landing. A Union position on a slightly sunken road, nicknamed the "Hornet's Nest," defended by the men of Brig. Gens. Benjamin M. Prentiss's and William H. L. Wallace's divisions, provided critical time for the remainder of the Union line to stabilize under the protection of numerous artillery batteries. Wallace was mortally wounded when the position collapsed, while several regiments from the two divisions were eventually surrounded and surrendered. General Johnston was shot in the leg and bled to death while personally leading an attack. Beauregard, his second in command, acknowledged how tired the army was from the day's exertions and decided against assaulting the final Union position that night.