Shiloh Essay

September 16, 1862 Gen. George B. McClellan an his army (Union) confronted Robert E. Lee troop ( Confederate) in Virginia. On September 17, Gen. Hooker attack Lee left flank. It was the bloodiest day in American military history. The Union kept attacking and the Confederate counterattacks were just as powerful. This battle had Lee forces go to Maryland which would give Lincoln win that needed before giving the Emancipation Proclamation

The second phase of the Battle of Shiloh starts as reinforcements from General Buell’s Army of the Ohio and a unit of Grant’s own reserve division joined the Union Army now positioned at Pittsburg Landing. These reinforcements added over 22,500 men to the Union lines13 bringing the total number of Union forces to over 45,000, which is more than they had on 6 April, the first day of fighting.14 On April 7, General Grant renewed the fighting with an aggressive counteract.15 Greatly outnumbered (Confederate forces now around 25,000) and disorganized the Confederate forces now under General Beauregard fought hard but eventually had to retreat to back Corinth.16 The second phase of the Battle of Shiloh was won by General Grant and his Union forces due to two main reasons. The first, Union troop numbers greatly outnumbered their enemy, over 45,000 to 25,000 respectively. And secondly, the reinforcements received by General Grant had not fought the day before and were fresh and excited to fight, unlike the exhausted remaining Confederate troops.17 This was the bloodiest battle fought on American soil up to that point, with 23,746 casualties (Union: 13,047; Confederate: 10,699).18 The Union lost more men but claimed the victory because the Confederate Army retreated back to Corinth, Mississippi.

On the 19th, Lee and his forces retreated from the battle and returned to Virginia, slipping past the Potomac. After Lee withdrew his army back to Virginia, McClellan refused to pursue Lee further which led him to be removed from command by Abraham Lincoln. This Confederate retreat gave President Abraham Lincoln the “victory” he desired before issuing the Emancipation Proclamation. The bloodiest single day battle with a combined total of 22,717 casualties, finally concluded in a draw.

The Battle of Shiloh started on Sunday, April 6, 1862 and ended Monday, April 7 1862. General Albert Sidney Johnston was there commander and was forced to withdraw from Kentucky. In order to prepare for future offensive operations, he assembled his forces to the Corinth Mississippi. The Union commander, Major General Ulysses S. Grant retreated his army to the Pittsburg Landing spot near the Tennessee River. Grant's army made camp there to work on their line of offense near the Tennessee River. They spent their time drilling the raw recruits and waiting for reinforcements from general Don Carlos Buell's army of Ohio. Johnston needed to attack before Grant received reinforcements.

The capture of this vital southern city was a huge blow to the Confederacy. In early 1862, the Confederates concentrated their forces in northern Mississippi and western Tennessee to prevent the Yankee invasion. Many of these troops fought at Shiloh in Tennessee on April 6 and 7. Eight Rebel gunboats were dispatched up the great river to stop a Union flotilla above Memphis, leaving only 3,000 militia, two uncompleted ironclads, and a few steamboats to defend New Orleans. The most imposing obstacles for the Union were two forts, Jackson and St. Philip. In the middle of the night of April 24, Admiral David Farragut led his troops in a daring run past the forts.

Grant moved his army cautiously into enemy territory in Tennessee, in what later was one of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War, known as the Battle of Shiloh. (bio.) Confederate commanders Albert Sidney Johnston and P.G.T. Beauregard ran a shock attack against Grant's forces, known as the "Hornets' Nest" during the first wave of assault. General Johnston was wounded, second-in-command, General Beauregard, decided alongside a night assault on Grant's forces. Reinforcement finally arrived, and that’s when Grant was able to overthrow the Confederates on the second day of battle. The Battle of Shiloh was proven to be a turning point for the American military and almost a disaster for Grant. However he was supported by President Abraham Lincoln, Grant was faced with heavy disapproval from members of Congress and the military brass for the high losses. His replacement was led by the war department

The Confederates pushed Sigel back, and the tide turned against Lyon’s force as well. In intense heat and humidity, the armies battled throughout the morning. Lyon was killed during one of the Confederate assaults, but the Union line managed to hold its ground.

There were many military and political turning points during the Civil War. In 1863 and 1864, the outcome of the war was uncertain to many on either side of the playing field. In April of 1863, a new Union commander in the East, “Fighting Joe” Hooker, invaded central Virginia. Outnumbered two to one, Lee fought off Hooker at Chancellorsville. His most outstanding commander, Stonewall Jackson, was mortally wounded in combat. Soon after, Lee decides to make another invasion of the North. For the first three days of July, his army battled Union forces under General George G. Meade at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Gettysburg was the largest battle to ever occur in North America. Over 165,000 troops battled there. On July 3rd, Major General George

The Battle of Shiloh took place on April 6ththrough the 7th in 1862 in the southwestern Tennessee region. The Confederate General Albert Sidney Johnston, commander of the confederate forces in the Western Theater wanted to defeat the Union Major General Grant’s army before it could be reinforced by Major General Don Carlos Buell’s Army of Ohio which was marching from Nashville. Confederate General Johnston ordered a surprise attack on Grant’s encampment which was located close to Shiloh Church. Johnston’s troops caught Grant’s men by surprise and deftly drove the Union soldiers back toward their defensive perimeter on the heights above Pittsburg Landing on the Tennessee River. However, unfortunately for the Confederacy, Johnston was critically

On November twenty-first, General Hood and his Army of Tennessee left Florence, Alabama to go to Tennessee. Hood did not want to fight in Tennessee unless there were an equal number of men on both sides fighting. He wanted to “recapture Tennessee for confederacy” (“Battle of Franklin and Nashville). The Confederates had 33,000 men (“Franklin”). They also had many corp commanders: Cheatam, Stewart, Lee, and Forest (The Carter House). The Confederates also consisted of seven divisions: “Walthal’s, Loring’s, two brigades of French’s ( Sear’s and Cockrell’s) of Stewart’s corp, Brown’s. Cleboune’s, and Bathes’ of Cheatham’s Corpes” (Banks 49). These divisions were marched from Spring Hill to Franklin. These men were worn out. They were tired and exhausted which probably made them not ready for battle (Banks 49). They were not treated well: they were “ill-fed and ill-clothed” (Lent). Although Hood saw his army being slaughtered, he remembered the rules of warfare: “he was

On April 3, Gen. Johnston mobilized his troops and marched towards Pittsburg Landing where they arrived on April 6 because of road and whether conditions. At 5:00 AM, Johnston launched a surprise attack on the unsuspecting Union camps. Because the divisions that had little to no experience were in the area where the attack was first made, the Confederates quickly broke through many Union lines successfully and wreaked havoc. They stormed the camps and slaughtered many of these men in their tents. The Union forces were pushed back at their flanks. One line, however, stood firm against the Confederate onslaught. General Benjamin M. Prentiss held his line and did not allow the Confederates to break through while fighting in a sunken road that is estimated to be about 3 feet deep in what is known as the “The Hornet’s Nest” while waiting for reinforcements.

The battle of Bull Run was the actual first battle of the Civil War. Lincoln was hoping to get a quick victory first to help raise the hope of the people, and the newspaper agreed. If successful, it would demonstrate the superiority of theUnion arms and might even lead to the capture of the Confederate capital at Richmond. The battle did not go according to the Unions plans. On July 21, 1861, Yankee recruits went to Bull Run to fight the Confederate army. Even with the overwhelming amount of men that the North had they were not able to break through Jackson’s gray-clad warriors. After a while of fighting, Confederate troops came out for nowhere and frightened the Yankee and sent the fleeing in confusion. This Victory was bad of the South

The Battle of Antietam started the morning of September 17, 1862 at 0600. Union troops of the First and Twelfth Corps made their way across Antietam Creek the day before in efforts to attack the left flank. From 0600 to 1000, the Union troops were with Confederates under Major General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson. This engagement occurred in a 24-acre cornfield. These were the most deadly hours of the battle; over 8,000 casualties were killed at this time. As Union General Joseph Hooker later wrote, 'It was never my fortune to witness a bloody, dismal battlefield in that nature. ' In the first hour of the battle in the Cornfield, the slaughter was so intense that one man fell, was killed or wounded every second. By 10 am, Union troops

April 14th, 1861, Fort Sumpter, attacked by confederate canons, surrendered. Lincoln responded quickly, hearing that Fort Sumpter was attacked. The following day that was coming up, he called over 70,000 volunteers to help the battle. A newly founded unity was spread across the North, Recruitment stations were full of men going against the Rebellion. As that was occurring, different things were happening at the Border states; the governors of Kentucky and Missouri refused to grant troops. As a lot more of states started to side with the south, the tensions between Lincoln and the south,

Lasting all day, and beginning the next at daybreak, the leaders had only a small Methodist chapel in which to convene to discuss potential rapid strategizing. Due to the Southerners’ element of surprise and the Northerners’ superior force, it became the most costly battle of the war to date with 23 000 dead, injured or captured, and with around equal numbers on both sides. It was then the South were to suffer a great defeat at the Battle of Antietum – Lee marched a force of 40 000 strong to Maryland on 4th September, 1862, only to be met with huge numbers of General George McClellan’s troops. 23 000 were killed in a single day, and General Lee was forced to retreat back to Virginia. After these major humiliations, it was months before the first real turning point of the war when the tide began to turn towards a Union success. Although politically the Union made some impact with the release of the Emancipation Proclamation on 1st January, 1863, in reality, there was little change in the secessionist states and the war dragged onwards. An excellent execution of division tactics by Lee resulted in a Confederate victory over the new Union commander Hooker at the Battle of the Wilderness, but at a cost of 24 000 casualties. From May to July 1863, Grant laid siege to the city of Vicksburg, Mississippi, starving the population and firing shots at any soldiers who appeared on the walls of the town. After a naval landing, commander Pemberton’s force of 23 000 met Grant’s