Video
Shadow of a Man: Sherman, Part Two
Transcript
[audio description] Park Ranger Laura Lee McKellips standing in the beginning of the museum. She is surrounded by large cutout busts of important political and military figures of the Atlanta Campaign. To her right is an enlarged cutout of Sherman.
Hi, I'm Ranger Laura Lee and this is part two Sherman: Shadow of a Man. Now in this one we are focusing on the year of 1862 and specifically the Battle of Shiloh. When we last left Sherman, he is in Missouri still training and recruiting volunteers. But that's all about to change because the war for 1862 becomes very real. The casualties will start piling up with the Battle of Shiloh and the Battle of Antietam which causes the people to really notice that this war is not gonna be easily fought. It's going to be a long struggle for the next four years.
Now at the start of it we've got Grant about to take down two forts on the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers, Fort Donelson and Fort Henry. In this he will need supplies and troops. And there's one man that will supply those to him and that will be General Sherman. He will go to Smithville, Kentucky and at the mouth of the Cumberland River and send what Grant needs. Now in order to win those two battles Sherman's troops and supplies is what gives Grant the upper hand to surround those forts and give him the nickname of Unconditional Surrender Grant.
Now once both of those forts fall, we have the Tennessee River and the Cumberland River that will open up the state of Tennessee as well as the rest of the Confederacy and into the heart of it. Now Grant will be placed under house arrest, essentially at Fort Donelson by Henry Halleck due to certain circumstances. After that Halleck, is going to send Sherman upriver because the Tennessee River at this point flows north. He will send him upriver to find a better landing spot for the next goal. And the next target is the town of Corinth, Mississippi which is the Confederate stronghold.
There, Confederates under the direction of General Albert Sidney Johnston are amassing their own army. Now as he goes up the Tennessee River, it is flooding with the rising water and continued rains. There is one bluff still above water and that is Pittsburg Landing. As Grant comes back in command due to Abraham Lincoln, he will move the troops from Savannah, Tennessee across the river to that Pittsburg Landing. Now they are under strict orders not to engage the enemy. They are only supposed to wait there for Don Carlos Buell's Army of the Ohio to travel from Nashville to the Pittsburg's Landing and then on to their ultimate goal Corinth, Mississippi. Now the reason that is their goal is because the Memphis Charleston rail line, which is the backbone of the Confederacy, is located there at Corinth. Now Grant wants to snap that in half and in order to do that they need to march those twenty-two miles South to get to that location.
So as they're waiting for Buell's Army of the Ohio to join them, they are just camping around Pittsburg's Landing and Shiloh Church. Sherman is going to be one of the furthest on the battlefield camped in and around Shiloh Church with most of his green soldiers. Now as Johnston knows they are waiting for Buell's, so he goes on the attack. He orders his men North those twenty-two miles and the night of April fifth, Sherman is asked about the status of the picket lines that they keep hearing firing from. He sends Grant a message saying, "I do not apprehend anything such as an attack on our position."
The morning of April sixth, he is proven wrong. Due to earlier conflicts in Kentucky with him seeing Confederates around every corner, he does not believe that the Confederates are attacking until the aide right beside him is shot and killed. He has three horses shot out from underneath him. He's even shot through the hand. But he does rally together and he tries to keep his men under control. They are pushed back the night of the sixth up against the banks of the Tennessee River. It is there that Sherman confronts Grant and Grant says, "Nope, we're going to face them again in the morning. They licked us tonight, but we're going back." So he has Buell's army, they push them back off the battlefield and then to their ultimate goal of Corinth. They do start marching south. Sherman is then commanded by Henry Halleck to go and cut communications. He will go down to Eastport, Mississippi across the Bear Creek and with his men they will take down the train trestle bridge the approach to them on the swampy sides, cutting off any Confederate communications east of that area. Once Corinth is secured after the Confederates abandon the city, Sherman is sent North to the city of Memphis, Tennessee. It is there he will bring order to that city and also become the military governor as he goes eye for eye. So If a Confederate sympathizer destroys any kind of Union property, Sherman will send out men and they will destroy equal amounts of that. So it's almost his total warfare mindset. Now he will stay there until Grant sends for him again in their Vicksburg Campaign.
And that concludes this video for 1862. We hope that you can join us next time. It'll feature the Siege of Vicksburg and the year of 1863. Thank you.
Description
In this video, the year 1862 of the Civil War and the Battle of Shiloh are highlighted focusing on Union General Sherman.
*Audio description is embedded in the video.*
Duration
5 minutes, 35 seconds
Date Created
02/11/2021
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