SHILOH Guidebook 1941

Shiloh National Military Park

SHILOH NATIONAL MILITARY PARK, established by act of Congress, December 27, 1894, commemorates a decisive battle of the War between the States. It is located in Tennessee, on the Tennessee River, 5 miles south of United States Highway No. 64 at the intersection of State Highways Nos. 22 and 57. The Federal Government also owns and maintains the 17-mile historic parkway which extends from the battlefield to Corinth, Miss.

The park embraces an area of 3,716.66 acres, which includes a major portion of the battlefield. Its topography is rolling in character, varying in elevation from 360 to 520 feet above sea level. Roads, fields, and woods have the same general locations which they had at the time of the battle. Important troop positions are denoted by small monuments, and battery sites are marked with field artillery of the War period. Under the jurisdiction of the War Department until 1933, the park and the national cemetery were in that year transferred to the Department of the Interior to be administered by the National Park Service.

It has been the goal of the National Park Service to restore the battlefield as nearly as possible to its original setting, and by careful landscaping to bring into harmony with this setting the many memorials which have been erected by the National and State Governments and by patriotic societies. Woodlands cut away for cultivation have been replanted and old fields which have grown up in pines are being restored to grasses and small plants. New peach trees have been set out in the orchard through which the Blue and Gray Armies fought so fiercely. The "sunken road" in the "Hornets' Nest" and the "Bloody Pool" to which the wounded crawled for water have also been restored to their wartime appearance. In the program of restoration and preservation at Shiloh National Military Park, the Civilian Conservation Corps has made important contributions. The Corps has also taken an active and large part in the construction of parking areas, roads, trails, and in general landscaping. Throughout the entire battlefield points of interest are well marked and easily accessible, and for the convenience of visitors, who wish to spend all day, picnic facilities have been provided at Rhea Springs. An official guide service is operated under the supervision of the superintendent of the park.

This map shows how the Union and Confederate Armies converged on Shiloh

THE BATTLE OF SHILOH

SIGNIFICANCE

THE BATTLE OF SHILOH, April 6-7, 1862, was a titanic struggle with fearful casualties that brought home the horrors of war to the North and to the South alike. Nearly 24,000 men were killed, wounded, or reported missing, a number equal to more than one-fifth of the combined Union and Confederate Armies engaged in the battle. By their defeat at Shiloh the Confederates were thrown back upon Corinth, losing all hold upon Tennessee west of the mountains, except a few forts on the Mississippi, which were soon wrested from them. They lost control also of the Memphis and Charleston Railway, their vital line of communications between the East and the West. After the fall of Memphis, early in June, the Federals were in a position to strike at Vicksburg, the conquest of which would give control of the Mississippi to the Union and split the Confederacy in half.

On the first day of the battle, the Confederates, outnumbering their opponents, almost routed them, captured 6 square miles of territory and four-fifths of the Federal camps. On the second day, however, Federal reinforcements changed the tide of victory and compelled the Confederates to withdraw. In command of the Southern forces until he was mortally wounded was Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston, who was succeeded then by Gen. Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard. The Northern command was vested in Gen. Ulysses Simpson Grant, who had among his division commanders, Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman. Shiloh is interesting as a battle fought by raw volunteers, young men with little or no military training and without previous experience in a major engagement.

This contemporary sketch by Henry Lovie, which appeared first in "Frank Leslie's Illustrated Weekly Newspaper," shows the Shiloh log church from which the battle took its name. Wartime photograph, Signal Corps, U. S. Army

PRELIMINARY CAMPAIGN

WAR activity west of the Appalachian Mountains in 1861 was confined chiefly to the States of Kentucky and Missouri. Toward the end of the year when the loyalty, or at least the neutrality, of the governments of those border States seemed assured, the Federals began making plans for the invasion of the South by way of the western rivers and railroads. Each side maneuvered for strategic positions. General Johnston, in command of the Confederate forces in the West, established a line of defense extending from Columbus, Ky., on the Mississippi River, eastward through Bowling Green to the Cumberland Gap. Union forces, operating from headquarters in St. Louis, seized the mouths of the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers and large portions of western Kentucky, while the presence of another strong Federal Army at Louisville caused Johnston to retain his main force at Bowling Green to guard important railroads which penetrated both middle and western Tennessee. General Grant threatened the left end of the Confederate line by moving down the Mississippi from Cairo, Ill., but he was checked in this advance in an engagement at Belmont on the Missouri side of the river opposite Columbus on November 7, 1861. In February 1862, however, by seizing Fort Henry and Fort Donelson on the Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers, Grant separated the two parts of Johnston's army and caused him to withdraw from Bowling Green to Nashville. Johnston found himself exposed to powerful armies on two fronts and continued to retreat southward to Murfreesboro and then to Corinth, Miss., where he concentrated forces as rapidly as possible for the defense of the Memphis and Charleston Railway. Reinforcements and supplies were drawn from wherever they could be spared, and by the first week in April, Johnston's effective strength approximated 44,000 men.

But almost as rapidly as Johnston had moved to defend Corinth and the vital railroad, the Union forces had moved forward. Pushing up the Tennessee River, advanced troops attempted to land near Eastport, Miss., but high water caused them to fall back to more elevated ground at Pittsburg Landing, Tenn., 22 miles from Corinth. During the last 2 weeks in March, other Union troops arrived, and, at the beginning of April, five divisions including approximately 40,000 men had established camps on the west side of the river within 2 miles of Pittsburg Landing. Six miles down the river to the north, a division was encamped at Crumps Landing. Troops also were on the march from Nashville. Meanwhile, Grant, who had been placed in command, not expecting Johnston to attack, made no preparations for defense and awaited the arrival of reinforcements in order that they might make a joint movement on Corinth. That delay provided a favorable opportunity for the Confederates, and both Johnston and Beauregard appreciated the faultiness, strategical and tactical, of the position of Grant's army, in a pocket between two creeks with an impassable river behind it.

On April 3, Johnston moved out of Corinth toward Pittsburg Landing, intent on the destruction of Grant's army before it could be reinforced. He made slow progress in the face of torrential rains and over roads deep in mud. He had expected to give battle at daylight on April 5, but it was late afternoon before the last of his columns arrived, and, therefore, his army bivouacked for the night in the order of battle within 2 miles of the Federal camps. The Confederate forces were formed in three lines. Gen. W. J. Hardee's corps and one brigade of Gen. Braxton Bragg were in the first line, the rest of Bragg's corps in the second line, and Gen. Leonidas Polk's corps and Gen. J. C. Breckinridge's division in the third line.

The capture of McClernand's headquarters, McAllister's and Schwartz's artillery, and Dresser's battery by the Confederates is here represented in a contemporary sketch by Henry Lovie

THIS DIAGRAM SHOWS THE CONFEDERATE PLAN OF BATTLE (click on image for a PDF version)

Johnston expected to push rapidly with his right wing around Grant's left as shown by the long black arrow. Such a move would drive the Federal Army downstream away from its base of supplies at Pittsburg Landing. The Confederate Army would then envelop and defeat the Federal Army.

THE BATTLE OF SHILOH WAS FOUGHT IN THIS MANNER (click on image for a PDF version)

The battle of Shiloh developed into a series of frontal attacks with the left of the Confederate Army moving faster than the right. By the end of the first day the Federals were pushed directly back on their base of supplies at Pittsburg Landing where they were strongly protected by gunboats and artillery. On the second day, Federal reinformcements turned the tide of battle and swept the Confederates from the field.

Neither Grant nor Sherman expected an attack in force and made no unusual preparations for defense on the night before the battle. Sherman wrote Grant on Saturday: "All is quiet along my line now. . . . The enemy has cavalry in our front, and I think there are two regiments of infantry and one battery of artillery about 6 miles out.

. . I have no doubt that nothing will occur today more than some picket-firing. The enemy is saucy, but got the worst of it yesterday, and will not press our pickets far. I will not be drawn out far, unless with certainty of advantage; and I do not apprehend anything like an attack on our position." Grant, in turn, telegraphed to Halleck: "I have scarcely the faintest idea of an attack (general one) being made upon us, but will be prepared should such a thing take place." General Grant was at breakfast at Savannah, Tenn., 9 miles by water from Pittsburg Landing, when he first heard the guns in the battle of Shiloh.

Graphically illustrated in this sketch by Henry Lovie is the final stand made by Grant's army near Pittsburg Landing late on the afternoon of April 6, 1862

THE FIRST DAY

THE BATTLE began just after daybreak on the morning of Sunday, April 6. About 5:15 o'clock a Federal reconnoitering party ran into the Confederate outposts in front of Sherman's camp. Before 6 o'clock the Confederate lines began to advance and soon reached the Union outposts. At 6 o'clock the Twenty-first Missouri encountered the Confederate line about a half mile from camp and was driven back. The Confederates struggled through thick woods, but so swiftly did they advance that the Union soldiers scarcely had time to form before the Southerners were upon them. General Hardee, pushing forward on the Confederate left, first struck the right of Prentiss' division and the left of Sherman's. These divisions were composed of raw troops that had never been under fire before, and who were, in consequence, extremely nervous. After a short stand Sherman's left regiment broke and fled to the rear, and a little later they were followed by the other two regiments of his left brigade. About 9 o'clock Prentiss' whole division broke and fell back in confusion before the onrush of four Confederate brigades. Prentiss rallied about 1,000 of his men and took up a position along an old sunken road in a densely wooded area on a line that fresh Union troops were forming. This proved to be a strong position and the Confederates named the place the "Hornets' Nest" because of the stinging shot and shell they had to face there.

Leslie's newspaper artist, Henry Lovie here depicts the fight in the "Peach Orchard" on the afternoon of April 6, 1862, where Hurlbut's division received the combined attack of Johnston, Cheatham, Withers, and Breckinridge

Meanwhile, an infantry attack, supported by continuous artillery fire, had been thrown against Sherman's division, which occupied a ridge near Shiloh Church. This small log building, which gave its name to the battlefield, had been for several years the community center and place of worship for the people of the neighboring countryside. It was considered the key position on the field as it commanded the most accessible road from Corinth to the river landing, and it was here that the Federals put up the most stubborn resistance on the first morning of the battle. Shortly after 9 o'clock, the Confederates shifted their main strength to their left and hurled their forces against Sherman's lines and against Gen. John A. McClernand's Third Brigade, which held a strong position in the edge of a wood beyond a clearing and along the crest of a ridge. Individual brigades charged in vain, scrambling through thickets and across marshy ground, wasting away their strength. Then six Southern brigades in a combined attack, with overwhelming numbers, seized Shiloh Ridge and Sherman's camps at 10 o'clock. The two Armies now faced each other on a 2-1/2-mile front.

Johnston had planned to advance rapidly on the right in order to cut off the Federal retreat to the river and at the same time to prevent the effective use of the Union gunboats. But during the forenoon the Confederates, charging along the entire line in a series of frontal attacks, had gained more against the Federal right than against their left, which was contrary to the Southern plan. Thereupon, Johnston hurled the greater part of his reserves into the action on the right, where there was a peach orchard in full bloom. Here amid the falling petals of the peach blossoms, the Confederates met a withering fire from the Union stronghold.

This swampy pool, now called "Bloody Pond," was in the heart of the battlefield, and to it the wounded soldiers of both Armies came for water

This simple monument has been erected by the United States Government to mark the site on the battlefield where General Johnston, the Confederate commander, was mortally wounded

Noting the determined character of the resistance in this part of the field, Johnston took personal command and directed the fighting. It was now about 2:30 o'clock in the afternoon and most of the peach orchard had been won by the Confederates. A little more and the Union left would have been turned, and the entire Army would have found itself in serious danger of crushing defeat. Johnston had been sitting quietly on his horse, bareheaded, among a clump of trees some distance behind the line of battle watching the progress of the attack. At this point, as he watched the progress of the battle, a spent or stray bullet struck him in the leg, severing an artery. Before he took any notice of the wound, or perhaps before he even realized he had been wounded, he had become faint from the loss of blood and in a moment more collapsed in the arms of an aide. Johnston was carried a short distance to a small depression where he soon died despite all efforts to save his life. It might be said that General Johnston bled to death before he or any of his aides realized he had been struck.

Battery sites on Shiloh battlefield are marked with pieces of field ordnance

Beauregard now took command, but without Johnston the advance against the Federal left slowed down, and the left wing of the Confederate line rapidly outdistanced the right wing. Between 3 and 4 o'clock, the heaviest drive was directed against the center of the Union line. Here in the "Hornets' Nest" the remnants of Prentiss' Federal division made a heroic stand. Time after time the Confederates charged across the open fields to assault this Northern citadel only to be repulsed with terrific slaughter. Finally, they brought 62 pieces of artillery to bear on the Federal position, and a heavy bombardment from these guns, together with the encircling fire of infantry on both flanks, broke the Union line and resulted in the capture of more than 2,200 men.

By late afternoon Grant's army had been practically driven from the field, and several Confederate brigades pressed forward toward Pittsburg Landing to attempt to bring about a complete victory, if possible, before darkness intervened. The men had been fighting for more than 12 hours and were exhausted, and they now faced the fire from Federal gunboats in the Tennessee River and from heavy siege guns mounted near the landing. As the head of the Confederate column was crossing the river, Beauregard gave the order to cease firing. That night his men slept in the captured Union camps.

The first day of Shiloh was one of the great battles of the War between the States, but, as it developed, it was fought without any definite plan on either side and without effective head. Neither General Johnston nor General Grant established headquarters from which to direct or control their forces, and Grant was not even on the field until several hours after the engagement began. The various division commanders took up positions as they saw fit, and Johnston, himself, was killed in the thick of battle directing a charge that should have been led by a brigadier. The Confederates made the mistake of extending their lines too far to the right and left instead of using deep formations for attack, and they also made the mistake of throwing their reserves into battle too soon. The first day of Shiloh was a series of individual combats rather than a well directed single action. Both Armies were employing raw troops. Many of the Confederates straggled, and, as the battle lines advanced, numbers of the Southern soldiers fell out to pillage the Federal camps they had captured. On the Union side crowds of terror-stricken fugitives huddled under the bluffs of the river, and at the close of the day Grant probably did not have more than 4,000 men in line.

THE SECOND DAY

WITH his force strengthened by the addition of more than 20,000 fresh troops, Grant assumed the offensive on the second morning. During the night his center and left had been reinforced by Buell's army, while his right had been extended by Gen. Lew Wallace's division, which had marched from Crump's Landing. Early in the morning both sides sent out strong skirmishing parties, and by 8 o'clock the Federals had moved up in heavy force. Two hours later they had dislodged the Confederates from those battle-torn areas, the "Peach Orchard" and the "Hornets' Nest," and had gained the Hamburg-Purdy Road. At noon, they were fighting again at Shiloh Church. Casualties on the second day were as heavy as on the first. The field was strewn with the bodies of the dead.

At 2 o'clock in the afternoon, Beauregard realized that he had been defeated and gave orders to withdraw toward Corinth. To cover his retreat, he directed a portion of his command to charge the Union center, while his artillery took up a protective position on the ridge southwest of the church. By 3 o'clock the Southern troops were retreating leisurely in a long column, guarded on the flanks and rear by cavalry. Grant had won complete control of the battlefield before the end of the afternoon and had regained his camps. Victory had been costly.

Grant's army of 39,830 had been reinforced by 25,255, and the total Union casualties included 1,754 killed, 8,408 wounded, and 2,855 captured or missing. The Confederates, numbering 43,968, and reinforced by 731, lost 1,728 killed, 8,012 wounded, and 959 captured or missing.

The memorial to the Southern soldiers who were engaged in the battle of Shiloh was erected by the United Daughters of the Confederacy at a cost of $50,000 and is one of the most beautiful monuments in the park

Shiloh National Cemetery

FEATURES OF INTEREST

MONUMENTS

AT SHILOH NATIONAL MILITARY PARK a total of 147 monuments have been erected by the Federal Government, the States, and patriotic societies to commemorate the deeds of those who participated in the battle. These memorials range from simple stone markers to elaborate sculptures in granite and bronze, and for the most part they occupy the sites on the battlefield most closely associated with the men in whose memory they were erected. States which have established memorials are: Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Wisconsin.

In 1917 the United Daughters of the Confederacy dedicated a symbolic memorial to all the Confederate soldiers who served in the battle. It is splendidly executed in granite, gray marble, and bronze. On a central panel of the marble pedestal in bas-relief is a bust of Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston, the Southern commander, who fell on the battlefield. To the right and to the left also in bas-relief on the pedestal are two panels depicting the heads of young soldiers. On one panel the soldiers are shown with heads erect, with eyes eager and expressions joyous; on the other panel, the heads are bowed with grief. The central bronze group contains the figure of a woman, who symbolizes the South, surrendering the laurel wreath of victory to Death, who took the Southern leader, and Night, who brought reinforcements to the Northern side. Two bronze figures at one end of the memorial represent infantry and artillery; at the other end are the figures of cavalry and a general officer, whose head is bowed in submission to the order to cease firing that was given at the end of the first day, when victory seemed almost within the grasp of the Confederate Army.

A heroic bronze group surmounting the Wisconsin Color Guard Memorial is formed by Victory holding aloft the flag in order that a mortally wounded color sergeant may see it in his final moment with the realization that his death would not be in vain. The Illinois Memorial contains the bronze figure of the Spirit of Illinois holding in her left hand the book in which the deeds of her heroes are inscribed, while her right hand firmly grasps a sword ready to draw it again in defense of her sons. Similar in conception is the Iowa Memorial, a tall granite column on an impressive pedestal. Atop the column are a bronze globe and eagle, and on the steps of the pedestal is the figure of "Fame" inscribing in the granite a tribute to the troops of Iowa.

Federal division and brigade headquarters are marked with pyramids of cannon balls set into square bases of concrete. The Federal Government has also erected monuments to three Union and two Confederate officers who were killed in the battle. These are all alike, a Parrott gun set in a square concrete base, at the corners of which are small pyramids of cannon balls.

SHILOH NATIONAL CEMETERY

THE NATIONAL CEMETERY, established in 1866, embraces an area of 10.2 acres and is situated on a bluff overlooking the Tennessee River. Here were reinterred the bodies of the Federal soldiers, who were originally buried in trenches on the battlefield. Within this cemetery lie 3,650 men, two-thirds of whom are unidentified. Here also are the graves of Capt. Edward Saxe, first officer killed, Henry Burke, 13-year-old drummer boy, and the six Wisconsin color sergeants, who met death in the "Hornets' Nest." A system of brick paths was constructed through the cemetery by the National Park Service in 1935, and from the terminus of the main walk at the Wisconsin Color Guard Memorial an excellent view of the Tennessee River may be obtained. One striking feature of the cemetery is a pyramid of 32-pounder cannons erected by the Federal Government to mark the site of the headquarters of Gen. Ulysses Simpson Grant.

CONFEDERATE BURIAL TRENCHES

AFTER the battle Grant arranged for the burial of the Confederate dead in five trenches, the largest of which is almost 100 feet in length. In recent years these interment trenches have been appropriately marked by the United Daughters of the Confederacy.

INDIAN MOUNDS

AMONG the interesting features of Shiloh National Military Park is a group of prehistoric Indian mounds situated on a high bluff overlooking the Tennessee River, three-quarters of a mile south of Pittsburg Landing. In this area there are seven large mounds, six domiciliary and one burial, and numerous low elevations which mark the places where dwellings once stood. Early in 1934 extensive archeological investigations, conducted as a Federal project under direction of the Smithsonian Institution, resulted in the discovery of large quantities of potsherds, stone implements (knife blades, drills, projectile points, celts, and scrapers), bone implements, shell ornaments, and plaques of mica. Several pieces of pottery taken from the excavations have been restored.

National Park Service headquarters building at Shiloh

Headquarters and Museum

AT THE park headquarters building, located near the river and Pittsburg Landing, are a museum and library, comprising an interesting collection of relics, manuscripts, books, maps, charts, and exhibits of the War period. Daily lectures are given here by the National Park Service historical staff, and visitors may obtain information pertaining to the battlefield or the natural features of the park.

All communications pertaining to this area should be addressed to the Superintendent, Shiloh National Military Park, Pittsburg Landing, Tenn.

A MAP OF SHILOH NATIONAL MILITARY PARK (click on image for a PDF version)