Shiloh National Monument Detail

Monument #M108: Kentucky State Memorial (Tenn, Ohio & Miss)

Inscription Reads:
(front of monument)
KENTUCKY REGIMENTS
AT
BATTLE OF SHILOH
First day April 6, 1862.
(left panel)
As a border slave state that remained in the Union,
Kentucky was sharply divided in its loyalty during the Civil
War. The state provided many troops to both sides at Shiloh:
Approximately 6,500 to the Federal forces; approximately 2,000
to the Confederate forces. Confederate Commanding General
Albert Sidney Johnston, who was killed in action on April 6 at
Shiloh, though a Texan by adoption, was a Kentuckian by
birth, and he retained innumerable ties of blood and sentiment
with his native state. Confederate Brigadier General John C.
Breckinridge, who was a former Vice President of the United
States, and who commanded the Confederate reserve corps at
Shiloh, was from Kentucky. Two sons of a distinguished United
States Senator from Kentucky, Senator John J. Crittenden, were
in opposing armies at Shiloh; Brigadier General Thomas L.
Crittenden for the Union; Brigadier General George B. Crittenden
[see note #1] for the Confederacy. Kentucky's "Confederate
Governor," George W. Johnson, fought and died in the Southern
ranks at Shiloh.
Five Kentucky Infantry regiments, plus the Kentucky cavalry
squadron of Colonel John Hunt Morgan, the Kentucky cavalry
company of Captain Philip Thompson, and the Kentucky artillery
battery of Captain Robert Cobb, were in the Confederate forces
at Shiloh. The 7th Kentucky Infantry served in the 2nd Brigade
of the 2nd Division of Major General Leonidas Polk's 1st Corps;
it was deployed initially at about 8:30 A.M. of April 6 as a
supporting unit on the Confederate left; by 10:00 A.M. it was
engaged at the Hornets' Nest. The 3rd, 4th, 6th, and 9th [see ì
note #2] Kentucky Infantry regiments and Cobb's artillery battery
served in Colonel Robert P. Trabue's 1st Brigade of Breckinridge's
reserve corps. Detached from its parent corps early in the morning
of April 6, the 1st brigade entered the battle at 9:30 A.M. [see
note #3] at the Crescent Field. Here the 3rd Kentucky Regiment was
separated from the brigade by General Beauregard and ordered to
another part of the battlefield. No further record remains of its ì
location or action the first day. During the course of the
fighting, the brigade was moved by stages across the front until
late in the afternoon it rejoined Breckinridge's corps on the
extreme Confederate right. At the close of the first day's
combat the brigade was at the Indian mounds...

(right panel)
overlooking the Tennessee River. All of the Kentucky Confederate ì
units experienced hard fighting and suffered heavy casualties
during the day.
Only two Kentucky regiments, the 17th and 25th Kentucky ì
Infantry regiments, were present with the Federal Army (Army of ì
the Tennessee) during the first day of the battle. Attached to ì
the 3rd Brigade of Brigadier General Stephen A. Hurlbut's 4th ì
Division, they were encamped in the northeast edge of Cloud Field ì
(near the present marker) when the battle opened. Shifted from ì
one hotly contested position to another during the first day of ì
fighting, they had their severest action early in the afternoon ì
at the Peach Orchard. Late in the day they were placed near the ì
Pittsburg Landing road as a part of General Grant's final ì
defensive perimeter.
The Army of the Ohio, which reinforced the Army of the ì
Tennessee during the late afternoon and night of April 6 and the ì
morning of April 7, contained ten regiments of Kentucky troops: ì
the 5th Regiment of the 4th Brigade, 2nd Division; the 6th ì
Regiment of the 19th Brigade, and the 1st, 2nd, and 20th ì
Regiments of the 22nd Brigade, 4th Division; the 9th and 13th ì
Regiments of the 11th Brigade, and the 11th and 26th Regiments of ì
the 14th Brigade, 5th Division; and the 24th Regiment of the 21st ì
Brigade, 6th Division. The initial unit of the Army of the Ohio ì
to arrive at the scene of battle, the 4th Division, was commanded ì
by Brigadier General William Nelson, a Kentuckian.
The Kentucky troops in both armies shared fully in the bitter ì
fighting of April 7 as the strengthened and reanimated Federals ì
pressed forward and as the outnumbered, exhausted, and ì
demoralized Confederates gradually yielded the field. Morgan's ì
Kentucky cavalry joined [see note #4] with Forrest's Tennessee
cavalry and other detachments on April 8 to repel General Sherman's ì
pursuit near Mickey's -- the closing action of the battle of ì
Shiloh.
Casualties among Kentucky troops at Shiloh: Union, 115 ì
killed, 636 wounded, 29 missing; Confederate, 137 killed, 627 ì
wounded, 45 missing.

KENTUCKY HISTORICAL SOCIETY 1974

(back of monument)
KENTUCKY REGIMENTS
AT
BATTLE OF SHILOH
Second Day April 7, 1862

(text is same as on front: maps are different, front is April 6, ì
while that on back is April 7)

[NOTES*] (1) Maj. Gen. George B. Crittenden, C.S.A., was removed
from command of the Reserve Corps on March 31, 1862. General
Breckinridge commanded the corps at Shiloh and General Crittenden ì
was not on the field. (2) Should read 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th Kentucky
Infantry regiments. (3) Trabue's brigade not engaged at Crescent
field until about 12:00 noon on the first day. (4) Cannot confirm
that Morgan's Kentucky Squadron participated in this engagement.

Overall Image

Unit Commander: Unknown
Brigade: Unknown
Division: Unknown
Corps: Unknown
Army: Unknown
Grid Location: G06 *
Location: 35.14125,-88.32596667
Location Description: Unknown
* Grid Location is the location identifier that is used on paper maps in the parks.