Topic summary
Battle of Shiloh
United States (Union)
Confederate States- Army of TN: 48,894
- Army of OH: 17,918
- 1,754 killed
- 8,408 wounded
- 2,885 captured/missing
- 1,728 killed
- 8,012 wounded
- 959 captured/missing
The Battle of Shiloh, also known as the Battle of Pittsburg Landing, was a major battle in the American Civil War fought on April 6–7, 1862. The fighting took place in southwestern Tennessee, which was part of the war's western theater. The battlefield is located between a small, undistinguished church named Shiloh and Pittsburg Landing on the Tennessee River. Two Union armies combined to defeat the ConfederateArmy of Mississippi. Major GeneralUlysses S. Grant was the Union commander, while GeneralAlbert Sidney Johnston was the Confederate commander until his battlefield death, when he was replaced by his second-in-command, General P. G. T. Beauregard.
The Confederate army hoped to defeat Grant's Army of the Tennessee before it could be reinforced and resupplied. Although it made considerable gains with a surprise attack on the first day of the battle, Johnston was mortally wounded and Grant's army was not eliminated. Overnight, Grant's Army of the Tennessee was reinforced by one of its divisions stationed farther north, and was also joined by portions of the Army of the Ohio, under the command of Major General Don Carlos Buell. The Union forces conducted an unexpected counterattack in the morning, which reversed the Confederate gains of the previous day. The exhausted Confederate army withdrew further south, and a modest Union pursuit started and ended on the next day.
Though victorious, the Union army had around 2,500 more casualties than the Confederates (mostly a difference in the number captured). After the lengthy Union casualty list became known, Grant was heavily criticized; decisions made by both the Federal and Confederate high command were afterward questioned by individuals on and off the battlefield. The battle was the costliest engagement of the Civil War up to that point, and its nearly 24,000 casualties made it one of the bloodiest battles of the entire war.