Battle Of Shilo Essay, Research Paper
The Battle of Shiloh 1962
The Battle of Shiloh was one of bloodiest battles of the civil
War. In fact it was one of the bloodiest battles fought on Tennessee soil.
The battle was actually fought in Pittsburgh Landing Tennessee. The battle
Was named after a church in the area were the wounded and dead were
Taken. The pre- battle, the battle, and the post battle were all important to
How the civil war ended.
Before the Battle of Shiloh was fought a lot of important things
happened which made the battle very important. The confederates had just
sustained very hard losses at Forts Henry and Donelson. After these losses
Gen. Joseph Johnston was placed in charge of the remaining forces. Gen.
Johnston set his headquarters in Jackson, Tennessee and started forming
the Army of Mississippi.(Discovering U.S History The Battle of Shiloh)
when Gen. Grant started landing at shiloh Gen. Albert Johnston left
Nashville to take command of the newly formed Army of Mississippi which
totaled 40,000 men.
The union had come off some major victories were not aware of the army
of Mississippi .Gen. grant was moving into TN. with 45,000 men and was going to get
25,000 more from Gen. Buell who was coming from Columbia .They were delayed
because of bad weather.(Cantton,60)
The actual battle lasted two days the first day is when most of the battle
was fought. The confederate plan was to surprise the union. This plan worked, the union
was caught off guard and the confederates pushed back the union. Even though the union
out numberedthem the element of surprise took toll. The confederates broke through the
union lines and won the first day of battle. That night Gen. Buell arrived with a fleet of
boats firing Buell?s army landed on land.
The next day the union set out to reclaim the land they lost. With fresh
troops and the confederates tired the union reclaimed the land they lost. This time
the element of surprise was not there. Since Gen. Johnston had died the confederates
had lost all sense of order and were no match for the unions superiority leadership
and numbers.
The union ended up winning the second day and the over all battle.
The wining of this battle was important to both sides the confederates needed to win
because of the losses at Donelson and Henry .They also needed to win so they could
take back the land they lost in TN. The union needed to win so they could march on
to the deep south. Since the union won the deep south was opened and they could go
on and win the war. This battle paved the road for Shermans march to Savannah which
led to the ending of the war.
The pre-battle ,the battle and the post battle were all important to the unions success in
ending the civil war. Before the battle two major battles were fought and these set the
tempo for this battle. During the battle many lives were lost in a union victory.
After the battle many more important battles were able to happen because of this battle.