Shiloh is a battlefield well worth visiting today.
Prof. Brands describes the battle well in his brief “A User’s Guide to History” Substack post this week:
Prof. Brands’s full posting here:
Prof. Brands describes the battle well in his brief “A User’s Guide to History” Substack post this week:
The month was April 1862, and southwestern Tennessee was getting its typical share of spring rain. While riding out to inspect his front lines, Grant was caught by a downpour in the dark. His horse slipped in the mud and fell, taking Grant down with it. Grant’s leg was pinned beneath the animal and would have been broken if not for the softness of the mud. Grant escaped with a bad wrench that didn’t keep him off his horse but did keep sleep and comfort at bay.
He rode out again the next evening after reports of skirmishing in the part of the front commanded by William Sherman. “Found all quiet,” he reported to Henry Halleck, his superior. “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.”
In fact Grant was not prepared when the Confederate attack came the next morning. “Heavy firing is heard up the river, indicating plainly that an attack has been made up on our most advanced positions,” he hurriedly wrote that Sunday morning. “I have been looking for this but did not believe the attack could be made before Monday or Tuesday.”
The object of the Confederate attack was Pittsburg Landing, on the west bank of the Tennessee River. Grant ordered his commanders to move their forces quickly to the scene of the fighting. “The attack on my forces has been very spirited from early this morning,” he wrote to one of them. “The appearance of fresh troops on the field now would have a powerful effect both by inspiring our men and disheartening the enemy. If you will get upon the field leaving all your baggage on the east bank of the river, it will be a move to our advantage and possibly save the day to us.”
The enemy attack threatened to carry all before it. . . .
Prof. Brands’s full posting here:
