Shiloh Tennessee
American Civil War
April 6 - April 7 1862


  Battles of the Federal Penetration up the Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers Campaign:
Fort Henry
Fort Donelson
Shiloh
 
 

Results

The losses on each side at Shiloh were unusually heavy. Grant's army of 39,830 had been reinforced by 25,255 during the night between the 2 days' battle, swelling the total number of Union troops engaged to 65,085, excluding a guard detachment of 1,727 men left at Crump's Landing. Of that total number 1,754 were reported killed, 8,408 wound ed, and 2,885 missing; presenting an aggregate of 13,047 casualties.

The army under Generals Johnston and Beauregard had gone into battle with 43,968 men of all arms and condition. They received no reinforcements, except 731 men of Col. Munson R. Hill's Tennessee Regiment who had reached the front unarmed and were furnished with arms and equipment picked up from the field. The Southerners lost 1,728 killed, 8,012 wounded, and 959 captured or missing, or a total of 10,699 casualties.

During the first few weeks following the battle, both sides claimed a victory. The Confederates based their claim upon the facts that they had inflicted an almost complete rout on the Federals on Sunday, April 6, and that they had been able to hold a part of the field until they withdrew in good order on Monday. Furthermore, they said, the Union armies were so battered that they were unable to pursue.

"Present" and "Casualties" at Shiloh



Present
for duty
Casualties
Killed Wounded Missing Total

UNION
Army of the Tennessee (April 6) 39,830 1,433 6,202 2,818 10,453

Reinforcements (April 7)

Army of the Tennessee 7,337 80 399 12 491
Army of the Ohio 17,918 241 1,807 55 2,103


   Total Federals engaged1 65,085 1,754 8,408 2,885 13,047


CONFEDERATE
Army of the Mississippi (April 6) 43,968 1,728 8,012 959 10,699

Reinforcements (April 7)

Hill's 47th Tennessee 731





   Total Confederates engaged 44,699 1,728 8,012 959 10,699


   GRAND TOTAL 109,784 3,482 16,420 3,844 23,746

1 Does not include 1,727 troops left at Crump's Landing as rear guard.

The Federals claimed the victory upon the grounds that on Monday evening they had recovered their encampments and had possession of the field from which the Confederates had retired, leaving behind a large number of their dead and wounded.

After the Battle of Shiloh the Confederates were compelled to withdraw southward. Corinth was abandoned to the North on May 30th, severing the railroad from Memphis to Chattanooga. By the end of June 1862, only those forts on the Mississippi River near Vicksburg remained in Southern hands. After a long siege, Vicksburg fell to the North on July 4, 1863, cutting the Confederacy in two.

April 6
April 7


Official Report of Union Brigadier General Prentiss at "The Hornets Nest"
Kindle Available
Tennessee in the Civil War
Tennessee in the Civil War

Selected Contemporary Accounts of Military and Other Events, Month by Month



Kindle Available
Shiloh Western Campaign

Shiloh and the Western Campaign of 1862
The Battle of Shiloh was one of the most critical battles in American History. Some of the biggest figures of the Civil War - Grant, Sherman, Johnston, Bragg, Beauregard, Buell - all fought there. Grant would write in his memoirs, before Shiloh, Americans on both sides of the Mason Dixon line believed that the war could still be a short affair.







Confederate Plan of Battle

click to enlarge

Battle Progression Map











More on Shiloh Tennessee
National Park Map and Legend
American Civil War Exhibits
Tennessee Civil War Battle Map
Civil War Summary
Women in the War
Documents of the Civil War
Civil War Picture Album


Nashville: The Western Confederacy's Final Gamble
Adequately mapped and illustrated, the read was an enjoyable one. The author was more than fair and accurate in his assessment of Hood who mismanaged, waisted and destroyed the superb Army of Tennessee, in effect throwing away the Confederacy's most viable hope
Struggle for the heartland
Struggle for the Heartland: The Campaigns from Fort Henry to Corinth
The military campaign that began in early 1862 with the advance to Fort Henry and culminated in late May with the capture of Corinth, Mississippi. The first significant Northern penetration into the Confederate west
Kindle Available
Manassas To Appomattox

From Manassas to Appomattox: General James Longstreet
According to some, he was partially to blame for the Confederate defeat at Gettysburg; according to others, if Lee had followed Longstreet's advice, they would have won that battle. He has been called stubborn and vain; and he has been lauded as one of the greatest tacticians of the Civil War
Fort Henry Fort Donelson
Forts Henry and Donelson
The Key to the Confederate Heartland

The front in Virginia was relatively narrow (Chesapeake Bay to Blue Ridge Mountains) while in Tennessee the front stretched hundreds of miles from the Mississippi River to the Appalachian Mountains. To cover this extensive area the Confederates had a much smaller force than in Virginia
Kindle Available

Civil War Curiosities: Strange Stories, Oddities, Events, and Coincidences
This work was fascinating to read and was neither over dramatic or under written. The stories were lively and interesting and the additon of old photos and draqwings helped fill out the book.

The Battle of the Wilderness May 5-6, 1864
Fought in a tangled forest fringing the south bank of the Rapidan River, the Battle of the Wilderness marked the initial engagement in the climactic months of the Civil War in Virginia, and the first encounter between Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee
Civil War Almanac
The Civil War Day By Day
An Almanac, 1861-1865

The most exhaustively detailed and fascinating book on the American Civil War of its kind. Not only does it provide a day-by-day look at the major events of the war, but lists so many of the small skirmishes and actions as well. Accurate and enjoyable
Kindle Available
Civil War Medicine

Civil War Medicine
The staggering challenge of treating wounds and disease on both sides of the conflict. Written for general readers and scholars alike, this first-of-its kind encyclopedia will help all Civil War enthusiasts to better understand this amazing medical saga. Clearly organized, authoritative, and readable

American Civil War DVD Titles
Bad Blood Civil War Misouri and Kansas
Bad Blood: The Border War That Triggered the Civil War
In the years leading up to the Civil War, a bloody conflict between slaveholders and abolitionists focused the nation's eyes on the state of Missouri and the territory of Kansas. Told through the actual words of slave owners, free-staters, border ruffians, and politicians, Bad Blood presents the complex morality, differing values, and life-and-death decisions faced by those who lived on the Missouri-Kansas border

Blue Vs. Gray - Killing Fields
Relive the most vicious fighting of the Civil War, in which General Ulysses S. Grant forcibly reversed the tide of the conflict by paying with the blood of thousands. It was a desperate time for the Union

Civil War Combat: America's Bloodiest Battles
The violent mayhem of the hornet's nest at Shiloh, the valiant charge on the sunken road at Antietam, the carnage in the wheat field at Gettysburg, and the brutal fighting at Cold Harbor

Shiloh: The War is Civil No More


The Blue and the Gray
The Complete Miniseries

The Civil War proved a backdrop for this 1982 miniseries. Complete and uncut three disc set. Two families divided by the War Between the States. A Southerner caught when he becomes a war correspondent for the Northern newspaper. He finds himself  where history's in the making from the Battle of Bull Run to Abraham Lincoln's assassination

Battle of Stones River
The Fight for Murfreesboro

At dawn on December 31, 1862 the two armies clashed in a deadly struggle along the banks of Stones River.
Chickamauga Civil War DVD
The Battle of Chickamauga
Special Widescreen Edition

Chickamauga one of the fiercest engagements of the American Civil War. Over a period of two days, more than 100,000 men struggled for control of the south's transportation hub, Chattanooga.

Struggle For Vicksburg
Photography of the park with authentic battlefield illustrations and life-like paintings. Vicksburg's wartime role in the bloody and brutal conflict.



Source:
Library of Congress
National Park Service
Department of the Interior