Confederates Defeated at Battle of Shiloh (7 APR 1862)

Photo By Erin Thompson | Battle of Shiloh by Thure de Thulstrup, c.1888 (L. Prang & Co.)  

UNITED STATES

04.05.2024

Story by Erin Thompson 

U.S. Army Intelligence Center of Excellence

by Erin E. Thompson, USAICoE Staff Historian

CONFEDERATES DEFEATED AT BATTLE OF SHILOH
On 7 April 1862, intelligence concerning the presence of reinforcements to Gen. Ulysses S. Grant’s Army of the Tennessee failed to reach Confederate Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard. Without the advance warning of increased Union strength, the Confederates were blindsided by Grant’s counterattack on the second day of the Battle of Shiloh.

The capture of Forts Donelson and Henry in western Tennessee in early 1862 provided Grant’s Union Army of the Tennessee a clear shot through the Confederate heartland. [This Week in MI History #28 16 Feb 1862] Grant thus moved his army toward Confederate headquarters in Corinth, Mississippi, and set up camp approximately twenty miles northeast at Pittsburgh Landing, Tennessee, four miles from the small Shiloh Church. His army would remain there to await reinforcements from Maj. Gen. Don Carlos Buell’s Army of Ohio.

The Confederate Army of the Mississippi, newly under the command of Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston, was not far behind Grant. He had planned to ambush Grant’s army on 3 April, but bad weather delayed the attack until the morning of 6 April. The fighting involved a level of brutality not yet seen in the American Civil War. The Army of the Tennessee was unprepared, undermanned, and disorganized, and quickly lost ground to the numerous Confederate divisions, though not without a fierce showing of strength and desperation. It was during the Confederate drive to push Grant’s men out of Pittsburgh Landing that General Johnston received a fatal injury to his leg and bled to death. Command of the Army of the Mississippi fell to his second-in-command, General Beauregard.

By the end of the first day of fighting at Shiloh, several hundred Union and Confederate soldiers lay dead or wounded in the wilderness surrounding Shiloh Church. Despite the heavy losses, Confederate morale was high in General Beauregard’s camp. Most believed dawn would bring ultimate victory over the Union Army of the Tennessee. Beauregard was especially convinced of his inevitable triumph due to intelligence from Col. Benjamin H. Helm, who claimed to have spotted Buell’s forces near Decatur, Alabama, nowhere near Grant’s army. Without reinforcements, Grant’s army was ripe for plunder.

Several issues would ultimately lead to the Confederate defeat on 7 April 1862. Colonel Helm’s information had been incorrect; Buell’s army was advancing quickly to reinforce Grant’s lines. Confederate cavalry commander Col. Nathan Bedford Forrest was also unconvinced of certain victory and ordered his reconnaissance scouts to investigate Union positions that night. Dressed in blue uniforms, Forrest’s men watched as thousands of troops began arriving with Buell. They relayed the information back to Forrest, who reported it to Lt. Gen. William J. Hardee. Hardee instructed Forrest to bring the intelligence to Beauregard, but Forrest was unable to locate the general; Beauregard had failed to inform anyone he had moved his command headquarters to tents captured from Brig. Gen. William T. Sherman. Unable to find Beauregard, Forrest’s intelligence went nowhere, and Beauregard’s staff remained ignorant that Grant and Buell’s combined forces now outnumbered them by more than 20,000 men.

Grant launched his attack at 0600 on 7 April 1862. Despite Beauregard’s attempts at a counterattack, the casualties suffered nearly incapacitated his army, and they were forced to retreat south to Corinth. The Union suffered more than 13,000 casualties, while the Confederates suffered between 10-11,000. It was the deadliest battle of the Civil War to date, though it would quickly be surpassed several times in the following years of the conflict. It was a Union victory born of a failure to get accurate intelligence to the right people at the right time, at a terrible cost.


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• Date Taken: 04.05.2024
• Date Posted: 04.05.2024 17:52
• Story ID: 467951
• Location: US