Hold the Line at Shiloh

THE BATTLE OF SHILOH APRIL 6–7, 1862 In April 1862, Union forces under Ulysses S. Grant camped near Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee, waiting for reinforcements. Confederate General Albert Sidney Johnston decided to strike first. At dawn on April 6, the Confederates attacked, catching much of Grant's army by surprise. Union troops were driven back through their camps in hours of savage fighting. Federal soldiers made desperate stands, most famously around the Hornet's Nest, but the Confederate advance continued. During the battle, General Johnston was mortally wounded. Command passed to P.G.T. Beauregard. By nightfall, Grant's battered army had been pushed back toward the Tennessee River—but it had not broken. During the night, Union reinforcements arrived. At dawn on April 7, Grant and the reinforced Union army counterattacked. Exhausted and outnumbered, the Confederates were steadily driven from the battlefield. Beauregard ordered a retreat toward Corinth, Mississippi. After two days of fighting, nearly 24,000 men were killed, wounded, or missing. The Union held the field. Shiloh was over. The nation was beginning to understand what the Civil War would cost.