Hosts Scott and Jenn recount the harrowing events of the Battle of Shiloh fought on April 6th and 7th, 1862. They discuss the initial surprise Confederate attack on Union forces at Pittsburgh Landing, Tennessee, led by General Albert Sidney Johnston, the staunch Union resistance at the Hornet’s Nest, and the arrival of Major General Don Carlos Buell’s reinforcements that turned the tide.

The episode delves into the strategic importance of Shiloh, its brutal casualties, and the pivotal roles played by notable figures such as Ulysses S. Grant, William Tecumseh Sherman, and Nathan Bedford Forrest.

Transcript

120 Shiloh

[00:00:00]

[00:00:03] The Battle of Shiloh Begins

[00:00:03] Scott: Dawn broke on April 6th, 1862, shattering the peace of Pittsburgh Landing, Tennessee. The air, once filled with birdsong, now thundered with the roar of cannon fire and the cries of men. The Battle of Shiloh had begun, and with it, a day that would forever change the course of the American Civil War.

[00:00:33] Union forces under the command of Major Ulysses S. Grant found themselves caught in a nightmare. Their camp, nestled near Shiloh Church, had seemed secure. Grant, battle hardened but perhaps overly confident, had not ordered the construction of defensive fortifications. It was a decision that would haunt him as the day unfolded.

[00:00:54] Like demons emerging from the mist, Confederate soldiers materialized from the woods, led by the brilliant General Albert Sidney Johnston. The Army of the Mississippi descended upon the unprepared Union troops with terror. The air filled with the acrid smell of gunpowder and the metallic tang of blood, cannons booming, a relentless rain of death across the woods.

[00:01:19] Chaos reigned as blue clad soldiers scrambled for their weapons, many still wiping sleep from their eyes. The initial Confederate onslaught sent waves of panic through the Union lines. Men who had dreamed of glory now faced the stark reality of war, and some broke ranks, fleeing in terror. Yet amidst the mayhem, islands of resistance formed.

[00:01:39] None more formidable than the area that would come to be known as the Hornet’s Nest. Here, the determined Union soldiers transformed a sunken road into a fortress, their resolve as unyielding as the oak trees that surrounded them. As the sun climbed higher, so did the body count. The ground, once green with spring growth, now ran red with the lifeblood of both North and South.

[00:02:04] In a cruel twist of fate, Confederate General Johnston, the architect of this audacious assault, fell victim to a stray bullet. As his lifeblood ebbed away on the battlefield, so too did the initial momentum of the Confederate attack. General P. G. T. Beauregard assumed command, rallying the Confederate forces for one final push.

[00:02:26] The Union lines bent, threatening to break entirely. Grant, his uniform caked with mud and gunpowder, moved tirelessly along the front, a rock amid the storm, inspiring his men to hold fast against the relentless gray tide. As dusk fell on Shiloh, the battered Union forces found themselves pushed to the very edge of the Tennessee River.

[00:02:47] The backs against the water they faced a grim reality. The Confederates, despite their losses, seemed poised for victory. The first day of battle ended with the Union Army clinging desperately to a shrinking pocket of land as over 2, 000 Union troops finally surrendered the infamous Hornet’s Nest. In the eerie calm that followed the day’s carnage, Grant surveyed the devastation.

[00:03:09] The moans of the wounded and dying filling the air. A haunting lullaby to the horrors of war. The Union forces were bloodied, battered, and on the brink of defeat. Their fate hung by a thread. As night enveloped the battlefield, a crucial question lingered in the air, heavy as the smoke from spent gunpowder.

[00:03:35] Would reinforcements arrive in time? Or would dawn bring only the final? Crushing blow of a Confederate victory. The answers lay shrouded in the darkness as uncertain as the future of mission itself. Try get in. Father, keep my feet from the street, but the road gets harder. I get you see, can he won’t. 

[00:04:07] Introduction to Talk With History

[00:04:07] Scott: Welcome to Talk With History. I am your host, Scott, here with my wife and historian, Jen. Hello! On this podcast, we give you insights to our history inspired world travels, YouTube channel journey, and examine history through deeper conversations with the curious, the out there. 

[00:04:26] Discussing the Significance of Shiloh

[00:04:26] Scott: I just want to say upfront, this was a much from the non history nerd from new listeners, Scott is the non history nerd, even though I’m the host, I enjoyed this battlefield more than I expected and learning about this battle.

[00:04:42] It was like a short two day intense battle. A lot happened. Momentum was swinging both ways. All these big names. Some, made their name there. Some lost their lives there. It was one of the bloodiest battles. Like a lot happened at Shiloh. So let’s, let’s get right into 

[00:05:02] Jenn: Yeah, I think Shiloh’s not given a lot of credit for what it was in the Civil War. 

[00:05:09] Union and Confederate Strategies

[00:05:09] Jenn: Shiloh, is such a turning point in a lot of different ways for our careers are made at Shiloh careers are ended at Shiloh I would say the bulk of the war hinges on that whole battle the momentum will be gained for one side loss for another and just the footing of the position of it is going to be so important.

[00:05:35] Scott: It really seemed to establish relatively early in the Civil War, right? It’s 1862, so still got a couple years till it’s going to end. It really seemed to cement. Obviously union leadership, but then really remove some key Confederate leadership that we’ll talk about here in a little 

[00:05:53] Jenn: but what else it did, it did two things as much as it was it ends up being a union victory. It establishes two things that are just, I would say, not great for everybody. It establishes that the Confederates are in this to the end. Grant realizes at Shiloh, and he’s able to really portray that to Lincoln, that these guys are going to fight until the end.

[00:06:24] This is not going to be an easy war. This is not going to be, Oh, we’re just going to shut them down with a couple of battles. Like they thought it was going to be, we’re just going to go down there and capture the railroad. And that’ll be it. They’ll be like, okay, fine. You guys won.

[00:06:37] He realizes the fight in these Southern men and it’s the fight to the end. And the country, I think, starts to realize with all the casualties at Shiloh, that people are willing to die for their cause, for both sides, and that we’re in this for the long haul now. And I think that realization happens across the board for the North and the South coming out of the Battle of Shiloh.

[00:07:04] The Duality of Shiloh and Pittsburgh Landing

[00:07:04] Jenn: And I want to talk about the duality of Shiloh because the North is called the Battle of Pittsburgh Landing. So there’s a lot of duality you’re going to see throughout the Civil War in general. They’re named different things depending on what side is telling the story. And Shiloh is what the South refers to it as the Battle of Shiloh because there is a church there or one room log cabin meeting place that they used as a church sometimes called Shiloh, which means battle.

[00:07:32] Peace in Hebrew, which sounds, ironic, but Pittsburgh landing is what it’s called for the North. And the reason why it’s called Pittsburgh landing is that’s the part of the Tennessee river where they offload all these troops. So it’s just a, for the topography of it, it’s a good location to offload troops from the North.

[00:07:53] Scott: we show that Pittsburgh landing, right. They still call it. That area of it today, even though it’s the Shiloh is the name of the battlefield. We do a pretty good job of kind of showing that part of the Tennessee river or, or that part of the river and Pittsburgh landing and really giving you a good kind of visualization of how ships would come in and offload.

[00:08:14]

[00:08:14] Jenn: it still looks like it does today. And if you’ve ever traveled along the Tennessee River or the Mississippi, there are certain parts that are not as easily accessible for people and there’s parts that look like it’s very accessible for people. the whole area was picked by Sherman. so he could offload all of the troops and they could camp out there and Sherman made his camp by Shiloh because it’s an open field when you’re there.

[00:08:40] So this duality, you’re going to see it in a couple of different areas that the sunken road is going to be referred to the hornet’s nest sunken road by the North hornet’s nest by the South. So when you’re talking about things in the civil war, I want to remind people that sometimes you could be using two different terms, but talking about the exact same thing.

[00:08:59] So if someone’s I want to talk about Pittsburgh landing. You’re like, well, I want to talk about Shiloh. Well, you’re talking about the same thing.

[00:09:04] Grant and Sherman’s Tactical Movements

[00:09:04] Scott: So now re remind me how the forces ended up converging on this spot to begin with.

[00:09:10] Jenn: So like you said, it’s 1862. It’s early in the war. This is the North penetrating the South. Grant is not the commander of the Union forces at this time, but he is a high ranking general and he is making his name and he has just had two major victories in Tennessee. He has taken, I think it was Fort Donaldson and Fort Henry and Nashville, Tennessee.

[00:09:36] And so in March of 1862 is when they occupy Pittsburgh Landing. So Grant’s working with Sherman, they’re coming down, they’re bringing their troops, they have about 40, 000 troops. And Grant stays a little further up the Tennessee River in a place called Savannah, Tennessee, can get confusing.

[00:09:56] But and then everybody. Else all the troops come down to Pittsburgh Landing and Sherman camps out by Shiloh because it’s an easy place to offload these troops. And they’re heading on to, now make sure I say it right, Scott, Corneth?

[00:10:11] Scott: No, it’s Corinth. , the reason that Jen asked that question, if you haven’t watched our video, we didn’t realize it until after we got back from Shiloh and I was looking over the footage and she said it a few times and I was looking at maps and I was like, oh my goodness.

[00:10:24] She swapped like the eye in the end. So she kept saying corny as in Korn, and then if when it’s actually Corinth, as in like Corinthians, the book of the

[00:10:34] Bible. Corinth,

[00:10:35] Yeah. so Corinth, Mississippi,

[00:10:37] Corinth. 

[00:10:37] Jenn: Corinth. So Corinth is where they want to go and it’s south of Pittsburgh Landing, 

[00:10:44] Scott: And I believe, strategically that was like just a central location for railroads, for obviously the rivers, some rivers that were intersecting in that area.

[00:10:52] So it was just a natural convergence, of logistics, which is what a lot of, wars are fought around.

[00:11:00] Jenn: Well, it’s exactly what it, they’re looking for this strategic railroad crossing because it’s two major railroads that cross right there. It’s the Mobile Ohio Railroad and the Memphis Charleston Railroad. And all the logistics, think of food, think of ammunition, think of clothing, think of troops that are going to travel along those railroad lines

[00:11:18] and so if you can cut off the railroad, especially to major areas where the South is, It’s penetrating. It’s just a major victory. So that’s what they want. So Grant and Sherman are making their camp knowing that they’re going to go on to Korneth?

[00:11:37] Scott: Corinth, Corinth, like Corinthians, 

[00:11:39] Jenn: like

[00:11:39] Corinthians. I know pronunciation is not my strong suit. But they’re told to wait because it’s going to be reinforced by troops. So they’re going to be enforced by the army of the Ohio is coming to meet them. About 16, 000 troops. So right now they have about 45, they’re waiting for about 16, 000. So they’re told to wait, wait until you get those troops and then you can go on and attack.

[00:12:00] Confederate Offensive and Union Defense

[00:12:00] Jenn: Now, on the other side, on the South side, they realize that they’re coming down and they have high morale right now. So we need to stop them. And so you’re gonna get Johnston, who is this, he’s considered like a great leader, he’s really good friends with Jefferson Davis.

[00:12:18] Scott: one of the senior generals in the Confederate

[00:12:21] Jenn: He is like one of the most senior generals and he’s going to be the most senior person killed in the Civil War 

[00:12:27] Scott: Period. 

[00:12:27] Jenn: He takes Beauregard and their troops and they want to attack him They want to be on the offensive because you always have the upper hand if you’re on the offensive And so they they had actually planned to attack three days earlier But what’s happening right now in April in Tennessee is a lot of 

[00:12:46] Scott: It is. We are living in Tennessee right now and that is rainy season.

[00:12:50] Jenn: And if you’ve never been in a southern rain before, you can’t even see on the road. Sometimes it is big, huge raindrops that come quickly and it’s penetrating. And what happened is it, all these men are really traveling by foot and by wagon. So the ground is just muddy and boggy and you’re by a river.

[00:13:09] You can just imagine the sickness with the mosquitoes, so you’re dealing with a lot of those issues. They wait a couple days for the rain to clear up. Well, I think there’s a couple things that are their downfall, but that waiting is one of them.

[00:13:25] Because they wait until April 6th, and they attack the morning of April 6th. Now, Sherman knows they’re out there.

[00:13:35] He doesn’t know where. He hears them. They’re firing random shots 

[00:13:38] Scott: I think I read that it there were some accounts from the Union side that they knew that they were out there because the Confederates were like practicing their, their cannon fire or something like that.

[00:13:48] But if, if so, that would, lead one to believe that, yes, the forces are out there somewhere. I may not know exactly where they are. So that, like you said, it wasn’t a hundred percent a surprise, but they weren’t expecting them to attack.

[00:14:01] Jenn: Yeah, they were expecting the attack to happen in

[00:14:05] Corinth. Is that right? So Sherman actually goes out early in the morning of April 6th to check out what they’re doing.

[00:14:12] He has his field glasses, binoculars up and he’s looking and his aid gets shot and killed right beside him. And the field glasses get shot right out of his hand. So this is about 6am on the 6th. And Grant up in Savannah, which is up the river about 10 miles, hears

[00:14:28] Scott: it. He hears the cannon

[00:14:29] Jenn: He hears the cannon fire so much so he stops eating breakfast. He gets on his own steamer, the Tigers, and gets down to Pittsburgh 

[00:14:36] landing. 

[00:14:36] Scott: Two to three hours.

[00:14:37] Jenn: he’s there by 9am, which is a myth. A myth that Grant wasn’t there. A myth that Grant missed the first day. A myth that Grant wasn’t with his army when they were attacked.

[00:14:47] It’s not true. 

[00:14:48] Scott: And I remember reading too when we were there that Grant, put a ton of trust in Sherman. he trusted Sherman quite a bit. And when he got down there, he was walking the lines and doing what, a general should. Is making sure they’re shoring up here and there and kind of like instilling confidence in the men.

[00:15:04] And then when he got down to Sherman. He basically, saw that he was here, checked with them and was like, great, you got it. And he went to the rest of his troops and let Sherman, hold his part of the front.

[00:15:14] Jenn: . I mean, they’re West Point grads. Sherman will be the only one that day. on the battlefield. Who’s West Point grad besides Grant? And so they trust each other. Plus they have proven themselves both. They have both been in battles together. They have both proven their worth, proven that they fight and they both deal with, let’s say, propaganda in the news, which is no different than anybody else who’s doing well.

[00:15:39] From both sides, people are jealous in the north of both of their success, and then people in the south are trying to discredit them. So Grant’s being called an alcoholic, Sherman’s being called a warmonger, right? So both of them, and they’re both laughing at each other about these lies about them.

[00:15:55] Scott: like they joke with each

[00:15:56] other 

[00:15:58] Jenn: But they’re both there to fight. So you get the fighting starting about 6 a. m. A lot of artillery, a lot of cannons have been brought in. So if you go to the Battle of Shiloh, you’ll see a lot of cannons, which means that the South was there to fight. And the North is surprised. They get ready.

[00:16:14] They get up on their horses and they start to engage. But this first day, I want to remind people, it’s pretty even. I see a lot of Information that will always say, Oh, it was 65, 000 troops against 44, 000 confederates. No, in the end, that’s true. On the second day, on the first day, it’s about 40, 000 union and 44, 000 confederates.

[00:16:41] And that’s why the confederates basically, a kick butt that first day.

[00:16:47] Scott: I mean, basically, and I think you made this point in the video, was by the end of the first day that, the scales were tipping on the side of the Confederacy.

[00:16:54] Yeah, Right. they had the momentum.

[00:16:56] Jenn: they have pushed them basically all the way back to Pittsburgh Landing 

[00:17:00] Scott: to the river. 

[00:17:01] Jenn: They have taken Shiloh. They’re sleeping in Sherman’s camp that first

[00:17:06] The Hornet’s Nest: A Legendary Defense

[00:17:06] Jenn: Now the only saving grace for the Union is the sunken road, the Hornet’s Nest, what they’re both called, is like a little road.

[00:17:14] They call it the sunken road because it was like a wagon road, 

[00:17:16] Scott: Yeah, it’s not like you hear that name and you would think oh, they call it that because it was like this ditch. 

[00:17:21] It really wasn’t. It was basically a trail.

[00:17:24] Jenn: basically a trail. Protect and save the Shiloh area until 18, the 1890s 1894. So it’s about 30 years later. So stories were embellished and changed and, and they even said the first person who wrote about the sunken road in their journal wasn’t even in a position to see it.

[00:17:45] Scott: Oh, interesting. 

[00:17:46] Jenn: So,

[00:17:47] it’s one of those legends that become fact,

[00:17:50] Scott: Yeah. So now you mentioned the Hornet’s Nest and we talk a little bit about that in the video because the Hornet’s Nest was one of those things that the Confederates, I mean, that was, it took all day for them to take that position because the Union forces at the Hornet’s Nest, the reason they, they were Got that nickname from the South is because it was so difficult to defeat them.

[00:18:09] And basically like 12 hours of battle of Confederates trying to take that part of the line. And then by the end of the day, I think it was like around five 30. There’s a sign that had it 

[00:18:20] The Hornet’s Nest: Wallace’s Stand

[00:18:20] Jenn: You get two really great leaders here I would say one, Wallace, Wallace is the guy. Think of Wallace from 

[00:18:27] Braveheart. He’s Union. He’s the guy. He’s holding this hornet’s nest. They have about a thousand men at first, and then it dwindles down to three hundred. And he’s the guy.

[00:18:37] It’s kind of like as the Confederates are pushing the Union back, think of them pushing around on the left and the right, and the middle is staying strong. And that’s what the Hornet’s Nest looks like in Shiloh, is they’re pushing the Union and they’re making headway on the right. That’s where Sherman is really going to fall back.

[00:18:56] They’re making headway On the left. How are we looking at this? Kind of what the river is and then around them as they kind of encircle is this hornet’s nest where Wallace is saying, and they call it the hornet’s nest the South because these guys won’t give up and they keep fighting.

[00:19:11] Now we take you there in the video. The hornet’s nest is a very thick wooden area, like a thicket. And again, we got the rain, we got the fog, we have artillery that’s hitting. So everything is foggy and hard to see. But these trees are providing so much cover for these men where the Confederates are out in the open.

[00:19:32] So every time the Confederates try to hit them, like 200 men, they’re always pushed back because the guys, the Union can hide behind the trees. And so they’re really holding their own. Wallace will go and try to find a way to retreat and the Wallace is killed. And then that’s when Prentiss will take over and he fights as well.

[00:19:53] What’s great about the Hornet’s Nest or the Sunken Road at the North, we’ll call it, is they don’t surrender until 5 30 

[00:20:00] PM. 

[00:20:00] Scott: I think you said on the video, it basically gives time for the rest of the Union. To kind really reinforce themselves as they’re falling back.

[00:20:08] Jenn: Yes, they reinforce themselves. 

[00:20:09] Confederate Exhaustion and Beauregard’s Blunder

[00:20:09] Jenn: They fall back to Pittsburgh landing kind of today where you would see where the cemetery is and Beauregard, Johnston has been killed. We’ll talk about his death, but Johnston has been killed by here. Beauregard has taken control, and he’s basically exhausted. 

[00:20:25] His troops are exhausted. And people say this is a blunder, Beauregard, that first day he should have kept going. Because, where’s, Grant going where’s anybody 

[00:20:33] Scott: He had him on his heels. 

[00:20:33] Jenn: had him on his heels. He’s not reinforced yet But his troops have basically the Confederates. I hate to admit it.

[00:20:40] They’ve stopped fighting. They’re exhausted They’re hungry. They start to pillage the camps that they’ve captured They go for more weapons. They go for food. They start to relax. It’s, they were exhausted. 

[00:20:53] And so even if Beauregard could have kept fighting, his troops were done that 

[00:20:59] Scott: Yeah. So that was the night of April 6th. And then basically that night everybody just rested,

[00:21:04] Jenn: It rested except for the Union. There’s two, what they call timber clads. So no, not iron clads. They’re, Union ships that are really, really thick. thick wood, they fire throughout the night onto the confederates. And so they I would say, keep it alive. Keep the pressure a little 

[00:21:23] Scott: pressure a little bit. 

[00:21:24] Union Reinforcements Arrive

[00:21:24] Scott: Now, overnight, the Union does get their reinforcements.

[00:21:27] Jenn: Don Carlos Buell gets there about midnight and between midnight four and 4am he brings everyone on board. 

[00:21:33] Scott: And that’s additional, what do you say, 15 

[00:21:37] Jenn: fresh troops for the Union. Now Grant, that night, Grant has had a mishap. He’s fallen. His horse has fallen on him and squished his leg and hurt his ankle. So he went to a makeshift hospital tent that’s by Pittsburgh Landing, and he didn’t want to stay in the tents anymore because they smelled the blood and people screaming.

[00:21:56] So he walks outside and sits under a big tree. if you go to Shiloh, there’s a big kind of canon that says Grant’s headquarters the night of April 

[00:22:06] Scott: Oh interesting. 

[00:22:06] Jenn: his headquarters was a tree. 

[00:22:08] Grant’s Determination and the 6 AM Offensive

[00:22:08] Jenn: He sits under this big oak tree Sherman comes to see him and he goes What a what a devil of a day and Grant will say but will lick him tomorrow Like he is in this fight.

[00:22:20] And so Buell comes that day and so Grant Wants to have the offensive 6 a. m. offensive, just like they came to them the day before, the Union will attack at 6 a. m. the next morning, and it’s a surprise for the Confederates because they’re thinking that the Union is just as tired as they are.

[00:22:40] Scott: then all of a sudden there’s 15, 000 fresh

[00:22:42] troops 

[00:22:43] Jenn: Now the Confederates had, I think they had 600 fresh troops themselves, but nothing nears what Grant had gotten. And so they’re so able to push back and fight. And Beauregard, I think it’s by noon on the 7th, starts his retreat. And that’s where they go back to Corinth. And that they retreat so much so that they say Confederates just ran all the way back.

[00:23:09] They’re just like, we’re done. and Sherman and Grant don’t go past where they 

[00:23:15] Scott: yeah, no, there was a couple of kind of larger than life historical figures. We’ve talked about one or two of them, some interesting stories about them.

[00:23:23] Sherman’s Close Calls and Johnston’s Death

[00:23:23] Scott: Sherman specifically. And please correct me if I’m wrong, but if I remember right, when we went there, he had his horse shot out from him underneath him three times in those two

[00:23:35] days. 

[00:23:36] Jenn: Three different times. And his field glasses, remember, were shot out of his hand the first day and his aide was killed right beside him. So whoever was picking which one to shoot could have shot him. So you get like these, again, these are moments, these turning points. Sherman’s horse is shot out from him.

[00:23:55] Multiple times he misses his field glasses are shot from him, but then you’re gonna get Johnston

[00:24:02] Scott: Who’s killed.

[00:24:02] Jenn: who’s killed this high ranking confederate who what happens is he could have been saved. he shot in the leg with severs and artery, but it’s too late. in his boots where they can’t see it.

[00:24:12] Scott: he couldn’t feel it.

[00:24:13] Jenn: he’s had nerve damage in that leg. So he can’t really even feel it. And he’s been, his uniform has been shot up a couple of times. So he looks ragged anyway, but people see the trail of blood and it’s within an hour, he bleeds out.

[00:24:27] Scott: basically just falls over on his horse.

[00:24:29] Jenn: They pull him off his horse and he dies. They still can’t even find the wound as he’s dead 

[00:24:35] Scott: cause it’s in like in his boot. 

[00:24:35] Jenn: in his boot. And but they had a tourniquet, a tourniquet could have saved his life and it wasn’t used. So you get these good luck, bad luck things happening to high ranking people on either side. And once Davis hears that Johnston has been killed, he even fears for the rest of the war.

[00:24:54] This is gonna be a real hit to the morale

[00:24:57] Scott: Yeah, now there was one other kind of well known historical figure that had a small part on the tail end of the second day.

[00:25:04] Nathan Bedford Forrest’s Daring Escape

[00:25:04] Scott: And that was Nathan Bedford Forrest. So the story, if I remember right, about him was he was leading a small kind of squad of men or something like that. And they get encircled by Union troops. And so the Union troops are trying to capture him. Because he’s sitting on his horse and they can see he’s an officer.

[00:25:21] And he basically it was pretty crazy. Something like he like charges these Union soldiers that are coming at him. And he basically scoops one up and uses them as a human shield as he’s riding through the rest of them to run off and escape. 

[00:25:33]

[00:25:33] Jenn: a crazy story. Nathan Bedford Forrest statue that they used to have heading up to Nashville. this is not actually the day of the battle. It’s the day after it’s April 

[00:25:43] Scott: April 

[00:25:44] Jenn: called Timber Falls because it’s even further back than the battlefield.

[00:25:49] And American Battlefield Trust is actually trying to preserve this area right now. So what happens is Sherman is writing out to see. Where the armies have gone, where have the confederates gone to, where have they retreated to? And Timber Falls has become a makeshift hospital for the confederates. And Nathan Bedford Forrest, who has missed battle, he wasn’t in Shiloh, he gets there that day.

[00:26:11] That’s why he’s so fresh and ready to fight sees the confederates coming and he wants to protect the men in the hospital. So that’s what he’s doing, he’s riding out to protect those men, to give them time. Now, Sherman sees this. Everyone’s like battle worn and tired. So Sherman sees this guy and how full of piss and vinegar he is and they back off and they go 

[00:26:33] Scott: Yeah. Now, if the name Nathan Bedford Forrest sounds familiar to you and you can’t place like, why do I know that name? Well, it’s because he’s better known for some, some other stuff throughout history.

[00:26:45] Jenn: Yeah, he’s actually the first episode we ever did on Walk With History because he had a statue in Memphis. When we first moved to Memphis, we were both Yankees who had no idea who Nathan Bedford Forrest even was. And he had this very prominent statue in Memphis, Tennessee. So I made a video kind of explaining to my family and people who he was.

[00:27:06] The statue was no longer there. It has been removed, but he was a Confederate general. He survives the Civil War.

[00:27:13] He goes on to Be instrumental in the beginning of the Ku Klux Klan.

[00:27:18] Scott: I think he was pretty well known for Fort Pillow.

[00:27:20] Jenn: And he’s, yes, he’s very well known for Four Pillow and that’s what the video is about. Four pillow, where African American troops were captured, union troops were captured.

[00:27:28] Scott: So there’s all these larger than life historical figures at this battle. That was one of the things that was just I was so pleasantly surprised by, whether it’s Beauregard and Johnston and Grant and Sherman and Nathan Bedford Forrest. And I was like, I know all these names and I’m just the general I barely paid attention to history in high school person.

[00:27:47] So it was just a fascinating, kind of historical story for us to tell.

[00:27:53] The Aftermath of Shiloh

[00:27:53] Jenn: And it’s a beautiful battlefield. Like the North has Gettysburg, the South has Shiloh. Now we haven’t done Vicksburg, we’re going to Vicksburg tomorrow, but Shiloh is beautiful. It needs its due because what you come out of Shiloh with is that famous saying from Lincoln. Now what happens at Shiloh is the 

[00:28:13] casualties of Shiloh. So I was just reading the human cost of Shiloh is 24 percent of all confederate soldiers present will die. 

[00:28:25] If you were present the first day as a union troop, 26 percent chance of dying.

[00:28:33] If you were there the second day. It’s 20%. So and as a whole, anybody who fought in Shiloh, the total casualties was 21%. This was the first time that had happened on American soil. Both sides are just rung through the ringer in the press. So Grant, even though this turns out he’s clenching a victory from the jaws of defeat he’s run through the ringer for all the loss of life.

[00:29:02] When you go to Shiloh, that’s why there’s mass pits of confederate dead. There is a cemetery there now that wasn’t there at the beginning. They had dug men up and put them into that cemetery. There are two confederates that found their way into that cemetery. They’re marked as well. If you ever want to go there.

[00:29:21] Reflecting on the Battle’s Legacy

[00:29:21] Jenn: But Lincoln is going to get such criticism from, again, the other Union generals because Grant is not the head of the Union army as of yet. Why are we allowing this man to have such control? Why are we allowing Grant to have such control? Look at how he just. disregards human life and kills men. And Lincoln’s famous comeback is I cannot spare this man.

[00:29:44] He fights. So he was been used to this as early in the war. He’s used to retreats. used to people who don’t fight and grant fights and you get unconditional surrender grant.

[00:29:57] Scott: he’s really the answer to. The Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson right? he really is. And he’s the first one, that gains notoriety for that.

[00:30:08] Whereas on the Confederate side, they had some very well established, very smart, very good, military leadership on their side.

[00:30:16] Jenn: Yes. So you’re going to get this. this combo of Grant and Sherman coming out that are going to be the duality of Lee and Jackson. And we know what eventually happens to Jackson. So it’s, it’s one of those turning point battles that was just so pinnacle to where the war was going to go. And this is when we’re going to get into the Southern theater now.

[00:30:42] Right. The union is going to push through into the south now. And we’re going to be going to Vicksburg and we’ll talk more about that battle, but it was just amazing to go to Shiloh. It has a lot of legends. Hopefully we’ve talked about some of those and we’ve made some of them, right. But it’s one of those places that it really does remind me of Gettysburg.

[00:31:00]

[00:31:00] Scott: Yeah, it’s very drivable. 

[00:31:02] Jenn: have markers everywhere that explain things and explain the markers to you. They can, they really tell you the difference between the first day and the second day, which is really great because you get such a great battle between these first, these two days.

[00:31:15] And so it’s a, it’s a beautiful battlefield. And I just recommend anyone get out there and go to it if you get the chance, because for us, it was someplace we always wanted to go. And now that we’ve been, I don’t know why we didn’t go sooner.

[00:31:27] Scott: Yeah, it was amazing if you are in this general area of tennessee I think it was about what an hour and a half for us from memphis towards nashville it’s absolutely worth taking a day 

[00:31:39] You could probably spend a good part of a day there and go see Shiloh, even if you just do the driving tour it was, really 

[00:31:47] Shiloh Ends

[00:31:47] Scott: As the first light of dawn crept over Tennessee on April 7th, 1862, the weary Union soldiers braced themselves for what seemed to be their final stand. But fate, it seemed, had other plans. In the early hours of the morning, the unmistakable sound of steamboat whistles pierced the air. It was the sound that filled the Union troops with renewed hope and the confederate with dread.

[00:32:15] Major General Darn Carlos Buell’s Army of the Ohio had arrived. Bringing with them fresh troops. Grant, his determination unwavering despite the previous day’s setbacks, wasted no time. He quickly integrated Buell’s forces into his battered lines and prepared for a counterattack. The reinforcements were not just a numerical advantage, they brought with them a surge of morale that electrified the Union ranks.

[00:32:41] As the sun rose higher, illuminating the blood soaked fields of Shiloh, Grant unleashed his reinvigorated army. The Union forces now outnumbering the Confederate foes. Advance with a ferocity that caught the southern troops off guard the tables had turned Now it was the confederates who found themselves pushed back struggling to maintain their cohesion in the face of the relentless union assault The very ground they had conquered the day before was now slipping from their grasp.

[00:33:12] Throughout the day, the battle raged with renewed intensity. The Union troops, emboldened by their reinforcements, fought with a vigor that belied their exhaustion. They reclaimed lost positions, pushing the Confederate lines further and further back. General Beauregard, recognizing the shifting tides of battle, made the difficult decision to withdraw.

[00:33:32] By mid afternoon, he ordered a general retreat, pulling his battered forces back towards Corinth, Mississippi. As the Confederate Army began its withdrawal, the full extent of the battle’s toll became apparent.

[00:33:48] The Fields of Shiloh were a grim testament to the war’s brutality, littered with bodies of over 23, 000 dead, wounded, or missing soldiers from both sides.

[00:34:02] The Battle of Shiloh had ended, but its impact would resonate throughout the rest of the war. The Union victory, snatched from the jaws of defeat, had preserved Grant’s army and dealt a significant blow to the Confederate hopes in the Western Theater. As the sun set on April 7th, the surviving soldiers of both armies grappled with the enormity of what they had experienced.

[00:34:22] The battle had been a brutal awakening, dispelling romantic notions of war and revealing its true, horrific nature. For Grant, the victory was bittersweet. The heavy casualties and the near disaster of the first day would haunt him, but the experience would shape him into the tenacious commander who would ultimately lead the Union to victory.

[00:34:41] The road ahead remained long and bloody, but the Union’s resolve, tested in the fires of Shiloh, had emerged stronger than ever.

[00:34:52]