The Battle of Shiloh I
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When Senator Carlisle fled Virginia for Washington D.C. he brought with him an entire new front to the war. The heavy mountain regions of western Virginia were not designed in such a way to provide easy combat, especially from Virginia. For soldiers of the Confederacy to cross into the new “state”, they needed to pass through the Blue Ridge Mountains into hostile country. Many of the mountain men felt foreigners when compared to the men who lived further east, and where willing to fight to keep the invaders out. Samuel Cooper, the highest ranking officer in the Confederate Army, was tasked to create a plan to “liberate” West Virginia.
Cooper turned this task over to Braxton Bragg. Bragg was a North Carolina soldier who had rose to fame during the early months of the war thanks to his strict discipline and attention to detail. Bragg was given command of the Army of Tennessee and ordered to drive into West Virginia. Bragg’s first task was repelling the Union forces that faced him. Across the field from Bragg was perhaps the greatest General of the war, Albert Sidney Johnston. Johnston was a Southerner, but when his adopted home of Texas had sided with the Union he accepted command under the Northern armies. Johnston was given command of the Army of the Ohio and ordered to pacify Kentucky and invade Tennessee.
This was no simple task. A series of daring raids by a Confederate cavalry officer, Nathan Bedford Forrest, set Johnston back seriously. Demands for men to be sent east depleted his army further. Elon J. Farnsworth was ordered to take his cavalry and root out Forrest. Although the Confederate cavalryman was never caught, his forces were hurt by the counter incursions of Farnsworth. Eventually Forrest and his men were forced back into Tennessee and Johnston earned a brief respite. Under heavy pressure from Washington, Johnston was forced to march south against Bragg.
Albert Sidney Johnston
The result was the unfortunate battle of Shiloh. Johnston’s invasion of Tennessee was well planned, but failed when it came to action. First Farnsworth rushed in to disrupt and delay. Johnston then ordered William T. Sherman to take a quarter of the Army and meet up with the small Army of the Missouri, which captured Union City and Dyersburg quickly. Sherman then marched towards Jackson, and threatened Memphis. At this point Bragg was forced to order General William Joseph Hardee to meet Sherman. When Bragg split his force, Johnston struck. Marching at blinding speed, Johnston marched against the city of Nashville. Bragg, realizing what had happened, marched to meet him.
They engaged outside Nashville, but the city fell to Union forces quickly and Bragg ordered his men to fall back and meet up with Hardee. In the meantime Bragg sent men to delay Sherman at Jackson before marching south. Sherman gave chase, not realizing how large a force had assembled before him. Johnston meanwhile was marching south across the open Tennessee country. When he captured the forts at Columbia, he was given access to the entire breadth of the state thanks to the rivers that ran through it. Johnston, realizing that Sherman would be overwhelmed and cut off, marched to his aid. The battle fell to the small town of Pittsburgh Landing, near the Shiloh Church.
Confederate forces were using the river port of Pittsburgh Landing as a demarcation point. What few naval vessels they had were driving up the Tennessee to give support to Bragg as he made to push Sherman back from the river and back into Missouri. Meanwhile the men under Hardee would go north and slam into the Union flank. Sherman was trapped. If he fled, he would leave both forces to keep Johnston from taking the river. If he staid put, he was leaving himself open for a nasty beating while Johnston crossed the river.
Johnston knew this was the predicament and spurred his men on in hopes of reaching the battlefield before Sherman could be overwhelmed. Meanwhile he called for Rear Admiral William Radford to drive the Confederate naval forces back and take control of the river. Sherman decided not to wait for Confederate forces, and went on the offensive. Outnumbered 3:1, Sherman really had not chance of defeating the Confederate army on open ground, so he caught them by surprise. He drove Hardee’s men back immediately, and forced the Confederate army to form up closer to Pittsburgh Landing and the river. With the lines thus drawn, and Johnston’s forces hastily arriving from the rear, the battle began.
The Bloodiest Day in American History
The first engagements of the battle where struck in favor of the Union, the rest of the battle on the ground would not go so smoothly. The battle on the river was another matter all together. The Confederate river boats were outdated and poorly commanded. When Rear Admiral Radford arrived, the Confederate forces were caught unaware. In a stunningly poor decision, the Confederate armada was positioned at the entrance to a break I the river. Although supported by a small gun emplacement on Diamond Island, the Confederate fleet was for the most part unprotected. When the Union fleet engaged, the battle quickly went against them.
Union gun ships came under heavy fire from the battery as they passed Crump’s Landing. Admiral Radford pressed on, driving his ships forward under the fire. The Confederates were caught off guard, and hit hard when the Union troops breached range. The C.S.
Bayou City was sunk when its magazine was hit and exploded. This sent the Confederate fleet backwards in panic. The fleet split and went around Diamond Island on both ends, thus ending any supporting fire the two halves could give. The sight of the fleet fleeing caused the men on Diamond Island to spike their cannons and hide. The Union fleet gladly gave chase, pounding the Confederates as they fled. The fleet on the west bank suffered heavily, and eventually the C.S.
Little Rebel, the C. S.
Teaser, and the C. S.
Patrick Henry would all be sunk (the
Patrick Henry was scuttled by her crew as she ran aground.).
Red Lines= Confederate Naval Retreat
Blue Lines= Union Naval advance
Red Dots= Confederate Naval Losses.
While the Confederate Navy fled and the Union navy reformed to pepper the Confederate lines with artillery, Sherman began his attack. Sherman ordered General Ambrose Burnsides, who had been reassigned to command after the start of the war, to probe Confederate forces in the North and test their strength with the US IV. Meanwhile General William Hervey Lamme Wallace were ordered to make an assault across the Southern plains and drive the Confederates back away from Corinth Road and Shiloh Church. Sherman meanwhile was to command the center of the line and test the middle before swinging down to aid Wallace’s push. His primary objective was to drive the CS III back towards Pittsburgh Landing.
“Virginians! Virginians! For your land - for your homes - for your sweethearts - for your wives - for Virginia! Forward... march!”- Lewis Addison Armistead
Facing off against them where 4 commanders. In the North Lafayette McLaws held the meeting of Owl and Snake Creek, and had an excellent defensive position. Unfortunately he had a very poor field of fire across the plain, and was relatively isolated. To his south Lewis Addison Armistead commanded the CS III. His men had been the slowest to respond to the surprise attack of Sherman. Armistead’s Virginians, though surprised, responded well. They formed up quickly to fight Sherman’s men on the plains east of Owl Creek. Guarding the southern flank was General Roswell S. Ripley, a Northerner who fought for the South (mostly for his wife, a South Carolinian who would leave him during the war). Ripley commanded the CS I, while General Evander McIvor Law held the CS V.
Sherman ordered the advance across all fronts. Burnsides engaged first, but Bragg didn’t bite, and ordered McLaws to hold his ground. McLaws men avoided much of the fighting, but returned very little of their own. Sherman’s men on the other hand, got into the thick of it very quickly. He advanced into Jones’ Field, under heavy fire from Confederate small arms and artillery positioned closer to Pittsburgh Landing. Nevertheless his aggression paid off and the Virginians were forced backwards, bloody step by bloody step. Armistead eventually made his stand at the edge of the Hamburg-Savannah Road, but by that time Sherman’s advance ran out of steam and the attack faltered and stopped. Only on the right could the Union take any ground. General Wallace’s men drove a dagger into the heart of the Confederate left and smashed them back. Ripley’s division crumbled and fled en masse to Pittsburgh Landing. Law’s troops made a more orderly retreat, falling back first to Davis’ Wheatfield and then beyond the Sunken Road. It was hear that the Confederates made a brutal stand. The battle for the Hornets’ Nest, as it came to be known, was the bloodiest fighting the world had ever seen. The orchard changed hands 5 times during the day, each time with ridiculous casualties. When General Wallace fell, the Union lines disintegrated into a rabble, and the fighting became even more muddled. By days’ end the field was covered in bodies from end-to-end.
Sherman’s Attack:
Union Commanders- I: Sherman, II: Wallace, III: Hooker, IV: Burnsides, X: A. S. Johnston
Confederate Commanders- I: Ripley, II: McLaws, III: Armistead, IV: Hardee V: Law, X: Bragg
The battle for the Hornets’ Nest continued on its own, while Sherman re-issued marching orders. He once again pressed into Armistead’s force, driving him back further into the Confederate defenses. Bragg, meanwhile held Hardee’s division in reserve, hoping to plug any holes and break any major Union assault. Likewise Hardee could be used to drive off any assault from A.S. Johnston’s Union army. Unfortunately for Bragg, he was outmaneuvered. General Joseph E. Hooker, in command of the III, had crossed in the North at Crump’s Landing. They now drove hard into the Confederate flank, hoping to spring Burnsides and let him loose on the Confederate rear. At the same time the fleet had returned and began ferrying Union troops, under heaving fire, across the Tennessee River to engage Confederate forces. Bragg had to make a choice.
The choice he made was to send Johnston’s division to deal with Hooker and hold off A.S. Johnston’s forces with the men who had fallen back from Ripley’s position. The tactic worked for a while. Burnsides and Hooker did not coordinate the assault, so Hooker’s men were caught in the open as the combined might of McLaws and Hardee descended on him. Casualties were high on both sides, but Hooker had to retire from the fight as his men began to falter. Burnsides rushed over the creek as the fighting took its turn against Hooker. Hardee engaged him as McLaws divisions pulled south to aid the slowly failing Virginians under Armistead. The Confederates drove the Union out of the Hornets’ Nest in the end, and had time to reassess. Those men of Ripleys who had remained with him now joined with General Armistead. However, General Law made a decision that is still a mystery to this day. As Union forces retreated before him, he marched his men south, back to the position he held at the start of the battle.
The delay in pulling these men to defend against A.S. Johnston cost the Confederates a sure victory. Johnston was able to force his way onto the Confederate bank, even as Sherman’s men fell back. The battle came to an end with Bragg’s men abandoning the heights under pressure from Johnston. Now surrounded on 3 sides, Bragg ordered a retreat south. The US army was glad to let him go, as casualties and fatigue were both high. In the end the day went to the Union, but it was by no means a great victory. The Union lost 13,047 including General Wallace casualties and the Rebels lost 10,694. A.S. Johnston, deep in enemy territory, was forced to withdraw to Nashville and allow the Army of the Missouri and Sherman to go west back towards the border. It was a battle without any strategic gain for either side. In the end the Confederate forces had barely outnumbered the Union, but had been surprised and were fighting a 2-front battle. Johnston, bloodied, abandoned his plan to take Memphis and settled on control of Nasvhille, while Bragg retreated and gave birth to a new plan for Western Virginia.
His plan would lead to the bloodiest campaign of the war.