Shiloh National Military Park, TennesseeDillahunty, Albert
History
Shiloh National Military Park, Tennessee
Dillahunty, Albert
Shiloh National Military Park (Tenn. and Miss.); Shiloh, Battle of, Tenn., 1862
During Sunday night and Monday morning, Buell moved approximately 17,000
troops into line on the Union left. Lew Wallace put almost 6,000 fresh
troops—Fort Donelson veterans—in position on the right. The
Confederates, receiving no reinforcements, spent a sleepless night in
the captured Union camps annoyed by shells from the gunboats, which were
thrown among them at 15-minute intervals throughout the night.
[Illustration: _Gen. Don Carlos Buell._
Courtesy National Archives.]
The battle had already raged for 13 hours. Charge after charge had been
made by the Confederates, followed by Federal countercharges. Ground had
been gained and lost, but the general direction of movement had always
been toward the Landing. By the time the day was over and the weary
soldiers had lain down to rest, the Confederates were in possession of
all the field, except the Landing and a bit of adjoining territory. Many
Southern soldiers, in view of the gains made during the day, believed
that the victory was already theirs. An equally large number of
Northerners were willing to concede defeat. When night at last closed in
around the hostile armies, feelings of uncertainty prevailed among the
leaders on both sides. Many of them were well aware that the battle was
yet to be won or lost.
_The Second Day_
Monday morning, April 7, at daylight, the vanquished of the previous day
renewed the struggle with increased strength and restored confidence.
Anxious to take the initiative, the Union armies were put in motion
almost simultaneously, with Buell on the left, Lew Wallace on the
extreme right, and Grant’s weary troops occupying the space between. The
movement began unopposed, except by small unsupported parties which were
quickly forced to retreat.
The Confederates had been unable to reorganize their widely scattered
forces during the night. Therefore, when the Union advance began on
Monday the opposing line of battle was yet unformed. The Confederates
were still back in the vicinity of the captured Union camps vainly
trying to reorganize their broken commands. They did not succeed in
forming a line until after the enemy had advanced beyond the Peach
Orchard and the Hornets’ Nest, regaining much of the territory they had
lost the day before.
[Illustration: _Young Confederate enlisted men from the Washington
Artillery of New Orleans._ From a photograph made prior to the
Battle of Shiloh.]
The Confederates, one brigade strong, were first encountered by Lew
Wallace a short distance in front of his Sunday night bivouac. In a
brief but spirited engagement, the Confederates were attacked in front
and on the left flank by the Union division. To keep from being
surrounded, they fell back almost a mile in the direction of Shiloh
Church to take their place in the forming line of battle.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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