1. The Battle of
Shiloh
April 6-7, 1862
The second major battle of
The Civil War

2. Near the Tennessee River
 The Union had just
captured Forts
Henry and Donelson
in February
 Those victories
opened the way for
General Ulyssess S
Grant to head south
into Tennessee

3. The Union:
General Grant
had an army of
30,000 men
marching south
to face the
Confederates
Don Carlos Buell
had an even
larger army,
50,000 men
marching west to
join Grant’s army

4. The Confederates:
General Albert T. Johnston had a troop
of 45,000 men
He believed that his best chance of
recapturing western Tennessee was to
launch a surprise offensive against
Grant as quickly as possible, before the
other army could get there

5. Taken by Surprise
 The morning of April 6th thousands of
Confederate soldiers in gray charged out of
the woods screaming their “rebel yell”
 Grant was unaware of Johnston’s arrival, he
had not set up lookouts to guard the army

6. Panic shot through Grant’s army
 Many disorganized Union troops looked for
places to hide rather than fight
 For 12 hours the Confederates pounded the
Federals, and by night time had captured the
key position of Shiloh Chapel

7. Confederate General Johnston
killed
 Johnston was shot in the leg, severing an
important artery
 He ignored it and bled to death on the
battlefield
 General Pierce GT Beauregard took over

8. Union Generals stand tall
 WT Sherman regrouped and rallied his forces
and continued to push back
 Benjamin M Prentiss made a stand on a hill in
the heart of Grant’s position
 They called it “The Hornet’s Nest”

9. Exhausted Armies
 By 7:00 the battlefields fell silent
 Both sides decided to rest and resume
conflict the next day
 Union General Buell’s division joined over
night to strengthen Union forces

10. The Second day
 Union troop counterattacked the next morning
 Confederates quickly lost all the ground
they’d gained
 By the afternoon Confederate General
Beauregard ordered a retreat

11. The battle was one of the
bloodiest of the war
 The south lost over 10,000 troops
 The north lost over 13,000 and narrowly
avoided defeat
 The Battle of Shiloh began the defeat of the
Southern cause in that region