re: The Battle of Shiloh began on this date 161 years ago...

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One can only dream of the results should have England or the French entered the war or aided the Confederacy

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Lord Palmerston and some others felt Great Britain made a mistake by not supporting the Confederacy. He in particular was not a proponent of slavery -- or the US. He felt that by seeing the Confederacy gain its independence, it would weaken our nation as a whole, preserving Great Britain's role as a pre-eminent power even longer. He felt eventually, the US would probably overtake his country, which we did during WWII.

The British Navy could have changed the outcome and put a stop to the Anaconda plan.

I would recommend Michael Shaara’s novels. He has four on the Western theater of the war. The first about Shiloh (followed by Chattanooga, Vicksburg, & Atlanta). Really enjoyed them. The husband of a great aunt was the surgeon for the 53rd Ohio. Can’t imagine what he saw that day.

I’ve never read a book as fast as I read this one. If you have a son or nephew in their teens it makes a great bday or Xmas gift. Provides them with a ton of perspective on what war really is and isn’t.

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Grant was temporarily removed from field command when his boss - Henry W. Halleck - promoted him to the position of second-in-command of the Department of Tennessee. Partly as a punishment for how he handled the Battle of Shiloh but mostly to remove a potential rival from the playing field.

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Halleck had written letters previously to Lincoln about issues he had with Grant. In this move he wrote Lincoln and said that he believed Grant "had taken to the bottle" again.

Lincoln, seeing through the nonsense, responded, in writing....."then I suggest you find out what brand he drinks and share it with yourself and other officers since he seems to be the only one winning".

The Confederate Museum in Richmond was a great visit when I was there 30 years ago if you enjoy that part of history. They have changed the name now to the American Civil War Museum, politically correct nonsense.

I was touched by a display about Appomattox and the armistice. They had two letters on display from that day, one from a confederate, very phonetically written, about a second grader's level, stating how they werent beat and didnt understand why they were stopping.

The second was from a union soldier, perfect queens english and how he descibes the southern soldiers, in rags, some barefoot, with pockets of raw corn for rations. Then his commander ordered a salute to the confederates and he was horrified.

I believe lost on this soldier was his commanders understanding that that "disgrace of an army" with what little they had, had kicked your arse all over VA for 3 and a half years and you no doubt would have long ago run home if you were in their shoes/bare feet.

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righteous causes

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Money? It wasn’t about people, but you already knew that.

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On the other hand.. if the Union had taken the Confederate threat more seriously and actually set up their camps like they would later in the war.. it could have been worse for the Confederates.

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To add to this while he redeemed himself later in the battle Sherman almost had to be willfully in denial to not realize what the Confederates were doing. He even court martial'd a real low level soldier over reports of Confederate activity in tbe area and had reports of sightings flowing in from all over the place yet refused to believe them or prepare in any way

The reasons for this were complicated, thought to be in part bc Sherman was labeled by many as paranoid from his previous command so at Shiloh he was determined to be the extreme opposite of that

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Sherman almost had to be willfully in denial to not realize what the Confederates were doing.

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The entire command there was in denial.

The reports written basically state they completely didn’t expect an offensive. Their thoughts were that the south would concentrate and fortify Corinth. Every clue was given to them and they ignored it.

One of the regimental commanders thought they heard something on that Saturday, after wildlife was running onto the field, and formed up a line. Sherman heard the drumming and sent a low level messenger to dress down the regimental commander and basically insulted him for being cowardly.

Same thing happened on the morning of the battle on Sunday and Sherman went to personally dress down the regimental commander. That’s when the Confederates came out of the woods and shot his orderly dead and shot Sherman in the hand. After he uttered the famous “My God! We’re attacked!!” Sherman was there alone ahead of his troops.

They were in so much denial of the possibility of an attack that General Prentiss was going to have Peabody brought up on charges for inciting an conflict by sending out a recon that exchanged the first shots of the battle. The battle was underway and that was Prentiss’ concerns.

If Peabody had lived and given an account.. he would be held up as more of a hero at Shiloh. But Prentiss didn’t give him much praise in his reports.

Here is an archives photo of Gen Prentiss at Shiloh when they had the reunion. He is standing in the Hornets nest where he and his troops were captured. You can still see the battle scars on the tree in the background. This was almost 30 years after the battle. I also think this is the reunion where the past Gov of TN, that was at Johnston’s side, showed where he died. It was unknown to that point.



Side note… it rained at Shiloh all night last night like it did the night of the 6th.

I love these type posts.

Especially the lesser known battles.