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

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Went to the battlefield once, visiting them puts things in perspective.

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I don’t think Beauregard could’ve finished the job on day 2 even had Buell not arrived.

Grant had solid defensive lines and his army was concentrated by the river while Beauregard had a disorganized command spread all over the field.

Even subtracting Buell’s 18k reinforcements and the somewhat disparate losses from the previous day it’s unlikely that the south would’ve had the numbers to carry the Union lines with prepared defenses, an advantage in artillery and gunboat support.