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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Anyone going should research it a little bit beforehand. It’s strange terrain and people actually get lost on the battlefield. You can run in circles and lose track of north and south easily.

It’s also hard to follow for someone who hasn’t researched it a bit because you begin the tour running backwards from the first day. And the battle basically went completely reverse from the first day.

You can look up a good lecture on Shiloh (on YouTube) by Gregory S. Hospodor. American Battlefield Trust also has good info on it with knowledgeable people at various tour stops. Just look on YouTube for “tour stops Shiloh”

I had a 4x great grandfather on my grandmother’s side at Shiloh with Forrest’s cavalry. He had been with Forrest since joining him in Memphis. Unfortunately the cavalry saw little action at Shiloh because of the terrain. I wound up having the other 4x great grandfather on my Grandmother’s side join the Cavalry with Forrest later in the war. Both of my grandmother’s grandfathers were at the Battle of Brice’s Crossroads in Baldwyn, MS.

I also had a 4x great grandfather on my grandfather’s side who was being mustered into the 32nd MS at Corinth at the approximate time of the battle, but apparently the 32nd MS was not ready to go as they didn’t fight in the battle. He did fight at Chattanooga, Chickamauga, and those points around.

So much went wrong for both sides in the battle. If it hadn’t rained… if the orders to March to Shiloh hadn’t been delayed and they made the March orderly to actually make it to Shiloh on that Thursday morning instead of Saturday. And if they actually began the attack from the southeast instead of the Southwest… that could have been bad for the Union. Real bad. They wouldn’t have lost that time skirmishing with Peabody’s brigade in the early morning instead of rolling nearly to the peach orchard before they met much resistance.

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.