SHILOH, BATTLE OF, frequently called the BATTLE OF PITTSBURG LANDING. A battle of the Civil War fought at Pittsburg Landing, in Ten nessee, on the west bank of the Tennessee River, about 20 miles north of Corinth, Miss.. on April 6 and 7, 1862, between the Federal Army of the Tennessee, reinforced by the Federal Army of the Ohio, numbering together about 62,500 men, under General Grant, and the Confederate Army of Mississippi, numbering about 40,500 men. under Generals A. S. Johnston and Beauregard. It takes its name from Shiloh Church. near Pitts burg Landing. On March 17, 1862, General Grant took command of the Federal forces sta tioned at Pittsburg Landing, and by April let lie had under his command an army of about 45,000 men. On March 15th General Buell, commanding the Army of the Ohio. began his march from Nashville for the purpose of effecting a junction with Grant, a combined offensive movement being planned for the two armies. General Johnston, commanding a large Confederate force at Corinth, -determined to strike Grant before Buell could ar rive, and on April 3d issued orders for a general advance. Owing, however, to rain storms and the wretched condition of the roads, the Confed erate army was not ready for action at Pittsburg Landing until the afternoon of April 5th, and the attack was not delivered until early on the fol lowing morning. Meanwhile the Federal officers seem not to have anticipated an attack in force, and consequently to have made no provision for meeting such an attack, and do not seem even to have maintained cavalry scouts between Pitts burg Landing and Corinth. On the night of April 5th General Grant went as usual to his head quarters at Savannah, about nine miles down the river, on the east side, where he expected to meet General Buell on the following morning. The positions of the two armies on the morning of April 6th are shown on the accompanying map. Of the Army of the Tennessee the only division at that time not on the field was General Lewis Wallace's division, which was stationed at Crump's Landing, five miles below Pittsburg Landing and on the same side of the river.
At about 7 A.M. on Sunday. April 6th, the en gagement began with an attack on the Federal right under Sherman. Gradnally the whole Fed eral line was forced back, taking successive posi tions, withstanding the Confederates for a time and then withdrawing—the various parts of the army acting more or less independently of one another—until the Confederates had secured pos session of the field and the Federals had formed a new line extending diagonally from Pittsburg Landing to Snake River. Perhaps the most stub
born fighting of the day occurred at what the Confederates called the 'Hornet's Nest'—a posi tion assumed by IV. H. L. Wallace. Hurlbut, and Prentiss about 10 A.M. and held by them against. repeated assaults for five or six hours. It was here that about 2:30 P.M. General Johnston OD the Confederate side was killed, General Beauregard then assuming command. About 4 o'clock Hurlbut, attacked in front and flank, was forced to withdraw, and an hour later the divisions of Wallace and Prentiss were attacked in front and on both flanks. General Prentiss with about 2200 men was finally forced to sur render, and though Gen. W. H. L. Wallace's di vision managed to withdraw without being sur rounded, General Wallace himself was killed. General Grant arrived on the battlefield from Savannah at about S A.M., but apparently exer cised little control over the movements of the Federal troops during the engagement of the 6th. Late in the afternoon the Federal army was reinforced on its left by a division of General Buell's army under General Nelson, which took part in the last fighting of the day. Before the battle was renewed on the 7th the Federal right had been reinforced by General Lewis Wallace. with his division from Grump's Landing, and its left by a large part of General Buell's army. The Federals attacked with great vigor early on the 7th, and by 4 P.M. had driven the Confederates back beyond Shiloh Church, in the neighborhood of which Sherman had been originally stationed. No pursuit of the Confederates was made, and Beanregard withdrew to Corinth (q.v.), whither soon afterwards he was followed by HaReek, who had assumed command in person of the Federal army. In the battle of Shiloh the Federal loss in killed, wounded, and prisoners was about 13,000; that of the Confederates about 10,700. Consult: Official Records (vol. x., parts i and ii.) Johnson and Duel (ed.). Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, vol. i. (New York, 1887) : Ropes. ,S'tory of the Civil Mar, vol. ii. (ib., 1S98) ; Nicolay and Hay, Abraham Lincoln: A History (ib., 1890) ; Force, Pr OM Fort Henry to Corinth (Th., 18S1) ; Grant, Personal ,llemoirs (last ed., 1S95) : and Swinton, Twelve Decisive Battles of the War (ib., 1867).