April 7, 1862---The Battle of Shiloh: Day Two

APRIL 7, 1862:            

The Battle of Shiloh (The Battle of Shiloh Church; The Battle of Pittsburg Landing) (Day Two):  

After a night of cold rain with the screams and moans of the injured and dying as a ghastly lullaby, the Federal army, reinforced by units under the command of Lew Wallace and Don Carlos Buell numbered about 50,000 even after the prior day’s losses. This easily outnumbered P.G.T. Beauregard’s army of now 20,000-28,000 men. Morale in the Confederate ranks was waning. The loss of the renowned Albert Sidney Johnston (the highest-ranking General to be lost by either side in the war), added to Grant’s overnight reinforcement, led Nathan Bedford Forrest, usually the most daring of men to say, “If the enemy comes on us in the morning, we'll be whipped like hell.”

The sun rose on a massive Union counteroffensive that overpowered the weakened Confederate forces. Brutal firefights that sounded like a single continuous din echoed through the woods. Although the Confederates managed to counterattack in the afternoon, their forces were repulsed and flanked.  

Brutally mauled, Beauregard’s army retired from the field. Grant’s army, exhausted, did not pursue them. The two day battle at Shiloh cost the Union 13,047 casualties: 1,754 killed, 8,408 wounded, and 2,885 captured or missing out of a total force of 67,000. Confederate losses were 10,699: 1,728 killed, 8,012 wounded, and 959 captured or missing out of a total force of 45,000.

Shiloh tarnished Grant’s reputation for a while, aided by Henry W. Halleck, Grant’s superior who disliked him and his growing fame. Grant’s failure to entrench or even set a picket line was laid down to his drinking. The horrendous number of casualties at Shiloh was laid at Grant’s feet. When Halleck was later reassigned, Grant emerged from under his cloud.