Battle of Shiloh Page

Welcome to the Battle of Shiloh page! 

Blog posts are organized below along the lines of the order of battle for both armies.

 

General Overview and Accounts: 

Life Before Shiloh: Vignettes of Camp Life at Pittsburg Landing

A Riverfront View of Shiloh (U.S.S. Lexington)

A Harvest of Blood: Exploring the field after Shiloh

The Dead of Pittsburg Landing

Among the Shiloh Wounded at Paducah

Charles Edward Bliven of the Army Telegraph Corps at Shiloh

The Magnolia Mission: Dr. John D. O'Connor Visits Shiloh

Women of Shiloh


Army of the Tennessee

First Division (McClernand) 

"Give it to 'em boys! You're cutting them all to hell!" The 14th Ohio Battery at Shiloh


Second Division (W.H.L. Wallace)

 Horrors of War: A Chicago Gunner at Shiloh (Battery A, 1st Illinois Light Artillery)

First Brigade (Tuttle), Second Division (W.H.L. Wallace)

 Escaping the Hornet's Nest at Shiloh (2nd Iowa)

Captured in the Hornet's Nest at Shiloh (14th Iowa)

Second Brigade (McArthur), Second Division (W.H.L. Wallace) 

From Low Webb to Loud Huzzahs: The 12th Illinois at Shiloh

Fate of Battle: Martin Beem and the Battle of Shiloh (13th Missouri)


Cary Lockhart Nelson of the 81st Ohio at Shiloh 

Third Brigade (Sweeny), Second Division (W.H.L. Wallace)

 Last Chance Defenders of Shiloh (50th Illinois)


Fourth Division (Hurlbut)

We Generals Must Take Our Chances with the Boys: With General Hurlbut at Shiloh 

We have suffered everything but death: Travails of a Shiloh P.O.W. (Battery B, 1st Michigan Light Artillery)

First Brigade (Williams), Fourth Division (Hurlbut)

 Defending the Peach Orchard: An Iowan at Shiloh (3rd Iowa)

Second Brigade (Veatch), Fourth Division (Hurlbut)

 Dreaming of Powder, Musket Balls, and Bloodshed: the 15th Illinois at Shiloh

Tried in the Furnace: A Hoosier at Shiloh (25th Indiana)


Fifth Division (Sherman) 

Surprised at Shiloh? Hell no said Sherman

Straw Already Threshed: Sherman on Shiloh

First Brigade (McDowell), Fifth Division (Sherman)

"Crank" Worthington's Boys at Shiloh (46th Ohio)

Second Brigade (Stuart), Fifth Division (Sherman)

"My boys from Cleveland, for God's sake do your duty!" The 54th Ohio Infantry at Shiloh

"I lay me down to sleep and he to die." The 71st Ohio Infantry at Shiloh

Third Brigade (Hildebrand), Fifth Division (Sherman)

The 53rd Ohio and the Shame of Shiloh

"May God save us from any more such days" Lieutenant Adams of the 57th Ohio Describes Shiloh

Bloody, Battle-Stained, and Miserable: A Wounded Buckeye Recalls Shiloh (77th Ohio)

Gobbled by Forrest at Fallen Timbers (77th Ohio)

Fourth Brigade (Buckland), Fifth Division (Sherman)

Indomitable Pluck: The 48th Ohio at Pittsburg Landing

The Prisoner Who Never Surrendered: The Adventure of John J. Geer, 48th Ohio Infantry

General Buckland Explains the Battle of Shiloh (72nd Ohio)

Buckland's Picnic Excursion Before Shiloh

John M. Lemmon and the Battle of Shiloh (72nd Ohio)

You May Glory in Us Now (72nd Ohio)

72nd Ohio Flag Captured at the Battle of Shiloh


First Brigade (Peabody), Sixth Division (Prentiss)

 A Helter-Skelter Sort of Fight: A Wisconsin Greenhorn at Shiloh (16th Wisconsin)

Second Brigade (Miller), Sixth Division (Prentiss)

 The Desperate Unceasing Battle: the 61st Illinois at Shiloh

Outright Murder: The 18th Wisconsin at Shiloh

Unassigned Troops

Remembering Shiloh with the 14th Wisconsin


Army of the Ohio

Fourth Brigade (Rousseau), Second Division (McCook)

Shiloh as Viewed from the ranks of the 1st Ohio Infantry

Among Terrill's Gunners at Shiloh

Fifth Brigade (Kirk) Second Division (McCook)

 I Could Not Ride Without Stepping on the Bodies: A Hoosier Colonel at Shiloh (30th Indiana)

Sixth Brigade (Gibson), Second Division (McCook)

Holding Poor Josey's Head in My Lap: Losing a Brother at Shiloh (15th Ohio)

Lead is a Terrible Reformer: The 49th Ohio at Shiloh

Tenth Brigade (Ammen), Fourth Division (Nelson)

Saving Grant's Army: The 36th Indiana and the March to Shiloh

Twenty-Second Brigade (Bruce), Fourth Division (Nelson) 

The Sterner Realities of a Soldier's Life: Charles E. Evers of the 2nd Kentucky at Shiloh

Eleventh Brigade (Boyle) Fifth Division (Crittenden)

 I Miss My Chum: Losing Major Edwards of the 19th Ohio at Shiloh

Fourteenth Brigade (Smith), Fifth Division (Crittenden)

The Peculiar Rumbling of Battle: Andrew Neff at Shiloh (13th OVI)


Army of Mississippi


First Brigade (Johnson), Second Division (Cheatham), First Army Corps (Polk)

Men dropping like slaughtered beeves: Corporal Law of the 154th Tennessee Recalls Shiloh

Lost in the blaze, thunder, and frenzy of battle: With the Blythe's at Shiloh

Cavalry, First Army Corps (Polk)

The Noxubee Cavalry Takes a Battery at Shiloh


Second Brigade (Anderson), First Division (Ruggles), Second Army Corps (Bragg)

Noble Sons of New Orleans: A Washington Light Artilleryman Survives Shiloh

Third Brigade (Pond), First Division (Ruggles), Second Army Corps (Bragg)

Capturing the Hornet's Nest with the Kid Glove Regiment at Shiloh

Becoming the Quietest Man in the Regiment: A Louisianan Remembers Shiloh


First Brigade (Hindman), Third Army Corps (Hardee)



First Brigade (Trabue), Reserve Corps (Breckinridge)


Third Brigade (Statham), Reserve Corps (Breckinridge)














Comments

Post a Comment

Most Popular Posts

Arming the Buckeyes: Longarms of the Ohio Infantry Regiments

Image
     A common question that comes up in conversation about Civil War Buckeye regiments is "What were they armed with?" We are fortunate in that the state of Ohio kept good records of how the regiments were armed when they went into service, this being especially true for those regiments which went into service in 1861 and 1862. The state adjutant general's reports for 1861 and 1862 have been heavily drawn upon to construct this article, as well as consultation with Phil Spaugy who has done extensive research on how Ohio's troops were armed during the war.      Buckeyes carried a fairly wide variety of weapons into the field, and the below article breaks this down into weapons of both domestic manufacture and imported arms. The early days of the war found the state of Ohio practically bereft of longarms; as an example, when the 1st and 2nd Ohio Volunteer Militia left the state in late April 1861, they left unarmed, being armed at Lancaster, Pennsylvania on their way to
Read more

Dressing the Rebels: How to Dye Butternut Jeans Cloth

Image
     In the early days of the Civil War,  the Southern states found themselves with an abundance of cotton but a shortage of cloth with which to make army uniforms. The trade in cloth prior to the war had largely been to send raw cotton or wool north to New England (or Great Britain) where it was converted into usable cloth; but now that trade was broken and the Southern states were thrown upon their own resources in their efforts to properly clothe the Confederate army.  This collection of Confederate enlisted men's frock coats and shell jackets gives some indication of the variety of shades of butternut worn during the war. All of them are shades of yellow brown, some heavier on the yellow and some heavier on the brown. The blue used around the collar or as rank insignia indicates that the soldier was in the infantry. Surviving Confederate uniforms are considered rather rare and command quite a healthy price in the collecting market. For an in-depth study of how Confederate jacke
Read more

Bullets for the Union: Manufacturing Small Arms Ammunition During the Civil War

Image
       Civil War bullets are perhaps the most common item collected from the era; the two armies expended bullets by the millions during the four years’ conflict and spent or deformed bullets of all shapes and sizes have made fascinating and affordable collectibles since the guns went silent in 1865.       I recently acquired a display piece featuring 35 different types of small arms ammunition used during the Civil War, including everything from a small .28 caliber ball up to a .69 caliber three-ring Minie and it triggered some questions: how did the Federal army obtain its small arms ammunition during the war? Where did the lead come from to make the bullets, and where and how was the ammunition manufactured? This post seeks to answer those questions. A typical .58 caliber 3-ring Minie bullet   “Whenever the blasts of war blow in the ears of men who trade in the implements of destruction, they are apt to experience more joy than the true warrior, for then comes the harvest of gain.
Read more

The Cannons are Now Silent: The Field of Death of Tupelo

Image
       The smoke of battle had drifted away from the battlefield at Tupelo, Mississippi on the hot afternoon of July 14, 1864, but the carnage of war lay spread across the open fields. “Scattered at intervals over the field of a few yards are dull gray blotches half shaded by grass,” an officer from the 7 th Minnesota Infantry recorded. “These are the Rebel dead. They have fought their last battle and lie generally in attitudes of rest; some of them look as if they had welcomed death. On the faces of two is imprinted a smile. One is a boy of 16 with delicate features, almost girlish in their beauty. His last gaze seems to have been directed toward his hand on the forefinger of which was a ring. A circle of purer white indicates its place; the ring was carried off as a trophy of the field.” The following account of the Battles of Tupelo and Old Town Creek was written by an unknown officer of the 7 th Minnesota Infantry, his account appearing in the August 5 th 1864 edition of the
Read more

The Vaunted Enfield Rifle Musket

Image
     The English-made Model 1853 .577 caliber Enfield Rifle Musket was widely regarded as the best infantry arm in the world at the outbreak of the Civil War in April 1861. Favorable international press describing its efficiency in the Crimean War and in suppressing the Indian rebellion led to the widespread desire of American infantrymen (both Federal and Confederate) to be armed with these accurate and well-made arms. The lock plate of this well-worn P1853 Enfield rifle musket produced in 1862 shows the typical markings of a British-made weapon that made it through the Federal blockade.  ( Army of Tennessee Relics ) Enfield-pattern weapons were imported into the states by the tens and hundreds of thousands during the war years; one estimate stated that the Federal government purchased 500,000 while the Confederates purchased another 400,000. The Confederate government dispatched Captain Caleb Huse to Europe in April 1861 to purchase weapons and Huse focused on securing all the Enfi
Read more

Straw Already Threshed: Sherman on Shiloh

Image
  W illiam Tecumseh Sherman was enjoying retired life in New York City when just before Christmas in 1889 he was presented with an article written by John Cockerill, a former drummer boy in the 24 th Ohio who was visiting his father Colonel Joseph Cockerill of the 70 th Ohio of Sherman’s division when the Battle of Shiloh began. Cockerill’s article, originally published in the New York Journalist and later featured in the January 1893 issue of Blue & Gray Magazine, Sherman later pronounced as “the best war story ever written” and the truest account of Shiloh.           On New Year’s Day 1890, General Sherman composed the following letter to his friend Marshall P. Wilder thanking him for sending along Cockerill’s article and giving his own explanation of Shiloh. “This to me is straw already threshed for we have fought this battle on paper several times, a much more agreeable task than to fight with bullets,” he concluded. “When in England some years ago I was gratified to liste
Read more

Federal Arms in the Stones River Campaign

Image
  T he following list, constructed after many years of research, lists unit by unit which type of weapons were carried by the Army of the Cumberland during the Stones River campaign. A number of sources were consulted including state ordnance reports, Federal quarterly ordnance reports (thank you Research Arsenal ), Ken Baumann’s Arming the Suckers, regimental histories and memoirs, captured ordnance reports, and consultation with knowledgeable experts in the field of firearms. Some of this information has been shared on the blog before in “ Rosy’s Heavy Metal: Artillery of the Army of the Cumberland ” or “ Shoulder Arms: How Sheridan’s and Davis’s Divisions Were Armed at Stones River ” but this is the first time the army as a whole has been presented. The overall conclusion I drew from looking at this data is that the Army of the Cumberland in December 1862 was an organization in the midst of transformation as far as arms. Many of the regiments still retained their original issue
Read more

Escape of Captain Henry H. Alban of the 21st Ohio Infantry

Image
Captain Henry H. Alban was among the dozen officers of the 21 st Ohio Volunteer Infantry who were captured on September 20, 1863 at the Battle of Chickamauga. The regiment had held its position atop Snodgrass Hill against repeated Confederate assaults and now battered and without ammunition, with the darkness of evening enveloping the hill, the remainder of that gallant band found themselves at the mercy of the 54 th Virginia. A total of 12 officers and 121 enlisted men surrendered; the regiment’s colors were taken, and the men marched off the field into captivity. Captain Henry Harvey Alban, Co. F, 21st O.V.I. Captain Alban along with the rest went through a series of Confederate prison camps before arriving at Columbia, South Carolina in October 1864. Determined to make an escape, he watched for his chance and one night made his leap for freedom, successfully eluding the local camp guard and setting out along the railroad to head for the mountains of eastern Tennessee and
Read more

Knapsack Compression: Wilbur Hinman recalls the first step of becoming a veteran

Image
L ooking back on his experiences during the war, Captain Wilbur Hinman of the 65 th Ohio (perhaps best known as the author of Si Klegg and His Pard ) recalled that the first road along which his regiment marched was strewn “with debris. A pair of six-mule wagonloads might have been gathered of notions that had been flung aside by a thousand suffering “tenderfeet.” “The average young patriot started for the war with a wheelbarrow load of clothing, a bed quilt or two, books, photograph albums, toilet articles, and gimcracks of every sort,” he wrote. “Neither he nor the good homefolks had the slightest conception of the capacity of a knapsack, nor did they for a moment imagine that before the close of his first day upon the road every pound he carried would seem a hundred.” To the true mark of a veteran soldier was one who “learned to dispense with every unnecessary ounce of weight, and just in the ratio that he did this he increased his efficiency as a soldier. It was of the highest
Read more

Federal Arms in the Chickamauga Campaign

Image
T he ordnance returns of the Army of the Cumberland at the end of September 1863 show the results of a transformational year in weaponry. Since taking command of the army at the end of October 1862, General William S. Rosecrans had repeatedly pestered the War Department to supply his regiments with better firearms both to improve the command’s efficiency as well as expand its striking power. The results speak for themselves: for the infantrymen at the end of September 1863, 90% of them now carried Class I long arms (36,058 out of 39,959), 8.3% carried Class II arms, and a mere 1.5% carried Class III weapons. Most of the foreign-made weapons (except Enfields) were gone, and by and large the army had settled on a single common .58 caliber ammunition, although a few .54 caliber and .69 caliber weapons remained within the ranks. The English-made Enfield rifle musket was by far the most common arm, carried by 56% of the men while the second-most common arm was the .58 caliber M1861 Spring
Read more