The Battle of SHILOH, April 6-7, 1862: "After Shiloh, the South never smiled again."

   Shiloh was the first great battle of America's Homeric Civil War.

The broad outlines of the Battle are simple; the Union Army of the Tennessee under General Ulysses Grant  was bedded down near a Baptist Church, Shiloh Baptist Church. The Federals were attacked by Confederate forces under General Albert Sidney Johnston and Pierre G.T. Beauregard.

During the first day, the Confederates made great headway but their General Johnston was killed; the next day, Grant aided by General Sherman counter attacked and won the field.

Simple.....yet this is the Civil War, so it is all so Homeric.

And being Homeric, the heroes and their fates are more important than the battles themselves.

It is often said that Grant is the first modern General. This Blogger agrees; that being the case, the closest modern General in comparison to Grant is the German World War I General, Erich von Ludendorff; who was really good kicking the hell out of befuddled and backward Russian Generals but lousy when he commanded the total war effort,specifically the Western Front.

Like Grant, Ludendorff believed that throwing wave after wave of crack troops against an entrenched enemy would win the war. Both Ludendorff and Grant butchered wonderful armies; the difference was that Lee ran out of troops, whereas the Allies were saved when the Americans showed up. Grant and Ludendorff are the same generals.

At Shiloh, Grant was sloppy. He arrived with his army, the Army of The Tennessee and encamped, without trenches, defenses, scouts or pickets. They spent their days marching and drilling.

The Confederates saw that, and pounced.

"...evening of April 6 was a dispiriting end to the first day of one of the bloodiest battles in American history. The pitiful cries of wounded and dying men on the fields between the armies could be heard in the Union and Confederate camps throughout the night. A thunderstorm passed through the area and rhythmic shelling from the Union gunboats made the night a miserable experience for both sides. A famous anecdote encapsulates Grant's unflinching attitude to temporary setbacks and his tendency for offensive action. As the exhausted Confederate soldiers bedded down in the abandoned Union camps, Sherman encountered Grant under a tree, sheltering himself from the pouring rain. He was smoking one of his cigars while considering his losses and planning for the next day. Sherman remarked, "Well, Grant, we've had the devil's own day, haven't we?" Grant looked up. "Yes," he replied, followed by a puff. "Yes. Lick 'em tomorrow, though."

That was Grant, attack,attack, attack, an American Ludendorff; that was his philosophy of generalship- ATTACK. Grant's philosophy of generalship won the war, but at an exorbitant cost, especially at the Wilderness and Cold Harbor. Mary Todd Lincoln, crazy Mary Todd Lincoln, was sane enough to despise him as a butcher of men.

ALBERT SIDNEY JOHNSTON-

He was considered the finest Confederate General by his peers, even better than Lee. 

Alas, this was his first and only battle. He planned the attack on Grant, and under his direction the attack drove the Union troops almost into the river.

Then he was shot, and as befits a Homeric hero, died a Homeric death.

General Albert Sidney Johnston(CSA).

Johnston was pressing his attack against Union troops at a section of the line called THE HORNET'S NEST, when, at around 2:30 PM, he was shot in the left leg. Now it gets Homeric, " Deeming the leg wound to be insignificant, he had sent his personal surgeon away to care for some wounded captured Union soldiers, and in the doctor's absence, he bled to death within an hour, his boot filling with blood from a severed popliteal was a significant loss for the Confederacy. Jefferson Davis considered Albert Sidney Johnston to be the most effective general they had.... Johnston was the highest-ranking officer from either side to be killed in combat during the Civil War."

SHERMAN

In this Blog's opinion, Robert E. Lee is America's Hannibal. His Chancellorsville is the American Cannae. Stonewall Jackson, the blue eyed Presbyterian killer, is the finest fighting general ever produced by America. He is our Frederick the Great, our Marlborough, our Cromwell,our Wellington.

But if you are a private, a lowly infantry fighting man, Sherman is your favorite general. His philosophy of war was to win, while losing the least number of men possible. He was the anti-Patton.

He also had the good sense to go nuts at the beginning of the Civil War. Whereas all the Elite thought it would be a quick and tidy war, just he and Winfield Scott saw that it would be a long, bloody slaughterhouse.

Seeing that presentiment, he promptly had a breakdown and went into the loony bin. Grant, the drunk saved him.

Or as Sherman so eloquently put it,:" Grant stood by me when I was crazy, and I stood by him when he was drunk, and now we stand by each other."

Sherman had great personal flaws; he was a racist, not kind to Blacks, and especially not kind to Native Americans. But he is perhaps the best General in American history to fight under, he wanted to win and bring his boys home alive. There is a reason his troops called him "Uncle Billy". He wanted them all to come home alive.

He raped and looted the South during his March to the Sea, wreaking havoc on the Confederacy's will to fight. Why would he do that? Because he understood the nature of war, "War is hell."

He honed the Army of the Ohio into the finest marching and fighting Army since the apex of the Roman Legions. Lee could have beaten Grant every day of the week(and he almost did) and it still would not have mattered; Sherman was marching up behind Lee, all Grant had to do was pin Lee; Sherman would envelop him. If Lee had not surrendered to Grant, Sherman would have finished the war from Lee's rear.

As a man, Sherman was a crazy racist; as a General, he ranks up there with Julius Caesar.

When the Battle of Shiloh began Sherman was arguably the worst general in the Union Army, well at least the only certified lunatic in the Union Officer Corps.

By the end of the battle, he was the best General in the Union Army.

He, personally stopped the Confederate Army in its tracks. He was shot twice, slightly wounded, had three horses killed under him. But he held the line, nutty racist that he was.

When Confederate hero Johnston bled to death, the command of the Confederate army went to P.G.T. Beauregard. Beauregard was the Confederate commander in charge of the Reb troops that started the Civil War by firing on Fort Sumter in 1861. He is a Ted Turner of Generals, a "Mouth Of the South" type general. 

After Johnston's attack, Grant and Sherman were reeling, ready to be had.

Instead of closing the win, Beauregard sent a telegram to Confederate President Jefferson Davis, " announcing "A COMPLETE VICTORY" and later admitted, "I thought I had General Grant just where I wanted him and could finish him up in the morning." Many of his men were jubilant, having overrun the Union camps and taken thousands of prisoners and tons of supplies. ...Beauregard caused considerable historical controversy with his decision to halt the assault at dusk. ... 

Albert Sidney Johnston's son, Col. William Preston Johnston, were among those who bemoaned the so-called "lost opportunity at Shiloh." Beauregard did not come to the front to inspect the strength of the Union lines but remained at Shiloh Church. He also discounted intelligence reports.... from his position in the rear he may have had only a vague idea of the disposition of forces at the front. "

Beauregard was a show off, who did not measure up when his time came to produce.

Beauregard was a second rate general but a top notch traitor; after the Civil War, he refused to apply for amnesty.

However, in 1876, Grant, then President, gave Beauregard his citizenship rights back, including the right to run for office. This Blogger assumes that Grant did that as a reward for Beauregard saving his career by exhibiting such lousy generalship at Shiloh.

BISHOP/GENERAL POLK

General Polk as Bishop Polk

During the Battle of Shiloh, General Leonidas Polk played a major role on the Confederate side. He had been the Episcopalian Bishop of Louisiana, who took off the collar to become a general against his nation, defending slavery.

His death in battle is especially gratifying, so it will be described "The first round came close and a second even closer,... The third shell struck Polk's left arm, went through the chest, and exited hitting his right arm then exploded against a tree; it nearly cut Polk in two...."

Polk wanted a nation divided, and to do that he stepped down from the pulpit, and wound up,he himself, nearly divided, how deliciously ironic. A man of peace should stay peaceful, if he knows what is good for him.

NATHAN BEDFORD FORREST-

Shelby Foote, the legendary chronicler of the Homeric Civil War, thought that Forrest was a military genius; perhaps.

Forrest was indeed an outstanding general, but on a personal level, he was one of the worst men in American history. He became a millionaire buying and selling slaves; after the War, he was the leading light of the post Civil War Ku Klux Klan.

"Confederate cavalry, commanded by Col. Nathan Bedford Forrest came upon a road approaching a field was covered by fallen trees for over 200 yards (180 m).As skirmishers from the 77th Ohio Infantry approached, having difficulty clearing the fallen timber, Forrest ordered a charge, producing a wild melee with Confederate troopers firing shotguns and revolvers and brandishing sabers, nearly resulting in the capture of Sherman. As Col. Jesse Hildebrand's brigade began forming in line of battle, the Southern troopers started to retreat at the sight of the strong force, and Forrest, who was well in advance of his men, came within a few yards of the Union soldiers before realizing he was all alone. Sherman's men yelled out, "Kill him! Kill him and his horse!" A Union soldier shoved his musket into Forrest's side and fired, striking him above the hip, penetrating to near the spine. Although he was seriously wounded, Forrest was able to stay on horseback and escape; he survived both the wound and the war."

Forrest's spine survived a musket shot against it; he survived a musket ball against his spine;every lynched Black American since 1865 owes his calamity to the steel strength of Forrest's spine.

SHILOH

Shiloh Baptist Church

"The two-day battle of Shiloh, the costliest in American history up to that time,.... Union casualties were 13,047 (1,754 killed, 8,408 wounded, and 2,885 missing); ..... Confederate casualties were 10,699 (1,728 killed, 8,012 wounded, and 959 missing or captured)..... Both sides were shocked at the carnage."

Before Shiloh Grant had believed that one great battle would bring the war to a close; after Shiloh he knew that crazy Sherman was right, it was going to be a long and bloody war, a Trojan War with hero after hero dying, Stonewall Jackson, John F Reynolds, Armistead,Kemper,McPherson, 600,000 in all.

LINCOLN

Northern newspapers reported tha Grant had been drunk before the battle, which is why he did not send out scouts or put up defenses. or dig trenches. They demanded that Lincoln fire him.

In reply Lincoln said this-"I can't spare this man, he fights."

Lincoln was also MARGE SIMPSON, the enabler.

"If it(booze) makes fighting men like Grant, then find out what he drinks and send my other commanders a case."

THE SOUTH

" A journalist from New Orleans wrote, "after Shiloh the South never smiled again."