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

“I’ll place my knapsack on my back My rifle on my shoulder I’ll march away to the firing line And kill that Yankee soldier And kill that Yankee soldier I’ll march away to the firing line And kill that Yankee soldier   I’ll bid farewell to my wife and child Farewell to my aged mother And go and join in the bloody strife Till this cruel war is over Till this cruel war is over I’ll go and join in the bloody strife Till this cruel war is over   If I am shot on the battlefield And I should not recover Oh, who will protect my wife and child And care for my aged mother If I must die for my home and land My spirit will not falte….. Oh, here’s my heart and here’s my hand Upon my country’s altar ….Then Heaven be with us in the strife Be with the Southern soldier We’ll drive the mercenary horde Beyond our Southern border…SOUTHERN SOLDIER." Before he died, the great Southern historian ,  Shelby Foote, in the mid 1990s,    gave an interview with PBS about the Civil War. The interview was