SHILOH
National Military Park, Tennessee

by Albert Dillahunty

NATIONAL PARK SERVICE HISTORICAL HANDBOOK SERIES NO. 10
WASHINGTON 25, D. C. 1955

Contents

Page

PRELIMINARY CAMPAIGN 2

THE FIRST DAY 9

THE SECOND DAY 16

RESULTS OF THE BATTLE 19

GUIDE TO THE AREA 24

Iowa State Monument 24

Michigan State Monument 27

Confederate Monument 27

Ruggles’ Batteries 28

Confederate Burial Trench 28

Illinois State Monument 29

Shiloh Church Site 29

Fraley Field 30

Putnam Stump 30

Hornets’ Nest and Sunken Road 31

Johnston’s Monument 31

Peach Orchard 32

War Cabin 32

Bloody Pond 33

Indian Mounds 33

Overlook 33

Pittsburg Landing 34

NATIONAL CEMETERY 35

HOW TO REACH THE PARK 35

ADMINISTRATION 36

RELATED AREAS 36

VISITOR FACILITIES 37

SHILOH INSPIRES WRITERS 37

Shiloh Church, painted by Capt. A. M. Connett, 24th Indiana Volunteer Infantry, a participant in the battle.

SHILOH NATIONAL MILITARY PARK preserves the scene of the first great battle in the West of the War Between the States. In this 2-day battle, April 6 and 7, 1862, both the Union and Confederate Armies suffered heavy casualties, bringing home the horrors of war to the North and South alike. Nearly 24,000 were killed, wounded, or reported missing—a number equal to more than one-fifth of the combined Union and Confederate Armies engaged in the battle. By their failure to destroy the Federal Armies at Shiloh the Confederates were forced to return to Corinth, Miss., relinquishing all hold upon West Tennessee, except a few forts on the Mississippi which were soon to be wrested from them. Their failure at Shiloh foreshadowed the loss of the Memphis and Charleston Railroad, the South’s vital line of communication between Chattanooga and the Mississippi. After the fall of Memphis, early in June, the Federals were in position to strike at Vicksburg, the conquest of which would give them control of the Mississippi and split the Confederacy in two.

The psychological effect on the South of the Union campaigns was probably of greater importance than the material gains or losses of the contending armies. The Confederates learned by bitter experience the error of their former opinion of the Union soldier. No longer could they boast that the fighting ability of one Confederate was equal to that of 10 Federals, now that Southern dash and chivalry had been grievously tried against Northern valor and endurance.

The near-defeat at Shiloh removed the illusion of easy victory, created by