One of the bloodiest and most bitterly fought battles of the Civil War took place at Shiloh Church (and Pittsburg Landing) on April 6-7, 1862. The Union, led by Ulysses S. Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman, held off a massive Confederate offensive led by Albert Sidney Johnston and P. G. T. Beauregard, paving the way for Union control of the Western Theater. When the fighting ended, nearly 20,000 soldiers were either dead or wounded, and the South had lost one of its ablest commanders in Johnston. Guide to the Battle of Shiloh combines eyewitness accounts of this Tennessee battle with explicit details about advances and retreats, leadership strategies, obstacles, achievements, and tactical blunders. In addition, it provides directions to key points on the battlefield as well as maps depicting the action and details of troop positions, roads, rivers, elevations, and tree lines as they were 130 years ago.

A comprehensive history of the Battle of Shiloh, fought in April 1862, in southwestern Tennessee, along with an overview of the units engaged and the movements of each brigade, and losses to the army.

At the mention of Shiloh, most tend to think of two particularly bloody and crucial days in April 1862. The complete story, however, encompasses much more history than that of the battle itself. While several accounts have taken a comprehensive approach to Shiloh, significant gaps still remain in the collective understanding of the battle and battlefield. In The Untold Story of Shiloh, Timothy B. Smith fills in those gaps, looking beyond two days of battle and offering unique insight into the history of unexplored periods and topics concerning the Battle of Shiloh and the Shiloh National Military Park. This collection of essays, some previously unpublished, tackles a diverse range of subjects, including Shiloh's historiography, the myths about the battle that were created, and the mindsets that were established after the battle. The book reveals neglected military aspects of the battle, such as the naval contribution, the climax of the Shiloh campaign at Corinth, and the soldiers' views of the battle. The essays also focus on the Shiloh National Military Park's establishment and continuation with particular emphasis on those who played key roles in its creation. Taken together, the essays tell the overall story of Shiloh in greater detail than ever before. General readers and historians alike will discover that The Untold Story of Shiloh is an important contribution to their understanding of this crucial episode in the Civil War. Timothy B. Smith is on staff at the Shiloh National Military Park. He is author of Champion Hill: Decisive Battle for Vicksburg and This Great Battlefield of Shiloh: History, Memory, and the Establishment of a Civil War National Military Park.

"Attack at Daylight and Whip Them: The Battle of Shiloh, April 6-7, 1862 describes the Civil War battle fought near Pittsburg Landing, and Shiloh Church in Tennessee and is also a guidebook to Shiloh National Military Park. Union army commanders Ulysses S. Grant and Don Carlos Buell defeated Confederate General Albert Sidney Johnston. Shiloh was the first battle of the Civil War in which both sides lost more than 10,000 casualties."--Provided by publisher.

“A splendid analysis” of this bloody Civil War battle: “In the tradition of The Killer Angels . . . Shiloh is an excellent read.” —Houston Chronicle The battle of Shiloh, fought in April 1862 in the wilderness of south central Tennessee, marked a savage turning point in the Civil War. In this masterful book, Larry Daniel re-creates the drama and the horror of the battle and discusses in authoritative detail the political and military policies that led to Shiloh; the personalities of those who formulated and executed the battle plans; the fateful misjudgments made on both sides; and the heroism of the small-unit leaders and ordinary soldiers who manned the battlefield. “The bloodbath at Shiloh, Tenn. brought an end to any remaining innocence in the Civil War. The combined 23,000 casualties that the two armies inflicted on each other in two days shocked North and South alike . . . a superbly researched volume that will appeal to both the beginning Civil War reader as well as those already familiar with the course of fighting in the wooded terrain bordering the Tennessee River.” —Publishers Weekly “By juxtaposing accounts of fighting along the lines with scenes of political infighting in Washington and Richmond, Daniel shows how the politics of command, personal jealousies, piecemeal intelligence, and the skills of small-unit commanders affected the outcome of the battle.” —Library Journal “Daniel . . . exhibits balanced judgment, thorough research, and the ability to explain strategy well to the lay reader.” —Booklist “A riveting account . . . rich in anecdotal detail.” —The Plain Dealer

This Civil War history and guide presents an engaging chronicle of the Battle of Shiloh with information and insights about the Tennessee battlefield. The Union Army of the Tennessee, commanded by Major General Ulysses S. Grant, had gathered on the banks of its namesake river at a spot called Pittsburg Landing, ready to strike deep into the heart of Tennessee Confederates, commanded by General Albert Sidney Johnston. Johnston’s troops were reeling from setbacks earlier in the year and had decided to reverse their fortunes by taking the fight to the Federals. Johnston planned to attack them at daylight and drive them into the river. As a brutal fight ensued, Grant gathered reinforcements and planned a counteroffensive. On the morning of April 7, he initiated his own bloody daybreak attack. The horrors of this two-day battle exceeded anything America had ever known in its history. Historian Greg Mertz grew up on the Shiloh battlefield, hiking its trails and exploring its fields. Attack at Daylight and Whip Them taps into five decades of intimate familiarity with a battle that rewrote America’s notions of war.

One of the bloodiest battles in the Civil War, the two-day engagement near Shiloh, Tennessee, in April 1862 left more than 23,000 casualties. Fighting alongside seasoned veterans were more than 160 newly recruited regiments and other soldiers who had yet to encounter serious action. In the phrase of the time, these men came to Shiloh to “see the elephant.” Drawing on the letters, diaries, and other reminiscences of these raw recruits on both sides of the conflict, “Seeing the Elephant” gives a vivid and valuable primary account of the terrible struggle. From the wide range of voices included in this volume emerges a nuanced picture of the psychology and motivations of the novice soldiers and the ways in which their attitudes toward the war were affected by their experiences at Shiloh.