On the first day of the Battle of Shiloh the Confederates launched a
surprise attack that forced the Union army back toward the Tennessee
River. In confused and ferocious fighting, General Benjamin Prentiss’s
men stood firm, defending a roadside position against repeated enemy
charges—the noise of shrapnel and bullets buzzing through the trees
gave the place its nickname of the Hornet’s Nest. Although the Union
troops surrendered after many hours, their resistance provided time
for the Union forces to reorganize. The next day, Grant’s reinforced
army drove the Confederates back across the captured ground.
The Hornet’s Nest at Shiloh
EYEWITNESS April 6, 1862
“Oh! The angry tempest that rolls around here! Belching cannons,
shotted to the muzzle, are now plowing deep lanes in the Union
ranks. How can we describe the sound of a storm of grape and
canister, cutting their hellish paths through serried ranks of
human beings. It is impossible ... the mighty armies are now
struggling—struggling desperately for the life or death of a nation.
Fiercer and fiercer rages the battle ... but fearful odds are against
us ... the harsh, fierce barking of the dogs of war made the earth
tremble, as if in the midst of a convulsion ... confusion reigns;
brave men are falling like rain drops. All seems dark—seems that
the Union army will be crushed by this wild sweep of treason ...
the old Union banner seems to be drooping in the wrathful storm,
but by an almost superhuman effort the tide is checked ... night
comes ... the sable curtains have now fallen, closing to our eyes
the terrible scene. Soon it commences to rain. Dark, dark night for
the army of the Tennessee. Many brave men are sleeping silently.
They have fought their last battle. Fearful, desolating war has done
a desperate work ... the Seventh, tired and almost exhausted,
drops down to the ground, unmindful of the falling rain, to rest
themselves ... disastrous war has wrapped its winding sheet
around the cold form of many a fond mother’s boy, and before
many days there will be weeping in the lonely cottage homes;
weeping for the loved and lost who are now sleeping beneath
the tall oaks on the banks of the Tennessee. About the noble
men of the Seventh who fell today, we will speak hereafter; we
shall not forget them. How could we forget them, when they have
played their part so well in the great tragedy?
”
DANIEL AMBROSE, 7 ILLINOIS INFANTRY, FROM SHILOH TO SAVANNAH, 1868;
ENLISTED AT 18 YEARS OLD, AMBROSE FOUGHT IN THE ACTION AT THE HORNET’S NEST
Holding back the Confederates
Swedish-born artist Thure de Thulstrup created this color
lithograph depicting the fighting at the Hornet’s Nest.
Two Union divisions managed to hold out along this
stretch of road for seven hours before they surrendered.