The American Civil War - This Mighty Scourge of War

The fighting 119

The Battle of Shiloh

After a bleak winter that had proved
tremendously unsettling to the Southern
cause, spring 1862 brought hope that the
Confederates in the west might redeem their
losses. Johnston concentrated his defeated
forces near Corinth, Mississippi, for an
offensive into Tennessee. He had pleaded all
winter for reinforcements, but none were
forthcoming until March, when he was able
to muster some 40,000 troops to engage the
enemy. Realizing that the Federals possessed
superior numerical strength, the Confederates
would have to pull off a stunning surprise and

run Grant's army into the river before Buell

arrived if they were to be successful. The

concentration of forces brought together a

colorful group of commanders, including

Major-Generals Braxton Bragg and Pierre G. T.

Beauregard, the hero of the Battle of First Bull

Run. Johnston assumed overall command.

In Hebrew. Shiloh translates as Place of Peace.' It is an ironic

name given to a church near Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee,

the scene of the most fiercely contested battle of the war

in the Western Theater; Shiloh church was located in the

middle of the Battle of Shiloh. It proved the inspiration for

the noted author Herman MelviIe to compose an elegiac

memorial to those who perished beside the humble

country church. In Shilon: A Requiem, 'Melville attempted

with poetic words to return Shiloh church to the quiet

refuge it had once been. (Harper's Weekly)