The American Civil War - This Mighty Scourge of War

The fighting 123

Southern combatants. When Beauregard
realized that Van Dorn was not coming, and
that his troops were nearly out of
ammunition and completely exhausted, he
ordered a withdrawal to Corinth. Grant
decided not to pursue because his soldiers
were just as exhausted and disorganized as
the retreating troops.
Although the Union won the battle, both
sides lost overwhelming numbers of
casualties. Union casualties totaled over
13,000, while the Confederates lost over
10,000. Never before was the American
populace confronted by such staggering
news as the losses at Shiloh. Northerners
came to believe that the human toll far
exceeded the strategic gains in the west and
that something must have gone seriously
wrong. Although the Federals had
extinguished Confederate hopes for
reclaiming West Tennessee and stalled the
Union penetration of significant cotton-
producing regions in Mississippi and
Alabama, Northern politicians were pressed

for answers about the high casualty rate. As

rumors passed through the Federal camps

that the Confederates had surprised Grant,

that he had been drinking, and that he had

not even been on the field when the battle

opened, Lincoln and Halleck were forced to

defend the commander. At one point,

frustrated about the failures and inactivity in

the east, Lincoln supposedly defended Grant,

arguing that although he might be the cause

of the losses at Shiloh, 'I can't spare this

man; he fights.'

The same day that Grant and Buell

defeated Beauregard, General Pope captured

Island No. 10, which opened the Mississippi

River all the way to Memphis, Tennessee. In

the following weeks, the Union Navy

steamed down the Mississippi toward

Memphis, and Halleck came to Pittsburg

Landing to direct the combined Federal

armies of Grant and Buell against Corinth

Confederate gunboats burning at New Orleans on the

approach of the Federal fleets. (Public domain)