Question of the Week: 4/2-4/8/18

In your opinion, what was the most important outcome from the Battle of Shiloh in April 1862?



16 Responses to Question of the Week: 4/2-4/8/18

  1. Grant, his subordinates & the United States Sanitary Commission learned & applied the bloody lessons learned at Shiloh. His opponents did not. That laid the firm foundation on which Union victory was built.

  2. That Grant gained (just) enough political credit for the victory at Shiloh to be sustained in command of most of the combined Missippi and Tennessee armies when Halleck was called to the east.

  3. That Halleck was able to worm his way into command of the West and then of all the Armies, giving the Confederacy the breathing time it needed in 1862 to recover its equilibrium

  4. It built the combat foundation for the most important military partnership of the war between Grant & Sherman.

  5. The concentration of three Union armies (including Pope’s a little later on) and the capture of Corinth.

  6. The loss of Albert Sidney Johnston. Although Johnston wasn’t the greatest of commanders, he was certainly better than those who replaced him and possibly could have learned from his mistakes in order to become better.

    1. Second this. I’d add in it’s corollary which is the downfall of Beauregard and the rise of Braxton Bragg.

  7. The most important outcome of the Battle of Shiloh on April 6-7, 1862 was the advanced study of nematodes. They can live on top of tall mountains or on the bottom of the sea. Nematodes have survived the Shuttle diaster and saved Civil War soldiers.

    If you want to learn more about nematodes and the U.S. Civil War, you can read my wife’s book, Aftermath of Battle, by Meg Groeling. lol

    “In 2001, 17-year-old Civil War buff Bill Martin visited the Shiloh battlefield with his family and heard the legend of Angel’s Glow. His mom, Phyllis, happened to be a microbiologist who studied a soil bacterium called Photorhabdus luminescens or P. luminescens — which is bioluminescent, meaning it gives off its own light. In fact, it gave off a light that was pale blue in color.

    Bill and his friend Jonathan Curtis wondered if this organism could be the source of Angel’s Glow. Bill’s mom encouraged them to try to find out.

    The boys learned that P. luminescens live inside nematodes, tiny parasitic worms that burrow into insect larvae in the soil or on plants. Once rooted in the larvae, the nematodes vomit up the bacteria, which release chemicals that kill the host larvae and any other microorganisms living inside them.

    Bill and Jonathan were slightly stumped to find out that P. luminescens can’t survive at normal human body temperature. But they figured out that sitting on the cold, wet ground for two days had lowered the wounded soldiers’ body temperature. So when the nematodes from the muddy soil got into the wounds, the bacteria had the right environment to thrive — and to save the men’s lives by cleaning out other, more dangerous germs.”

    Kids Discover

  8. All the responses are good, but Dan’s is the best. Grant first took notice of Sherman when the latter quickly funneled reinforcement troops to Grant at Fort Donelson. Sherman’s determined stand at Shiloh cemented their relationship – the closest and most successful partnership of the war.

  9. It’s very difficult to argue the relationship but General Grant and General Sherman wasn’t the most important I’ll come from the Battle of Shiloh. Sherman earned Grant’s full Trust with a stubborn defense he put up. On the other hand and much of the literature I’ve read and many of the posts I’ve read on here concerning topics in the western theater it is not uncommon to come across Albert Sidney Johnston as a huge loss for the Confederates. I respectfully and wholeheartedly disagree with this Latter assumption. We are cold in various literature by well-respected historians what a devastating loss this was for the Western theater. But I would argue just because he fought bravely in the Mexican-American War, with a lot of that being house to house, does not come close to guaranteeing a successful career is the leader of the western theater Confederacy armies. Just looking at the union side how many people were recognized for their bravery and Leadership and we’re absolutely complete failures during the Civil War. Yes, Braxton Bragg in my opinion was just a God awful Army Commander let alone human being. He had no problem berating those above him or below him going so far as the sun General Longstreet and his divisions to Eastern Tennessee, an area he knew was dominated Buy unionists and I hear ya he knew Lincoln would defend at all costs. He merely wanted to be rid of Longstreet who had the audacity to spit ball other ideas when in meetings with General Bragg. But again, you can’t say will because brag turned out to be a horrid Commander than Albert Sidney Johnson would have done much better. I think there are two main points that come out of the Battle of Shiloh, and both concerned the union Commander General Grant. First of all General Grant displayed a demeanor and calmness about him that was almost surreal, as if he was surveying the whole Battlefield from above. A prime example as the we’re reinforcing troops arrived the Commander’s were appalled at the thousands of men cowering under the cliffs. But General Grant being no fool new the man who were part of this mob under the cliffs or spent for the day and there’s nothing he could have done to get them back in the battlefield that is the mass majority of them. So instead he concentrated on what he did have and who was fighting and love using the river to both sides of him the union lines became more shorter they were pushed back will the Confederates had to spread their forces out phone as the two rivers moved further away from each other the farther they got from Grant’s General Grant’s camp. As the union lines shrunk considerably General Grant new he would have enough men to put up a staunch defense until the reinforcements and the guns from the Navy could provide some cover overnight. A very hard lesson which was only learned through massive casualties at this battle for the Union is it was also learned buy General Lee during the Peninsular campaign. General Grant’s education came when he to tried to fight a war based on early 18th and 17th century tactics with what was at the time very modern weapons. With that many troops in southern territory why you want again for the night baffles me and I am one of the few Grant admirers. Unfortunately it was later in the war that the generals begin to learn the need for digging in and placing obstacles to funnel the attacking Army Into the Fire zones whether that be long rifles or cannons.

  10. Sorry RareRootBeer, as the many people working on this site would tell you (Daniel T. Davis) answering 10 word questions with 10,000 word replies is my schtic, LOL J/K

  11. Dear tuffncuddly:

    Can’t argue with your praise of Grant (my favorite CW general). When Buell asked Grant, after the first day of the battle, when he was going to retreat, Grant basically said, This army still has plenty of fight in it. Boy, was he right!

    Of course, the Army of the Tennessee (with help from Buell’s troops) went on to win Shiloh and then (with help from other corps) Vicksburg, Chattanooga, Atlanta, March to the Sea and March through the Carolinas. Not bad for troops who appeared to be on their heels on the banks of the Tennessee River in April 1862.

    1. I could not had said it better Mr. Ruth. Going back 2 the most respected authors and their books on the Battle of Shiloh nearly all paint General Grant riding from one end of the line to the other, in 19th century Warfare it cannot be understated what a huge emotional and physical boost it is to see the commander of your army riding the lines in the thick of bullets to ensure victory. The last for 5 years have been much better to General Grant’s place amongst Great American generals, whereas there was roughly a hundred and fifty years of constantly slamming him. General Grant was no fool, he knew the further back he retreated his soldiers not only what they have the cover of the Navy boats, but as I mentioned above the rivers converged closer and closer together tord the Union last line of defense. Grant new if he could set that much shorter line of defense up with defense in depth and combine what artillery he had left in such a small Killing Zone he would make it through the night. When General Buell came on the scene all he saw where the thousands and thousands of men who ran to the protection of the boats and head under the cliffs, not realizing General Grant knowing those troops were spent it would be a waste of time and Manpower to March them under bayonet to the front line only to watch them scatter away like cockroaches once again. General Buell only saw this portion of the battlefield, and not the greater picture, which is why he is General Buell and Ulysses is General Grant

  12. That my grandfather (3x), Andrew Kline, survived that battle. He served in 72nd Ohio under “Uncle Billy”. His unit was one of first rolled up when the battle commenced and was wounded the second day. A German immigrant, he also served in the Mexican War and was 42 when he enlisted for the Civil War. morning. Wouldn’t be typing this if he hadn’t made it.

    I have visited the battlefield and found the unit marker for 72nd. Can’t imagine fighting in that terrain.

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