Shiloh and the Western Campaign of 1862

The stunning Northern victory at Shiloh in 1942 thrust Union commander Ulysses S. Grant into the national spotlight, claimed the life of Confederate commander Albert S. Johnston, and forever buried the notion that the Civil War would be a short conflict.

Anxious to attack the enemy, Johnston began concentrating Southern forces at Corinth, a major railroad center just below the Tennessee border. His bold plan called for his Army of the Mississippi to march north and destroy General Grant’s Army of the Tennessee before it could link up with another Union army on the way to join him.

On the morning of April 6, Johnston boasted to his subordinates, “Tonight we will water our horses in the Tennessee!” They nearly did so. Johnston’s sweeping attack hit the unsuspecting Federal camps at Pittsburg Landing and routed the enemy from position after position as they fell back toward the Tennessee River. Johnston’s sudden death in the Peach Orchard, however, coupled with stubborn Federal resistance, widespread confusion, and Grant’s dogged determination to hold the field, saved the Union army from destruction. The arrival of reinforcements that enabled to Grant to seize the initiative and surprise the Confederates led to one of the bloodiest battles of the entire war, with nearly 24,000 men killed, wounded, and missing.

Cunningham, a young Ph.D. candidate, researched and wrote the book in 1966. Although unpublished, many Shiloh experts and park rangers considered it to be the best overall examination of the battle ever written. Civil War historians Joiner and Smith have resurrected Cunningham’s manuscript updating citations, original maps, a complete order of battle and table of losses. This book will be welcomed by everyone who enjoys battle history at its finest.