Battle of Shiloh (1862) - American Civil War DOCUMENTARY

[Music] this video was suggested and sponsored by our patron Alexander Norbeck you too can support our channel via patreon YouTube membership or PayPal the four years of conflict that made up the u.s. Civil War were characterized by industrialization poor leadership and enormous bloodshed while the tremendous casualty rates of battles such as Antietam and Gettysburg dominate popular history other lesser known battles were of course fought each with their own tactical and strategic importance and all with loss of life the Battle of Shiloh fought on April 6th and 7th of 1862 proved to be a pivotal one in the Western theater of the war and set the stage for the eventual downfall of the Confederacy by the beginning of April 1862 the u.s. Civil War has been underway for almost exactly one year campaigning in the Western theater of the war has begun in earnest in September of 1861 with the securing of Kentucky by Union forces led by Major General Ulysses s grants army of the Tennessee the Union now directly threatened the economic heart of the Confederacy by stationing troops along the Mississippi River the economic artery of the south in response to this and to protect Nashville the Confederacy established Fort Donelson and Fort Henry Cumberland Gap situated on the Cumberland River along the Tennessee Kentucky border [Music] at the start of 1862 the 27,000 manstrong army of the Tennessee began operations against Fort Henry and Donaldson with the strategic goal of dislodging Confederate forces and allowing further operations into western Tennessee and into the economic heartland of the Confederacy General Grant had his army in position by early February and a combined naval and ground assault was performed against the poorly defended forts with their surrender occurring on February 6th and February 16th respectively this was a significant blow to the Confederacy with the loss of approximately 15,000 troops furthermore by February 25th general Buell's army of the Ohio had captured Nashville Tennessee 117 kilometers of grants army of the Mississippi through March General Grant under the orders of Major General Henry Halleck moved approximately 44,000 men deep into Tennessee via the Tennessee River setting up a principal encampment at Pittsburg Landing plans were also made for approximately 16,000 men of general Buell's army of the Ohio recently reorganized under major general Halleck to march from nashville to link up with General Grant before combat operations would begin many troops from both Union armies were combat veterans relatively well armed and supported by artillery in the field while major general Halleck was organizing Union forces in Tennessee the newly created Confederate Army of Mississippi was being gathered around Corinth Mississippi 32 kilometers south of Pittsburg Landing under General Albert Sidney Johnson Johnson had a reputation as an experienced combat officer and was considered among the Confederacy's top generals of the 55,000 CSA troops at Corinth 40,000 of them began marching north on April 3rd to merge the encamps Union Army Johnson knew that he needed to strike against grants troops before they could be reinforced by Buell's troops marching from Nashville although his troops were generally poorly armed and inexperienced in combat Johnson hopes the elements of speed and surprise could help win a major victory knowing that the Union forces had not set up fortifications or entrenchments Johnson's plan called for his troops to strike the Union Army and drive them to the west away from the Tennessee River and away from the supports provided by Union gunboats to the west of Pittsburg Landing lay a swampy stretch of land that would make it easy to destroy the Union Army [Music] however Johnson's March to the north was severely delayed by heavy rain causing units to get stuck in the mud his army was not in position to attack until the very early morning of the 6th of April by which time his troops were tired and hungry due to poor rationing surprisingly the Union forces were still not aware of the CSA army preparing to attack General Grant in a bid to avoid contacting the enemy and starting a major battle had not posted any advance scouts or patrols by chance in the early morning of April 6th a nighttime patrol in force encountered advancing Confederate troops under the command of CSA general Bragg and began exchanging fire the sound of gunfire alerted the Union Army that an engagement was underway and they began to form battle lines before the Confederate forces could reach them by 6:00 a.m. skirmishes were turning into more sustained contact and by 9:00 a.m. the Union soldiers at Pittsburg Landing were either in the line or moving towards it Union forces were deployed with the Tennessee River holding the eastern flank and stretched westward with the western flank anchored by General Sherman around Shiloh Church as general Johnson had decided to personally lead his confederates into battle strategic command of the Confederate Army fell to his second-in-command general Beauregard Beauregard deviated from General Johnson's plan to push the Union forces westward and instead opted to direct his army to attack in waves and attempt to push the Union forces to the east into the river as the morning progressed due to poor command advancing Confederate troops became intermingled with troops from other units however the intensity and relentlessness of the attack the Union Army to fall back in attempts to form new defensive lines General Sherman and General McClellan's troops retreated behind Shiloh Church by mid-morning on the eastern edge of the line of battle flanked by General Hulbert and the Tennessee River to the east and Sherman and Oakland to the northwest troops commanded by generals Prentiss and Wallace found themselves established in a field next to a road the position along the so-called sunken Road became a focal point for the Confederate assault today sustaining anywhere from 18 to 14 separate charges the fire coming into the unity positions was so intense that survivors desired the sound of the minié balls in the air like compressing of anger illness earning the place the name of the hornet's nest be points in the line by General Prentiss owing to the disorganized withdrawal of troops on either side came under particularly heavy fire including concentrated fire from 50 cannons massed under CSA general Ruggles this pressure was kept on the hornet's nest for seven hours general Johnson was wounded while personally leading his troops in the area he ignored the wound and bled to death as the afternoon progresses in to die in combat during the u.s Civil War command fell to general Beauregard who was at the rear and unable to assess the battle Beauregard opted to continue to assault the hornet's nest instead of bypassing it and attacking the rest of the Union forces leaving the nest surrounded to be mopped up later the hornet's nest did eventually fall and while it was a tactical victory on the battlefield for the Confederates the time and manpower expended by the Confederate Army gave grants man time to fall back and establish new defensive positions outside of Pittsburg Landing these positions were anchored by the Tennessee River to the east were well set up and supported by 50 cannons as well as the gun votes on the river bow regards attacks on the hornet's nest had resulted in the Union forces being entrenched along the river instead of being driven westward into the swampy ground General Grant was at Savannah Tennessee when the fighting began approximately 16 kilometers away from the battlefield he was recovering from a fall from a horse and upon hearing the artillery began giving orders including that general Nelson move his troops from Savannah down the east side of the river to reserve positions opposite Pittsburg Landing grant then preceded himself down river to Crump's Landing to direct general Wallace to move his troops to the western side of the battlefield in support of General Sherman around Shiloh Church general Wallace due to confusion and lack of clarity in the orders given to him was slowly bringing his troops down the Shunpike instead of the river road if he had not been found and redirected by mid-afternoon his troops would have been behind the Confederate troops who had advanced past Shiloh Church by that time he was forced to reverse march his troops to maintain order and then move to the river road where his troops could march down to join the Union lines his troops would not reach the battlefield until 7 p.m. that evening as the fighting for the day concluded in addition to the arrival of these troops the 15,000 of general Buell's army of the ohio began to arrive during the night of the 6th as night fell the leadership on both sides felt confident in their respective positions general Beauregard remaining at Shiloh Church and ignoring intelligence reports that indicated Union reinforcements had arrived felt he had merely a mopping up operation left on his hands Confederate troops were now occupying and setting up in prentices and Sherman's camps from the previous days but their time and focus were spent on finding food and shelter instead of resupplying ammunition and establishing defensive positions a thunderstorm swept through the area during late evening making for a miserable night for all troops by the morning approximately 20,000 Confederates were heavily outnumbered by a reinforced Union Army numbering approximately 45,000 men as early as 5:30 a.m. the Union forces began to advance led by Wallace's fresh troops set up on the western edge of the line the Confederate Army was at this point more a mass of troops than a cohesive force with unit organization all but non-existent it took until mid-morning for the CSA line to stabilize although they remained under heavy pressure and continued to fall back as the day progressed by late morning the area of the hornet's nest had been recaptured only to become the renewed focus of counter-attacks from CSA troops led by General Breckinridge despite local success continued attacks by Union troops forced the line back and the hornet's nest was firmly recaptured with the line extending parallel to the Hamburg perdy Road in the area between the hornet's nest and Shiloh Church Beauregard assessed his situation and in the face of more than 10,000 casualties came to the conclusion that he could no longer achieve victory by late in the afternoon he began and ordered withdrawals southwards back towards Corinth they were pursued by a small number of Union troops led by General Wallace but little support was provided from the rest of the army now exhausted after two days of fighting and the pursuit forces fell back northwards into their own lines [Music] with the conclusion of the fighting on April 7th the Battle of Pittsburg Landing as the Union called it or the Battle of Shiloh as it came to be known drew to a close Union forces had not only prevailed on the field of battle but continues to hold the strategic initiative in the western theater of the war although General Grant was removed from overall command of the army of the Tennessee for his failings to create proper defensive positions for his troops on the eve of battle his disposition of troops once battle began allowed him to remain as its second in command under Halleck general Beauregard remained in control of the army of Mississippi only to be relieved of his command after losing again to Union forces at the siege of Corinth later in 1862 overall the Union victory at Shiloh allowed them to continue further operations in Tennessee and Mississippi leading to the fall both of Memphis and later of Vicksburg giving the Union control of the Mississippi River and splitting the Confederacy in half Confederate casualties of ten thousand six hundred and ninety-nine men and Union casualties of thirteen thousand and forty-seven men made the two-day battle the bloodiest battle in American history up to that point hope of a quick decisive victory for either side faded as the bloody war of attrition set in [Music] we release two historical documentaries per week so make sure you are subscribed to our channel and have pressed the bell button we would like to express our gratitude to our patreon supporters and channel members who make the creation of our videos possible now you can also support us by buying our merchandise by the link in the description this is the kings and Generals channel and we will catch you on the next one

Channel: Kings and Generals

Views: 634,262

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Keywords: civil war, battle of shiloh (event), american civil war, battle of shiloh (military conflict), american civil war (military conflict), stonewall jackson, kings and generals, full documentary, history lesson, world history, documentary film, animated documentary, decisive battles, war - topic, historia civilis, armies and tactics, extra credits history, history documentary, epic history tv, military history, history channel, grant, buell, johnston, beauregard, mississippi, empire

Id: kpE7BOFqfrc

Length: 15min 2sec (902 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 28 2018