Battle of Shiloh Part 5, The Hornets Nest | Animated Battle Map

welcome everyone to have historical travel i am your host the wilder historian and if you would like to win a copy of the book civil war infantry tactics by dr earl hess one of the preeminent civil war scholars today you can head over to the facebook page for the channel the link is in the description and for each video you share in the shallow animated battle map series your name will be entered into a drawing for this excellent book if you want more chances to win the book you can go to the twitter page and retweet the videos i will be doing the drawing on may 7th 2021 so please share and retweet the links from the twitter and facebook pages by may 6th for your chance to win a copy in this video i take an extensive look at one of the most blood curdling moments of the civil war the hornet's nest if you walk the union battle line today where those blue troops made a heroic stand against overwhelming confederate numbers you can still feel the urgency and the chaos while the confederate left wing pushed sherman and mclaren towards pittsburgh landon and while johnston battled with hurlbutt at the peach orchard the confederate center encountered stiff resistance from summer w.h wallace's men when johnston launched his mass attack earlier in the day to push back sherman and mclaren shavers brigade had been surprised by fire coming from sweeney's position and they would fall back while bragg looked for another brigade to assault sweeney and tuttle beauregard had already sent manny's brigade under colonel william h stevens who had recently rejoined his men from this sick bet and was still feeling ill to that sector stevens faced the brigade made up of iowans under colonel james tuttle and a conglomeration of regiments from various brigades to tuttle's left the tennesseans marched into duncan field receiving long-range musketry as they crossed but when they reached the center of the field a murderous fire came from the blue troops on both of their flanks the rebels couldn't take the punishment and fell back to safety and move further to the right to support statham and his attacks on the peach orchard where many would rejoin the brigade for the attack that sent the blue troops back the ease with which tuttle and sweeney's men held their position gave them renewed confidence about their position however the sound of gunfire when steven's men were forced out of duncan field drew the attention of the confederate brigades to the west sherman and mclernon's withdrawal produced a lull in the battle on the west side of the battlefield while the troops in the peach orchard continued the bloody fight general hindman rounded up stewart's brigade to attack tuttle's men but an artillery shell hit his horse and exploded inside the animal throwing honmen disorienting him therefore stewart took command he worked hard to assemble elements of four other brigades including two regiments from cleburne's beleaguered brigade to assault the union position however once assembled and marched into the field stewart reported his men had no ammunition something that should have been checked before moving toward the enemy which forced stewart to seek protection in the forest from which they came there the mismatch brigade broke apart with men leaving the ranks to refill their cartridge boxes and others attempting to find their proper brigades braxton bragg the commander of that sector searched for a fresh brigade to throw against the union line he found randall gibson's brigade being only slightly engaged up to that point the arkansas and louisiana troops meandered through a dense undergrowth towards w.h wallace's men wallace seeing a gap in the line between himself and the regiment's guarding the peach orchard sent in the 8th iowa to plug that hole in the line and they immediately became engaged with gibson's men the commander of the 14th iowa reported that his regiment waited until the confederates came within 30 paces and then sent a massive lead into the enemy ranks commenting that the enemy's first line was completely destroyed the lousianians reported a similar event that a volley from the union line blunted their attack for the moment and the louisianian also declared that the bullets sounded like swarms of angry hornets and the name the hornet's nest stuck gibson's brigade could hardly see the enemy if at all so he ordered his men to fix bayonets they again moved towards the underbrush and received more volleys for their trouble that repulsed their attack gibson reformed his battle line dressed his ranks and moved forward again portions of the brigade would attack the hornet's nest as many as four times and each time they got repulsed during one of the attacks a cannonball took off half of a soldier's head he threw up his hands and walked two or three steps in advance of the charging ranks and pitched stiffly forward on his face much of the man's blood and brain splattered the captain of the regiment in the face he threw his coat sleeve across his face whopping away the hideous defilement and coolly crying it's all right boys come on as nothing had happened bragg rode close to the fountain and personally sent in the fourth louisiana under colonel henry w allen a few moments later allen walked back into the field during the withdrawal with blood pouring from a wound in the cheek and he barked the order here boys is as good a place as any on this battlefield to meet death the brigade withdrew to safety after the last repulse and the men set down to rest their weary bodies and a few of the men began playing a game of poker gibson's brigade would help push back the union line at the peach orchard a little further south bragg searched for another brigade to throw against the union line he found chavers brigade beat up with only a few regiments present for duty at 2 30 pm they attacked the hornet's nest but the union line held firm and repulsed the rebels more officers began to take notice of the stubborn federals near the hornet's nest and they like the other commanders grabbed the nearest units to launch another assault this time anderson's brigade would attack in conjunction with two regiments the 38th tennessee and the crescent regiment on the union right at 3 30 pm those regiments stepped off to launch their own attack anderson's men got slowed down in the dense undergrowth just like gibson's men and the two rebel regiments to the west got flanked by the illinoisians and iowans that attack failed just like the others the confederate high command in the center was understanding now that the position could not be carried by frontal assaults and began assembling a massive amount of artillery between 50 and 60 field guns to dislodge the yankees from their seemingly impregnable position the blasts from the cannons roared over the landscape sending projectiles into the awaiting federals it did not drive off the infantry but multiple batteries withdrew under the heated barrage but the blue infantry were staying put one infantryman commented that the road on which they were aligned looked like a carpet of paper from the cartridges we had bitten off the time was 4 30 pm and the stubborn federals were now in trouble the confederates personally led by johnson on their left in the peach orchard broke through the union line those regiments who didn't retreat northward pulled back creating a right angle to tuttle's line bragg realizing what happened quickly sent word to all brigade commanders to converge on the hornet's nest mclernon and sherman had pulled back on wallace's right and prentice's line on the left disintegrated leaving wallace's line in the hornet's nest all alone making the situation worse the seventh illinois on the right moved back as the confederates capitalized on the disappearance of mclernon to sweeney's right the 58th illinois was now vulnerable to more attacks in their flank and the rebels were beginning to surround the command a soldier brought out a white flag the colonel of the 58th william lynch rode up to the gentleman and cut the staff in two with his sword determined to make a stand the union line began to waver as some units tried to fight their way out of the situation wallace personally directed regiments toward gaps in the confederate lines but the enemy skirmishers were closing in wallace stood up in the stirrups to get a better view and was struck in the head his wife had arrived that morning to visit her husband he didn't know she was there but a staff officer told her of his death the confederate trap completely clamped shut at around 5 45 pm 2200 federals eventually surrendered confederate cavalry chased down many of the blue troops who escaped the encirclement to the north sherman and mclearnon and hurlbut formed a new defensive line and awaited the rebels hoping dark would come soon historian far far from home i have history will travel he's the card of a [Music] a man with knowledge in the heartland [Music] to 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Channel: History Gone Wilder | Have History Will Travel

Views: 15,746

Keywords: The Battle of Shiloh, Ulysses S. Grant, Braxton Bragg, P. G. T. Beauregard, Albert Sidney Johnston, Tennessee Battlefields, Who won the Battle of Shiloh, What won the Civil War, Eyewitness accounts, Civil War primary sources, Hornets Nest, Corinth Mississippi, Civil War, Greatest Battles in History, Animated Battle Map, Peach Orchard, The Crossroads, History's biggest misconceptions, Biggest Military Blunders, Greatest battles in history

Id: GZNB1Ha8LgI

Length: 9min 21sec (561 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 30 2021