THE BATTLE OF SHILOH

Prentiss' scouting party, under Major James E. Powell, was the first to engage the confederate troops. Powell's reconnoitering party was made up of three companies of the 25th Missouri, and continued to be pushed back, even when four companies of the 16th Winsconson and 5 companies of the 21st Missouri reinforced them. However, with the addition of Colnel Peabody's brigade, the union force managed to hold their ground until 8:00 a.m. General T. Sherman, hearing the fighting going on, placed a battery unit at Shiloh Church and also one on another ridge to the south. However, around the time Prentiss' camp was overrun by the Confederates, Sherman's battery at Shiloh Church succumbed to the overpowering forces of the Confederates. All the union lines fell back into a central strong position in the rear. The ground that the union force held was indeed an excellent position. It was so strong that the advancing confederate's were bombarded by all the well fortified union forces. The Confederates rightfully named the spot "Hornet's Nest." General Grant had sent word to Buell telling him the position he wanted Buell to position the 17,000 reinforcements he was sending to Grant. Grant, who also recieved 6,000 men from Lew Wallace, then dispensed some reinforcements to Prentiss and organized Buell's and Wallace's troops near Pittsburg Landing. At this time, Johnston, of course, noticed the positioning of Prentiss' forces. He saw the opportunity to surround the embankment on which the union army was dug in to. He went himself to the extreme right flank to oversee the movement. As he was overseeing the movements, a bullet hit him in the leg and severed a major artery. He eventually died from bleeding to death at 2:30 p.m. As soon as the word of his death reached the Confederate headquarters near Shiloh Church, General Pierre G.T. Beauregard, the second in command, assumed commmand. The attack continued on Prentiss and the other Union men being encircled by the Confederate forces. Prentiss was eventually left by the other units to fend the position by himself. The retreating union units had to retreat through a revine where they were under heavy fire from the Confederates. W.H.L. Wallace had two regiments of men that did get through, even though he himself did not make it. Prentiss himself eventually had to surrender at about 5:30 p.m. with about 2,200 men left from the two divisions. The next day, Grant pushed the Rebel forces back with Buell's and Lew Wallace's men to where the Confederates had been before the attack, regaining all the ground previously lost. However, the battle weary Confederates gave the fresh Union troops a rough time in pushing them back. One struggle, "Wateroaks Pond", which was a road set as a fall-back point for the Confederates, was lost and gained again many times by the Rebels. In the end, Grant's forces did manage to push Beauregard back to Corinth, Mississippi where they had com from.

The Battle of Shiloh was truly, "A BLOODY AFFAIR."