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The Battle of Shiloh, 1862: the war turns bloody

American Civil War · 6 to 7 April 1862 · Union vs Confederacy · ~6 min read · Updated October 2026

By Echoes of Battle

Union and Confederate troops in combat at the Battle of Shiloh, painting by Thure de Thulstrup

At a glance

United States (Union)Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant
vs
Confederate StatesGen. Albert Sidney Johnston; Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard
Date
6 to 7 April 1862
Location
Near Pittsburg Landing, southwestern Tennessee
Period
American Civil War
Outcome
Union victory
By the numbers
SideStrengthLosses
Union~65,000 (with reinforcements)1~13,000 killed, wounded or missing1
Confederacy~44,000~10,700 casualties

Figures are approximate; the combined toll of over 23,000 shocked the nation2.

Quick answer

The Union under Ulysses S. Grant won the Battle of Shiloh on 6 to 7 April 18621 in Tennessee. A surprise Confederate attack on the first day nearly drove Grant's army into the river, but overnight reinforcements let him counterattack on the second day and win the field. With more than 23,000 casualties, Shiloh was the bloodiest battle in American history up to that point and shattered hopes of a short war.

On a Sunday morning in April 1862 the Confederate army fell on Ulysses S. Grant's camps at Shiloh without warning. By nightfall the Union line was reeling; by the next evening it was the Confederates who were in retreat, and both sides were stunned by the scale of the slaughter.

Part of The greatest battles of the Civil War · Before: The Battle of Fort Donelson · Next: The Battle of Antietam

Grant on the Tennessee

Driving south after his victories at Forts Henry and Donelson, Grant gathered his army near Pittsburg Landing on the Tennessee River, waiting for Don Carlos Buell's army to join him before advancing on the rail hub of Corinth. The Confederates under Albert Sidney Johnston struck first.

Detailed old map of the Shiloh battlefield beside the Tennessee River with roads, fields and troop positions
General Don Carlos Buell's map of the Shiloh battlefield, published with his article Shiloh Reviewed in The Century in 1886, showing the camps and positions of the armies around Pittsburg Landing. Public domain

The surprise attack

At dawn on 6 April the Confederates burst out of the woods2 and overran the forward Union camps. Caught off guard, Grant's divisions were pushed back toward the river through a day of ferocious fighting. The Confederate commander Johnston was killed leading an attack2, one of the highest-ranking officers to die in the war.

Engraving of artillerymen and horses falling under fire among trees and tents
The retreat of Dressel's battery at the centre of the Union position on the morning of Sunday 6 April, an engraving after a sketch by Henri Lovie in Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, May 1862. Public domain

The Hornet's Nest

At the centre, Union troops held a sunken road and thicket so fiercely that the position became known as the Hornet's Nest, buying hours with their lives before being surrounded and forced to surrender3. Their stand gave Grant time to form a last line, backed by gunboats, which held as night fell.

Engraving of two smoking paddle gunboats on a river at dusk
The Union gunboats Lexington and Tyler on the Tennessee River on the evening of the first day at Shiloh, from Battles and Leaders of the Civil War (1887). Public domain
Both armies came to Shiloh expecting a short war, and left knowing better.

The second day

Overnight Buell's fresh army arrived across the river.2 On 7 April the reinforced Union line counterattacked, slowly driving the exhausted Confederates back over the ground they had won, until P.G.T. Beauregard ordered a retreat to Corinth. Neither side had the strength to pursue.

Lithograph of Union officers on horseback leading infantry forward in a battle
Currier and Ives lithograph of the second day at Shiloh, 7 April 1862, published the same year under the title Battle of Pittsburgh, Tenn. Public domain

Why Shiloh mattered

Shiloh secured western Tennessee for the Union and opened the way deeper into the South, but its real shock was the cost: more than 23,000 casualties in two days, more than all of America's earlier wars combined4. It ended any illusion that the Civil War would be short5, and confirmed Grant as a general who would not retreat.

Frequently asked questions

When and where was the Battle of Shiloh?

It was fought on 6 to 7 April 1862 near Pittsburg Landing in southwestern Tennessee; it is also called the Battle of Pittsburg Landing.

Who won the Battle of Shiloh?

The Union under Ulysses S. Grant, after surviving a surprise attack on the first day and counterattacking on the second.

Why was Shiloh so significant?

Its more than 23,000 casualties made it the bloodiest battle in American history to that point and ended hopes of a quick end to the war.

Who was killed at Shiloh?

The Confederate commander, General Albert Sidney Johnston, was killed on the first day, among the highest-ranking officers to die in the war.

What was the Hornet's Nest?

A sunken road and thicket where Union troops held out against repeated Confederate assaults, buying time before being surrounded and captured.

Sources and notes

Numbered notes in the text point to the works below.

  1. American Battlefield Trust, “Shiloh” ↩ a b c
  2. National Park Service, Shiloh National Military Park, “Battle of Shiloh” ↩ a b c d
  3. Timothy B. Smith, Shiloh: Conquer or Perish (University Press of Kansas, 2014). ↩
  4. U.S. National Archives, The Unwritten Record, “Mapping the Battle of Shiloh” ↩
  5. Larry J. Daniel, Shiloh: The Battle That Changed the Civil War (Simon & Schuster, 1997). ↩
  6. Wikipedia, “Battle of Shiloh”

Hold the line at Shiloh

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