The Western Theater and the Battle of Shiloh

Consequences of the Battle of Bull Run

• Impact of Confederate Victory: The Battle of Bull Run (also known as First Manassas) resulted in a Confederate victory early in the Civil War. However, its primary effect was to convince the Union that the conflict would be lengthier and more difficult than initially anticipated.
• Union Response: Following Bull Run, the Union government redoubled its efforts, focusing on procuring more recruits and increasing military preparation to continue the fight.

Confederate Command in the Western Theater

• Leadership: In the spring of $1862$, the Confederate commander in the Western Theater was Albert Sidney Johnston.
• Jurisdiction: Johnston was responsible for the defense of virtually all Confederate territory west of the Appalachian Mountains.

The Strategic Status of Kentucky

• Initial Neutrality: At the start of the war, the state of Kentucky declared its neutrality, a status Johnston hoped would serve as a buffer for the Confederacy.
• Violation of Neutrality: In November $1861$, Confederate troops invaded Kentucky to secure a position on the Mississippi River.
• Political Shift: This invasion prompted Kentucky to abandon neutrality and side with the United States (the Union), refusing to secede or join the Confederacy.
• Consequences for Johnston: With Kentucky now allied with the Union, Johnston’s defensive line shifted southward, requiring him to protect the entire border between Tennessee and Kentucky.

Invasion Avenues into Tennessee

• Geographical Vulnerabilities: Johnston faced a massive front with approximately $40,000$ troops, attempting to defend several major avenues of invasion:
  • The Cumberland Gap (mountain pass).
  • The Cumberland River (waterway leading into Nashville).
  • The Railroad running from Bowling Green to Nashville.
  • The Railroad running from Bowling Green to Memphis.
  • The Tennessee River (north-south waterway).
  • The Mississippi River (referred to as the "Father of Waters"), defining the western flank.
• Defense Strategy: While a prudent military strategy would suggest concentrating forces in a central location like Nashville to react to threats, regional political demands for protection forced Johnston to spread his forces thinly across the border.

The Fall of Fort Henry and Fort Donelson

• Fort Henry:
  • Located on the Tennessee River, the fort was intended to stop Union navigation.
  • Engineering Failure: The fort was poorly situated in the middle of a floodplain.
  • Union Attack (February $1862$): During the Union offensive, the river had risen $30\,\text{feet}$ out of its banks, putting half of Fort Henry $10\,\text{feet}$ underwater.
  • Surrender: Due to the flooding, the Confederates could not offer effective resistance and surrendered the fort, opening the Tennessee River as far south as Alabama.
• Fort Donelson:
  • Union General Ulysses S. Grant marched overland from Fort Henry to capture Fort Donelson on the Cumberland River.
  • Capture Date: Grant successfully captured the fort on February $16$, $1862$, ten days after the fall of Fort Henry.
  • Significance: This secured the Cumberland River for the Union. In just two weeks, the Union successfully "kicked in the front door" of Tennessee's major water defenses.
• Confederate Losses: Approximately $15,000$ Confederate troops were forced to surrender at Fort Donelson alone.

Strategic Manuevering and Regrouping

• Confederate Retreat: Scrambling to regroup, Johnston withdrew his remaining forces from Tennessee and ordered them to congregate in Corinth, Mississippi.
• Reinforcements: Johnston called for troops from Gulf Coast cities, including New Orleans, Mobile, and Pensacola, to replenish his depleted army.
• Union Advance: After capturing Nashville, Union forces under Ulysses S. Grant moved down the Tennessee River. Grant waited for another Union army, led by Don Carlos Buell, to march overland from Nashville and join him in Southern Tennessee.

The Road to the Battle of Shiloh

• Johnston’s Gambit: Johnston realized that if Buell's $30,000$ troops joined Grant's $40,000$ troops, the Confederates would be outnumbered nearly two-to-one. He decided he must attack Grant’s army before the reinforcements arrived.
• Planning and Delays:
  • Johnston planned the attack for April $4$, $1862$.
  • Delays: Heavy rain, bad weather, and confusion among marching orders for rookie (non-veteran) soldiers delayed the attack until April $6$, $1862$.
• The Element of Surprise: Many Confederate officers feared they had lost the element of surprise because undisciplined soldiers had discharged their firearms to check if their powder was dry after the rain. However, many Union officers ignored warnings of a Confederate presence.
• William Tecumseh Sherman: A future legend of the war, Sherman nearly ruined his career at Shiloh by failing to take early warnings of the Confederate approach seriously.
• Johnston’s Determination: When advisors suggested calling off the attack due to lost surprise and Union numbers, Johnston replied, "I would fight them if they were a million."

Execution of the Battle of Shiloh (April 6-7, 1862)

• Day One (April $6$):
  • The Confederates launched a massive morning attack in four columns across the front.
  • Initial success: They drove the Union forces back approximately $2\,\text{miles}$.
  • Disorientation: Some Confederate troops stopped fighting, believing the battle was already won, requiring officers (including Johnston) to personally push them forward.
  • Strategic Objective: Johnston aimed to pin the Union army against the Tennessee River and the northern swamps to force annihilation or surrender.
• The Death of Albert Sidney Johnston:
  • While urging men forward in the afternoon, Johnston was shot in the leg while on horseback.
  • Initially dismissing the wound, Johnston had actually suffered a severed femoral artery.
  • He bled to death in approximately $5\,\text{minutes}$.
• Command Transition: Pierre Gustave Toutant (P.G.T.) Beauregard, a hero of Bull Run, took command. He launched one final massive attack, pushing Grant to his final defensive line before nightfall.
• Beauregard’s Error: Believing victory was certain, Beauregard telegrammed Richmond that night to announce a win. He planned to finish the Union army the next morning.
• Day Two (April $7$):
  • During the night, Buell’s $30,000$ reinforcements arrived and crossed the Tennessee River.
  • Grant launched a counterattack at dawn. The exhausted Confederates, caught off guard, were forced to retreat and abandon the battlefield.
  • Final Outcome: A decisive Union victory snatched from the "jaws of defeat."

Casualties and the Reality of War

• Union Casualties: Approximately $13,000$.
• Confederate Casualties: Approximately $11,000$ (including an estimated $2,000$ dead and $8,000$ wounded).
• Grant’s Changing Perspective: Before Shiloh, Grant believed a single decisive victory would end the rebellion. Afterward, he realized the tenacity of the Confederate soldiers meant the war could only end by "complete conquest."
• National Realization: Both sides realized the war would be much longer and bloodier than originally thought.

Union Financial Measures and Expansion of Federal Power

• Funding the War: The federal government instituted unprecedented measures to finance the military effort:
• First Income Tax (August $5, 1861$): The federal government introduced the first income tax in U.S. history, though it only applied to those above a certain wealth threshold.
• Legal Tender Act (February $25, 1862$):
  • Issued paper money popularly known as "greenbacks."
  • Results: Inflation rose $80\%$ in the Union. Compared to the Confederacy's $9000\%$ inflation rate (where a $\$1$ item in $1861$ cost $\$90$ in $1865$), the Union's financial management was highly effective.
• Internal Revenue Act (April $1862$):
  • Taxes on high-volume consumer goods: liquor, tobacco, and playing cards.
  • Taxes on luxury items: carriages, yachts, pool tables, and jewelry.
• Long-term Significance: These measures fundamentally changed the relationship between the federal government and the American people, granting the central government significantly more power than ever before.