Battle Of Shilh Essay

The Ride to Shiloh When people recall the Civil War, the battle of Shiloh rarely rings a bell. People usually think of the Battle of Gettysburg or the first shots fired at Fort Sumter, while failing to realize the importance of the lesser known battles which left a considerable impact, the battle of Shiloh included. At the time, it was the bloodiest battle yet to occur in the Civil War. It made both sides realize that this war wasn’t going to be an easy fight, it was going to be costly and bloody. People were going to die, and tensions were going to continue to rise. At the same time, new technological advances in communications and transportation gave both sides an advantage in their fight. The battle of Shiloh was the beginning of a long

Both felt the impact of these losses and were unable to attack in the next few weeks to come. One Union soldier said, “My opinion is that this war will be closed in less than six months from this time.” Then after the battle, the same soldier said, “If my life is spared I will continue in my country’s service until this rebellion is put down should it be ten years” (Dillahunty, pg.1). This particular battle made the North realize the war wasn’t going to be an easy fight, while the Confederates now realized they couldn’t boast about their men’s fighting abilities after such a hard loss. Both sides had many volunteer troops during the battle, which showed how much motivation many of these young men had. The battle of Shiloh proved to hold significant importance. It helped the Union in their plan of splitting the Confederate in two which was included in the Anaconda plan. Also, the Union now obtained the Memphis and Charleston railroad, which was vital to communication systems.
When looking back on the battle, it is easy to identify the reasons why the Confederates lost the battle of Shiloh. For one, many of the Confederate troops were volunteers with little experience. They were also poorly armed with very few weapons, which was especially evident on the second day of battle. Also, Johnston and Beauregard had no unified battle plan at the beginning causing mass confusion among Confederate troops. This resulted in the

They were mainly used to quickly move troops and supplies across the country. Prior to the war, the North had 22,000 miles of track while the South only had 9,000 miles. This was likely due to the fact that the North needed the tracks to ship the goods made in their factories to ports. Also, the North’s tracks were standardized which meant that any car could ride on the tracks, which was not true for the South. The South had to constantly move stuff between cars which wasted time and money. Because of the North’s advantage, they were able to transport things much quicker than the