Timeline of Shiloh Battle

Return to the Table of Contents

The Beginning

March 1: Maj. Gen. Henry W. Halleck, commanding Union forces in the West, orders Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant to take the Army of the Tennessee to a position on the Tennessee River near the Tennessee-Mississippi line.

March 1: Union gunboats on the Tennessee River bombard a small Confederate force at Pittsburg Landing, driving the Confederates away.

March 1: Albert Sidney Johnston’s Confederate army begins marching toward Corinth, Mississippi; other Confederate troops begin moving to join the small Confederate force under Brig. Gen. Daniel Ruggles in holding the key town, junction of the Memphis & Charleston and Mobile & Ohio Railroads.

March 4: Halleck sidelines Grant and places C. F. Smith in command of the advance up the Tennessee River.

March 5: Smith’s forces begin arriving at Savannah, Tennessee, on the east bank of the Tennessee River, about ten miles below Pittsburg Landing.

March 10: Union troops begin occupying Pittsburg Landing.

March 15: C. F. Smith, incapacitated by a leg injury, relinquished command. Grant resumes command of the Army of the Tennessee.

March 18: Lead elements of Johnston’s army begin arriving at Corinth.

March 22: Johnston himself arrives in Corinth.

March 29: Confederate forces in Corinth are consolidated into the Army of the Mississippi, 44,000 strong.

April 5: Union strength at Pittsburg Landing has reached approximately 39,000, with 7,000 more at Crump’s Landing, five miles downstream, and Maj. Gen. Don Carlos Buell’s 18,000-man Army of the Ohio approaching Savannah.

April 3: Johnston advances toward Pittsburg Landing, Rain and bad roads delay his advance.

April 6: Johnston launches surprise attack on Federals.

April 6, 1862

4:55-6:30 am: Federal patrol discovers Confederates in Fraley Field. Federals Skirmish, then fall back.

8:30 am: Confederate troops to overrun Prentiss's camps, routing the Union division.

7:00-10:00 am: Sherman's division repulses Confederates, inflicting heavy casualties. Pressure on Sherman’s left final forces retreat. Sherman falls back on McClernand's division.

10:00-11:30 a.m.: Confederates assault Sherman and McClernand on the Hamburg-Purdey Road, again sending the Union troops reeling.

8:00-9:30 a.m.: Wallace's and Hurlbut's divisions march to the front.

9:00-10:30 a.m.: Johnston, hearing that his right flank is threatened, orders Chalmers' and Jackson's brigades to assault Federal left, with Breckinridge in support.

11:00-Noon: Confederates make contact with Federals across Eastern Corinth Road. Federals repulse attacks.

11:00am-1:00 p.m.: Chalmers and Jackson assault Stuart, but Confederate attack stalls. Federal left holds against all attacks.

Noon-2:30 p.m.: Sherman and McClernand counterattack driving Confederates south, but weakened by losses, Federals withdraw across Tilghman Branch.

Noon-3:30 p.m.: Gibson's Confederates assault Federal center three times and are repulsed. Confederates come under murderous fire in impenetrable oak thicket.

1:00-4:00 p.m.: Johnston orders attack against Federal left-center, forcing them back. Johnston killed; succeeded by Beauregard. Hurlbut's division again stalls Confederates, but then retires toward Pittsburg landing.

3:00-5:30 p.m.: Sherman and McClernand prevent Confederates from crossing Tilghman Branch, but retire to defend Hamburg-Savannah road so that Wallace's division can come up.

7:00 p.m.: Wallace, with 5,800 men , moves to support Sherman at Shiloh Church.

Night: Buell's troop file in on Union left. Crittenden deploys in center, with McCook in support. Federal gunboats fire into captured Federal camps.

April 7, 1862

7:00-9:00 am: Wallace drives Confederates from Jones' field.

7:00-900 am: Grant and Buell advance. Skirmishing light as majority of Confederates retired south of Hamburg/Purdy road during night.

9:00-11:00 am: Nelson advances through Wicker's and Sarah Bell's fields, Crittenden advances in center, but stalled in "hornet's nest."

9:00-11:00 am: Breckinridge and Hardee counterattack Nelson's right flank and force Federal left back into Wicker's field.

9:00-11:00 am: McCook crosses Tilghman Branch and engages Breckinridge's left.

10:30-Noon: Sherman, McClernand and Hurlbut cross Tilghman Branch and join Wallace in fighting against Polk and Bragg on Confederate left.

10:30-Noon: Confederates flanked by Wallace and forced to retire to Hamburg/Purdy road.

Noon-2:00 pm: Reinforced, Nelson and Crittenden advance, forcing Beauregard's right flank to retreat south to Hamburg/Purdy road.

Noon-2:00 pm: McCook slams into Bragg at Water Oak Pond. Beauregard counterattack, halting McCook. With his left under pressure Beauregard is forced to retire.

2:00-4:00 pm: Breckinridge, supported by massed artillery south of Shiloh Branch ravine, checks Union advance and Confederates retire from field. Federals reclaim possession of the field and bivouac.

Return to the Table of Contents

Copyright 2003, The Center for the Study of the American Civil War. All rights reserved. Contact Us.