Southern Historical Society Papers, Volume 32.
Reverend J. William Jones, Ed.

When the war between the States, or Civil War, of 1861-5 began, the United States had a population of over thirty-one millions.

The official statements show that the battle of Shiloh, up to the date upon which it was fought, saw the greatest array of men marshaled in hostile conflict that had ever been seen on the Western Hemisphere; and its results were more disastrous than any known in the history of the continent. The bloodshed was only exceeded at Gettysburg, the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, Cold Harbor and Chickamauga.

The Count of Paris, in his history of the war, says of Shiloh:

It was in fact, from the date of this battle, that the two armies began to know and respect each other.

Taught by experience thus gained, the generals felt that so long as such armies continued in the field, the struggle between the North and the South would not come to an end.

It is not proposed in this article to undertake an exhaustive or even particular account of the events of that great battle, but rather to give briefly from the official records now published to the world, such a general statement as will lead to an intelligent understanding of the battle, the causes which led to it, and its results. I must not omit to say that my work has been much aided by the very accurate report of Major D. W. Reed, Historian and Secretary of the Shiloh Commission, published in 1902.

The report on the Confederate side was made by Genernl G. T. Beuregard, who succeeded to the command on the death of General A. S. Johnston.

General Grant made no report further than what was contained in a letter written immediately after the battle to General Hallock, informing him that an engagement had been fought and announcing the result. General Grant explains the reason of his not making a report as follows:

* * * ‘General Hallock moved his headquarters to Pittsburg Landing and assumed command of all the troops in the field. Although next to him in rank, and nominally in command of my old district and army, I was ignored as much as if I had been at the most distant point of territory within my jurisdiction, and although I was in command of all the troops engaged at Shiloh, I was not permitted to see one of the reports of General Buell or his subordinates in that battle until they were published by the War Department, long after the event. For this reason I never made a full official report of the engagement.’