Johnstons plan

Johnston's plan was to defeat Grant before Buell could arrive with reinforcements. He moved to attack on Apr. 3, but because of delay in the advance to the Union front, it was not until early on Apr. 6 that his troops fell upon the enemy near Shiloh Church. Grant's position was unfortified, in spite of orders to the contrary from General Halleck, Union commander in the West. Having offensive plans of his own, Grant expected no attack, and consequently his irregularly placed divisions were thrown back in confusion at the Confederate assault (Encarta.msn.com). At a key position, known as the Hornets Nest, 6 thousand Union troops under Prentiss and Gen. Wallace stood ground. It was called the Hornets Nest because the sounds of the bullets flying through the air back and forth sounded like a hornet. The wall was broken when the Confederates brought 62 cannons and shot at point blank straight into the Union troops. This was the largest concentration of artillery ever assemble! d in North America to that point (Bannister 84). In the day's fighting the Confederates swept the field, but they suffered a huge casualty. Johnston was hit by a minie ball in the knee and bled to death on the battlefield. Beauregard, who assumed command, was capable, but he could not sustain the momentum of the fight. Beauregard ceased battle at nightfall. The Union forces had been pushed back over a mile from their first positions but, although hard-pressed, still held Pittsburg Landing, which the Confederates wanted to secure in order to cut off retreat. With 20,000 reinforcements from the division at Crump's Landing and the advance divisions of Buell's army, the Federals took the offensive on Apr. 7. Beauregard, outnumbered and without fresh troops, resisted for about eight hours and then proceeded to withdraw to Corinth; the Union command did not make any effective pursuit (Bannister 87-90). After all the dust had cleared, thousands o ...