In the Bible, “Shiloh” meant “place of peace.”
That word took a whole new terrible meaning on April 7, 1862, when Union forces led by Gen. Ulysses S. Grant defeated the Confederates at the Battle of Shiloh in Tennessee, near Corinth.
Coming nearly one year after the Civil War began with the bombardment of Fort Sumter, the battle was the most horrific and costly of the war to that point. In a report on the battle two days later, the New York Times account said,
The slaughter on both sides is immense.
Some 100,000 men fought at the battle of Shiloh (or Pittsburg Landing). Nearly one in four was a casualty.
In this single battle, fought over the course of two days, 3,477 men died –more than all who died in the battles of the Revolution, the War of 1812, and the war with Mexico- combined!
Here are the accounts of the battle from New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0407.html#article
Besieged by rumors of drunkenness spread by another Union General, General Grant was reassigned after the Union victory. Denounced as a “butcher,” he later noted:
Up to the battle of Shiloh I, as well as thousands of other citizens, believed that the rebellion against the Government would collapse, suddenly and soon if a decisive victory could be gained over any of its armies… but I gave up all idea of saving the Union except by complete conquest.
Here is a link to the National Park Service pages for the National Military Park at the Shiloh battlefield
http://www.nps.gov/shil/index.htm
You can read more about the events at Shiloh, including an account of a woman pressed into service as a battlefield nurse in Don’t Know Much About the Civil War
