The Battle of Shiloh remembered

The battle was not without its costs, of course. Grant nearly lost his command, given his poor showing on April 6. When General Halleck urged Abraham Lincoln to sack Grant, the president responded with, “I can't spare this man; he fights.”

More importantly, however, was the human cost. In many ways, Shiloh proved to be a psychological turning point in the Civil War given the huge loss of life involved.

McPherson writes: “Coming at the end of a year of war, Shiloh was the first battle on a scale that became commonplace during the next three years. The 20,000 killed and wounded at Shiloh (about equally distributed between the two sides) were nearly double the 12,000 battle casualties at Mananas, Wilson's Creek, Fort Donelson and Pea Ridge combined.”

It is indeed ironic that in Hebrew the word “Shiloh” means “Place of Peace.”

With such death the inevitable by-product of an increasingly modern, industrial war, any hope that the conflict would end quickly was quashed. It is a tribute to the Union troops in that war that they continued to be willing to give what Lincoln would call “the last full measure of devotion” in the cause of liberty.

Unfortunately, those who fought for the misguided ideas of secession and slavery were equally committed.

Cody K. Carlson holds a master's degree in history from the University of Utah and currently teaches at Salt Lake Community College. Email: ckcarlson76@gmail.com