All language subtitles for 1; Bloody Shiloh

it's important to us as Americans

today because by all historical rights

we shouldn't be

here by all historical rights the Civil

War should have destroyed us as a nation

by all historical rights the Skeptics

the aristocrats the

despots should have rejoiced and should

have watched the American democracy

destroy

itself yet nearly 150 years after the

defining conflict in the United States

history many stories of our civil war

remain

Untold

Gettysburg Bull Run and

tum are familiar battles fought in the

east

but hundreds of miles from the opposing

capitals of Washington and

Richmond another series of campaigns

were

fought these on the great expanse of

lands between the Appalachians and the

Mississippi

River lands then considered to be the

West I think in our

popular memory of the Civil War we tend

to focus a lot on the east on some of

the battles in the East but in fact one

could easily argue that the Civil War

was one in the

west it was where this Union Army

managed to bict the Confederacy taking

the Mississippi

River so if we want to understand the

full impact of this war on the people

you have to understand what went on in

the

[Music]

west it is a nation

born of War

[Music]

emboldened by the idea that all men are

created equal American colonists

unite to fight their British

rulers in a world dominated by Kings and

tyrants the American Revolution gives

birth to a noble experiment in

democracy show these up show these up

pack that down dig that dirt to that

that let that fail better better but not

good

enough slavery is the ugly exception to

the cries of Liberty at the country's

founding move along now Move Along break

your back off break them for you

he one way to understand the irony or

the Paradox of how this could be a

nation built on freedom and yet keep

people in unfreedom or in slavery is to

realize that many of these white

Americans didn't see that as any sort of

conflict at all in fact uh in their mind

these revolutionary principles only

applied to white

[Music]

people the idea that all men are created

equal was not a jarring contradiction

for slaveholders and for most Americans

in the 18th as well as the 19th

[Music]

century to our sensibilities today it's

something that almost impossible for us

to imagine how people could reconcile or

live with that but they did and they did

so really with with

ease many slaveholders regard their

property as

childlike although we think of

African-Americans as human beings now in

the 18th century there was scientific

evidence that proved they were the

missing link between animals and human

beings by the

1800s Americans could point to the

research of French scientist George

cuvier then considered one of the

world's great minds in the field of

zoology qva was fascinated with a woman

from South Africa named Sarah

Bartman known throughout England and

France as the hot Tau Venus the large

woman is displayed in a traveling

Sideshow that describes her as a

phenomenon of

nature upon her death qva autopsy report

concludes that Bartman was a species

closer to the great apes than

humans and so when you have science that

proves through evidence through

experimental research that African

people are in fact subhuman or at least

in inferior it gives the contradiction

of democracy and slavery some weight

because these people are not citizens

these people are not full human

[Music]

beings the first Africans landed on the

shores of North America in

1619 a year before the arrival of the

pilgrims by the time the Constitution

was ratified in

1789 the newed United States had a slave

population of almost

700,000 yet many particularly Northern

religious and political leaders

recognized the moral conflict between

slavery and

Liberty in

1808 Congress bans the importation of

slaves at the time of the writing the

Declaration of Independence and the

Constitution it was relatively easy to

for the founders to think that slavery

was going to go away because slavery as

an institution was declining well and in

the

1790s the cotton Jin was

[Music]

invented suddenly from the institution

declining as it had been before it began

to

increase the international slave trade

is replaced with a thriving domestic

slave trade it becomes the lifeblood of

the cotton

economy the rise of cotton changes the

face of the nation it changes the

conditions of life for black people

across the United

[Music]

States 75% of the South's cotton is

shipped

abroad most of it to England and

France cotton is the white gold of the

transatlantic econ economy cotton was

for the 19th century economy for the

Industrial Revolution what oil is today

for the world economy that we live

in Southerners needed to make the

profits that they needed to make from

that cotton but how to do it you need a

cheap labor force if you can enslave

that labor force then you're getting it

at the cheapest rates

possible by the time of the Civil War

the enslaved people providing the F

labor are valued at about $3

billion that's more than the combined

value of all the railroads factories and

Banks then in

America and yet it is not only

Southerners who benefit from the cotton

winds Northern banks have a strangle

hold on many Southern

Planters cotton Mills shipping interests

even insurance companies in the north

reap great profits from America's white

gold the nation's economy was built on

the back of

slaves this was not a southern issue it

was a national issue and it was an issue

that was not a problem because the

economy of slavery and the economy of

wage labor in the north were compatible

they worked brilliantly together the raw

materials produced by the hands of

slaves fueled not just the rural South

but it also helped energize a growing

industrial North boys we got a fresh

load of brick soon as you're done ping

that brick up we need let's tell a

terrible truth that most northern whites

although they lived in were what were

legally ostensibly free states was

thoroughly committed to White racial

Supremacy as any random sampling you

might take of slave holders in the

southern states where slavery was legal

take a census of black people in the

North free black people in the north and

you will find that only in a handful of

locations did they have anything even

approaching civil

equality for Northern whites slavery was

a problem not because it was an act of

racial Injustice but because slavery had

permitted black people into North

America Northern whites wanted a nation

that was in effect a Sandbox for white

people only

northern states might be free states

they were also anti-black

States a powerful minority called

abolitionists preach of the evils of

slavery most Northerners denounce the

abolitionists as Paras and

extremists but by the 1850s the

Abolitionist message begins to resonate

with many who begin to Rally around the

anti-slavery

cause and so faced with that challenge

these Southern slaveholders begin to

develop their own moral justification

for slavery beginning in the 1830s and

they start talking about slavery as a

positive good that slavery is something

that is Redeeming the people of African

descent and that we as Southern

slaveholders are taking care of and

civilizing these

people so it's it's a it's a moral issue

for them it's an economic issue for them

and we also can't forget it's a social

racial issue for them if you get rid of

slavery you get rid of the structure

that is guaranteeing all white people in

southern Society

status and yet the Catalyst for civil

war comes not from North or South but

rather

West the United States is expanding and

so you there's a need for more land

for more cotton and also for more slaves

by 1850 a nation of 13 Original Colonies

has grown to 31

States America stretches Westward not

only to the Mississippi River but all

the way to the Pacific

Ocean a newspaper editor actually coined

the term and said it was the Manifest

Destiny of the United States to

overspread the continent to spread

Liberty but wait a minute what about

slavery is slavery going to spread we

spread Liberty are we going to spread

slavery too does slavery follow the

flag Southern politicians demand to not

only preserve

slavery but to expand

it political compromises in 1820 1850

and then again in 1854 provide temporary

solutions but in the end western

expansion disrupts the balance in

Congress between free and slave states

a Prelude of the blood letting to come

erupts in Kansas territory where voters

battle over whether their new state will

be free or

slave suddenly in 1860 a candidate is

elected to the presidency who is

unashamedly

unapologetically opposed to slavery and

when Southerners hear this they hear the

death nail ringing for them

Abraham Lincoln from Illinois is the

candidate of the newly formed Republican

party he is elected without receiving a

single electoral vote from the

south Lincoln's priority is to preserve

the

union the president-elect vows to not

interfere with slavery in states where

it already

exists that does little to comfort those

in the South who fear Lincoln will use

the Federal government to trample

State's

rights for white Southerners with

Lincoln's election they saw the

beginning of the end they believe that a

Republican party committed to stopping

the expansion of slavery in the

territories would spell their

[Music]

demise they saw Lincoln as a wolf and

sheep's

clothing Lincoln is an arrow pointed at

the heart of their entire social and

economic system

[Music]

come on now nice and tight I got it

right that's good that's

[Music]

good well there about 3.9 million

enslaved people in uh the US in 1860 and

that ended up being about 40% of the

Confederate population so that's a

significant proportion B some thirsty I

want some water I'm going tell you

something right now you remember what

happened last one of y'all that got up

here running your mouth at me do you

remember that now if you break the

Confederacy down by region you can see

that it's in the Deep South uh where you

see the greatest percentage of that

slave

population now you stop right there I

told you you was last

and so it's not really a coincidence

that you see it those deep southern

states are the first to seced yeah you

go ahead and you take you a drink this

time that's what I'd expect out of you

boy just wasting the water that'll be

the last water you get

today just two months after Lincoln's

election Mississippi the largest cotton

producing state joins South Carolina and

seeds from the

Union within a month five more States

from the Deep South

follow Jefferson Davis who recently

resigned his US senate seat is chosen

president of the new Confederate States

of

America Davis agrees with the official

declaration made by the Mississippi

secession delegates who defends session

by

stating our position is thoroughly

identified with the institution of

slavery the greatest material interest

in the world its labor supplies the

product which constitutes by far the

largest and most important portions of

the Commerce of the

earth these products are peculiar to The

Climate verging on the tropical regions

and by an imperious law of nature none

but the black race can bear exposure to

the Tropical Sun these products have

become necessities of the world and a

blow at slavery is a blow at Commerce

and

civilization that blow has been long

aimed at the institution and was at the

point of reaching its

consummation there was no choice left us

but submission to the mandates of

abolition or a dissolution of the Union

whose principles had been sured to work

out our

ruin one of the most poignant lines says

we are thoroughly interested in

maintaining the institution of

slavery because it's one of the greatest

benefits of

mankind and so that's an important

acknowledgment of how vital slavery was

not just to the state but also to that

region that they made no bones about it

slavery was the central issue of the

Civil War

the belief that Liberty should be

extended to all people regardless of

class color or gender that simply was

not within the thinking of most antium

Americans and for

slaveholders they believed that Liberty

and freedom was actually dependent upon

the enslavement of

African-Americans so uh for white

Southerners on the eve of the Civil War

they could make the Bold claim that they

were fighting for their Liberty and feel

no remorse feel no tension feel no

contradiction and the fact that they

thought that that Liberty was dependent

upon fighting and dying for the

enslavement of

African-Americans if we're talking about

uh Politics the political tensions uh

that erupted uh sectional tensions and

whatnot are rooted in slavery the

economic differences were rooted in

slavery and St the state's right

argument well we're talking about a

state's right to do what the southern

state seceded to protect

slavery 85 years after declaring itself

independent from Great Britain America's

Grand experiment in democracy is about

to be put to its greatest

test April 12th 186

1 Charleston South

Carolina carrying out instructions from

Jefferson Davis Confederate forces

bombard Fort Sumpter forcing the

surrender of the Union Garrison the next

day President Lincoln responds by

calling for 75,000

troops that order convinces Virginia

Arkansas North Carolina and Tennessee to

join the

Confederacy Lincoln refused es to

recognize the confederate government and

instead considers the seceding states to

be in

Rebellion as an Illinois Congressman

Lincoln had said A House Divided cannot

stand now as President Lincoln must use

Force to unite a divided nation or watch

the United States be

dissolved there was the belief by many

that um that there would not be um be a

war and that certainly if there was

going to be any sort of Bloodshed um it

would not be uh very

extended one or two engagements and both

sides would come to their

senses both sides believe the war would

be over within 90 days there would be

little Bloodshed uh one politician

stated that the amount of Bloodshed

could be moed up with a handkerchief

so when the war begins you have men who

are fighting for preservation of the

union and you have men who are fighting

for their homes defending it from an

what they perceive as an

invasion but they had no

idea they thought that it was going to

be an adventure be home by

[Music]

Christmas and what they found out is

they ended up in camps

dying of

disease

um in incredible

boredom loneliness hot

cold punctuated by these incredible

conflicts the union hopes to bring a

quick end to the war by attacking a

Confederate Force near a crossroad in

Virginia called Manasses Junction

instead federal troops led by Brigadier

General Irvin McDow are

routed the Union force scurries back to

Washington only 30 Mi to the

north the Battle of Bull runon is the

first major battle in the

East but union leaders realized that the

ultimate defeat of the Confederacy means

taking the fight beyond the

Appalachians we underestimate the

importance of the western theater at our

Peril because in the west you have the

single most important economic Highway

of the North American continent and that

is the great Mississippi

Valley if you wanted to put a finger on

the most important commercial confluence

the most important economic Lifeline of

the American Republic then it flowed

through the

West in Virginia the eastwest flowing

rivers are obstacles but in the west

they are

Avenues One Union general writes

whatever Nation gets control of the Ohio

Mississippi and Missouri Rivers will

control the continent

[Music]

in February

1862 15,000 Union Soldiers land along

the banks of the Tennessee

River it is an invasion to end a

rebellion the 652m Tennessee runs

parallel to the Mississippi further to

the

West it cuts through the heart of the

western Confederacy

from the Ohio river through the crucial

border state of Kentucky and into the

state of

Tennessee for nearly 200 miles it even

flows through Northern

Alabama like the Mississippi and Ohio

rivers the Tennessee is wide enough for

transport Steamers to quickly deliver

troops and

supplies for the union this campaign

will be a test for the Navy's Ironclad

gunboats state-of-the-art

warships the coming battle will also be

a test for a little known graduate of

West

Point a soldier with an average record

whom many have unfairly branded a

drunk General Ulisses S Grant is the

unlikeliest of

Heroes yet he will emerge from the West

as the greatest soldier in general and

the entire Union

Army grants orders seize two strategic

forts guarding the Confederate interior

Fort Henry overlooks the Tennessee River

12 Mi East Fort Donaldson guards the

Cumberland a river leading to the

Tennessee capital of

Nashville those forts are important

because it was hoped by the Confederates

that they would stop Union

gunboats Union river boats carrying

troops and supplies from penetrating

farther up the Tennessee River and up

the Cumberland

[Music]

River on February 6th Naval gunboats

pound Fort Henry into

submission but the Confederate defensive

position at Fort donalson is much

stronger Two River batteries containing

more than a dozen heavy guns point

northward toward a sharp Bend of the

Cumberland on February 14th Union

ironclads fire hundreds of iron

Valentines into Fort

donalson but this time the Navy is

decisively

repulsed meanwhile Grant's force of

27,000 moves Overland and approaches the

landward side of Fort

donalson grle summed up his idea of The

Art of

War in a rather pithy way he said get at

the enemy as quick as you can hit him as

hard as you can and keep moving

on the next morning Grant's Art of War

philosophy is put to a serious

test Confederates inside Fort Donaldson

attempt to break out and bust through

grants

lines after Furious fighting in The

Ravines and steep terrain surrounding

the fort Grant forces the Confederates

back inside Fort

Donaldson Confederate Brigadier General

Simon Buckner asks for terms of

surrender grants

response

unconditional and

immediate I think what it what this

unconditional surrender demand tells us

about Grant is his

determination we've got a general here

who's not going to fool around who's

going to prosecute this war and is going

to end it in a way that it ought to be

ended at Fort donalson 12,000

confederates surrender and the northern

press anoints a national

hero but Grant with his initials us

Grant unconditional surrender Grant

it came together brilliantly ulyses S

Grant's victories Fort Henry and Fort

Donaldson they captivated a northern

Nation craving good news especially in

the wake of what had happened at first

Manasses just 9 days after the

Confederate surrender Nashville the

capital of tenness Falls to Union

troops more importantly the victory

enabled Union forces to seize control of

the lower Tennessee River the Strategic

pathway leading into the Confederate

Heartland Confederate forces in the west

respond by abandoning Kentucky and

Middle Tennessee retreating South into

West Tennessee Northern Alabama and

Mississippi you have to wonder how soon

Confederates in Deep South States like

Mississippi and Alabama thought that

they would have Union Troop troops on

their

soil March

1862 the federals lease a fleet of

Steamboats to transport Grant's troops

deeper into

Tennessee over 12 dozen steam Southward

equipped with everything an army needs

to mount a major

campaign a journey requiring weeks

Overland now takes only days on the

Tennessee the Union forces unload at

Pittsburgh Landing where roads provide

easy access to Rail lines crucial to the

Confederate war

[Music]

effort by early April

1862 Grant's force of 48,000 stretches

across a high wooded plateau in

Southwest

Tennessee Grant's most inexperienced

troops Camp over 2 miles from Pittsburgh

landing near a simple Methodist meeting

house named sh

roughly translated the Hebrew word

Shiloh means a place of

Peace Grant's Mission sever two vital

Western Confederate railroads which

intersect at the small town of Corinth

Mississippi a lot of the the federal

High command will talk about how we have

to go down to Corinth CF Smith talks

about we have to root them out like you

would a badger out of a

hole running through Corinth is the the

South's only complete rail connection

linking the Mississippi to the Atlantic

one Confederate official called it the

vertebra of the Confederacy so that

that's what makes Shiloh I think so

important and if you're a

Confederate you know that if the union

captures Corinth and captures control of

those railroads your supply situation is

difficult your movement of troops is

difficult your Railroad system which

isn't very good anyway is going to be

even

worse Grant knows a large enemy Force

has gathered to defend the Corinth

railroad Junction but he is unaware

those same Confederates are now marching

forward to attack

him General Albert Sydney Johnston

commands the Western Confederate Army

President Jefferson Davis spoke s if

Johnston is not a general then we have

no

General defitely got have support for

Johnston it is a race against the

clock he has received intelligence that

more Union troops will soon be joining

Grant at Pittsburgh

Landing marching Overland from Nashville

to Shiloh is a second Union

Army 35,000 soldiers under the command

of General dun Carlos

bule the opportunity that is presented

to Johnson of course is to hit one at a

time and this is not rocket science you

don't need a military academy education

to figure out that you want to fight one

Army instead of

two Johnston has a bold plan to destroy

Grant's Army before bule's forces

arrive surprise and turn Grant's Left

Flank cut off his line of retreat to the

Tennessee River pin his Army against the

the swampy lowlands of Owl Creek Force

Grant to

surrender the Confederate Advance toward

Shiloh is troubled from the

start a spring storm turns crude roads

into rivers of

mud a March which should have taken a

single day to accomplish consumes three

in the coming battle this delay will

haunt Johnston and his Confederate

Army us Grant is under explicit orders

from the union command do not advance

until bule and his army

arrive Grant is convinced Johnston lacks

the resolve and ability to

attack if Grant has a weakness at at

this time in the war it's that he

doesn't always consider what his

opposition will

do Johnston wouldn't be stupid enough to

to leave those entrenchments at Corinth

and March 20 miles and attack Us in the

open never happened never

happened 16-year-old Thomas Duncan from

Mississippi is a courier for the

Confederates riding out to a high point

in front of our

Center I hear the union troops Drilling

in their encampment the drum and F and

the commands of the officers are plainly

heard it suddenly struck

me the Union Army is absolutely unaware

of the presence of our army

Brigadier General William tumsa Sherman

receives reports of large groups of

Confederates but he dismisses them as

mere scouting parties what the hell is

this garbage you people are standing the

preceding year Sherman had gotten in

trouble for overestimating the number of

Confederates he was facing the

newspapers had even reported the that he

was

insane so in the days leading up to

Shiloh Sherman was very determined that

he was not going to have that happen

again just a mile Beyond Sherman's Camp

is the Leading Edge of Johnston's

43,000

Confederates and they Camp there and

some of them are even firing their

weapons testing them and yet nobody PID

that much attention to it and he said

unto them when you pray say Our Father

which art in

heaven Hallowed be thy name thy kingdom

come thy will be done as in heaven so in

on

[Music]

Earth most of the Confederates are like

Thomas

Duncan raw recruits who have never

tasted battle we also every

as night came on we lay down in line of

battle to rest and

Slumber realizing the danger of the come

and

mourn and the certainty that for many

the next sunrise would be their last on

Earth colonel Everett peab commands a

brigade on the union front

line unlike his

superiors peab believes the Confederate

presence is more than scouting

parties despite orders not to engage the

enemy peab buddy orders 250 men out on a

pre-dawn

[Music]

patrol just after 500 a.m. they step

onto the farm of James fry some 2 mil

Southwest of Shiloh

Church they are the opening

shots of what will become the first epic

battle of the Civil

War after an

hour pe's troops withdraw from freedy

field it wasn't really until about

Sunrise that it really became clear on

the union side that they were up against

Johnston's whole Army

[Applause]

Johnston realizes that he has the

opportunity to alter the course of the

war he says to his men today we must

conquer or

perish and there had been warning signs

for days that the Confederates were were

not just up to something there was

something big in the works

and when it

exploded I mean just all hell breaks

loose and the Confederate

attack is really like a

sledgehammer Colonel peabudy's Superior

is General Benjamin

Apprentice out of here for sir all

indications are that there's a sizable

force of Confederates that are coming up

from Coran penes accuses the young

Colonel of violating orders and bringing

on the engagement I didn't bring on an

engagement the whole Confederate arm's

marching on me sir prenis was

Furious this had been contrary to orders

and pebody had not gotten permission and

prenis confronted Peabody and scolded

him very severely for bringing on a

fight

apprentice's heavily outnumbered

division puts up stubborn

resistance but by 9:00

a.m. their defense

[Applause]

crumbles killed while trying to Rally

his troops is Colonel Everett

puddy in 4 hours of fighting at Shiloh

the union suffers over 2,000 casualties

half of Grant soldiers at Shiloh have

never been in combat

[Music]

there's that first time you get shot

at and there's that first time you

realize that this is for

real and that you could

die you're seeing what artillery fire

does to the human

body you're seeing blood spilled in ways

that that you can't

[Music]

imagine those moments that really haunt

men for the rest of their

lives this is some of the experience in

the woods around the Shiloh Church that

morning is they're experiencing all the

horrors of combat for the first time and

you're seeing things that really violate

all sense of

decency 18-year-old Leander Stillwell is

a private with the 61st

Illinois I was astonished at our first

retreat in the

morning it seemed to me we were forever

disgraced I kep thinking about myself

what will they say about this at

home instead of advancing many of the

Confederates break ranks to ransack

Union

camps some have not eaten since leaving

Corinth Mississippi 3 days

earlier for many of the raw recruits The

Spoils of War are too tempting to pass

up

Johnston is infuriated when he catches

an officer

plundering that down to Rally his men

Johnston takes his own plunder a simple

Tin Cup let this be my portion of the SP

today by midm morning the Confederate

Advance reaches Shiloh Church

it is the scene of some of the most

Savage fighting of the

battle horses are screeching horses are

dying people are getting hit they're

screaming they're calling for their

mothers they're calling on

God it just it's just Mass

confusion most soldiers engaged at

Shiloh are between 18 and 30 years old

at a battle like Shiloh they realize

it's not all about Adventure it's not

all about lofty Concepts like honor and

Independence they realize it's about

killing and for many of them this is an

uncomfortable to say the least

realization they don't easily transition

into becoming killing machines they have

a great deal of ambivalence about

shouldering these weapons than actually

killing

people 16-year-old musician John cocho

arrived with his father the commander of

the 70th Ohio

infantry John and his father become

separated near Shiloh

Church young cockel soon finds himself

aiding the wounded

near Shiloh Church passing soldiers

called for me to assist

[Applause]

them we carried the poor fellow to the

rear and found there a scene of disorder

not to say

Panic the enemy began pressing closely

and Shiloh Church was no more a

desirable place for my military

observations I started towards the

Tennessee River

I had not proceeded more than a mile

when I encountered General John

MacArthur's Highland Brigade of Illinois

troops a chipper young Lieutenant

stopped me and asked where did I belong

I replied that I belong to Ohio he said

that Ohio was making a bad show of it

then asked if I wanted to fight with

them I responded I was willing to take a

temporary birth in his regiment thus I

became attached to company B of the 9th

Illinois

regiment John cochrell doesn't realize

it but he has joined a unit that will

have the highest casualty rate of all

Union regiments at

Shiloh in 5 hours of brutal fighting the

Confederates managed to overrun the

forward Union camps fresh Union

divisions move forward from Pittsburgh

Landing to help stop the

onslaught Johnston personally supervises

the Confederate right while General PGT

board oversees the

left by 11:00 a.m. the battle rages

along a crooked threemile

front us Grant has completely

underestimated the

Confederates it is a mistake he will

never make

again at noon Grant order Sherman to

Counterattack

you begin to see the Confederate attacks

start to

Splinter they're not able to deal that

that final lethal

blow and the Confederate

attack is beginning to lose a lot of its

steam after some of the most severe

fighting at Shiloh Sherman grudgingly

gives

ground but their decimated divisions

have bought Grant what he needs

most precious

time adding to the Confederates wo at

Shiloh is the hellish terrain

itself a morass of dense Woods thick

undergrowth and deep ravines through

which they must

Advance most serious this is the awful

Carnage earlier in the day at Ray field

the sixth Mississippi marched straight

into a murderous Union

Crossfire in mere moments 300 of the

regiment's 425 soldiers were cut

down the slaughter of the sixth

Mississippi

is one of many such scenes repeated

again and again at

Shiloh I think that the reason for the

extremely high casualty listed Shiloh

was simply that you had two sides that

were very similar in the

motivation and they were simply very

determined to Prevail and and not to be

beaten

I think if they had been using short

swords they probably would have stood up

against each other and hacked at each

other until they had killed about that

many of each

other though staggered the majority of

Johnston's Army continues to engage the

union left and

right meanwhile another fight erupts

this one in an oak thick it choking the

center of the battlefield

since midm morning Union soldiers have

been putting up a stubborn defense in

the thick

underbrush and the Confederate soldiers

hearing the union bullets whistling

through the thicket referred to the area

as The Hornet's

Nest over the course of four

hours Confederate troops repeatedly

storm The Hornet's Nest each time they

are driven

back Colonel Randall Lee Gibson commands

a brigade from Louisiana and

Arkansas four times the assault proved

unavailing the strong and almost

inaccessible position of the enemy his

infantry well covered in Ambush and his

artillery skillfully posted and

efficiently served was found to be

impregnable to infantry alone we were

repulsed it's one of those situations

where the geography plays a role the

hornet nest is a very difficult place to

get to so it does come down to geography

and just sheer

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determination Johnston is determined to

crush the Federal

stronghold over the Confederate

Commander will personally rally a group

who has refused to

charge the Yankees were stubborn he said

and and you're going to have to give

them the bayet Johnston leaned out and

tapped their bayonets with his Tin Cup

we're going to have to use the bayonet

as he got to the middle of their line he

turned his horse toward the enemy and he

said I will lead you

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are Advanced by Johnston into a peach

orchard just east of the Hornets

Nest act the peach orchard is some of

the most bitter fighting of Shiloh

private Sam Watkins of the First

Tennessee I had heard and read of

battlefields seen pictures of

battlefields horses and Men Cannon and

wagons all jumbled together while the

ground was strewn with dead and dying

and wound but I must confess that I

never realized the pomping circumstance

of the thing called glorious War till I

saw

this it all seemed to

me a

dream with the battle raging around the

peach orchard an aid to General Johnston

finds the Confederate

Commander reeling in his saddle he said

General are you wounded Johnston said

yes and I fear

seriously the subordinate LED Johnston

into a place that was sheltered and

helped him off his

horse General Sir please respond to us

he began looking for the wound he

couldn't find it I don't see anything

else Happ myself he's poking around in

Johnston's clothes where's the wound he

couldn't find it we don't know what's

wrong with him Johnston had quickly lost

Consciousness completely do you know me

johnon

Johnston

Johnston behind Johnston's knee a bullet

has lacerated a large

artery in less than 20 minutes he bleeds

to

death General Albert Sydney Johnston

will be the highest ranked officer

killed in the Civil

War the day that began with so much

promise ends with the death of the man

Jefferson Davis considered to be the

finest officer in the

Confederacy word of Johnston's death

slowly makes its way through the

Confederate ranks at

Shiloh a soldier from Louisiana

remarks a chilliness of Gloom crept over

our entire command

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