The
Battle of Shiloh, also known as the
Battle of Pittsburg Landing, was a major battle in the
Western Theater of the
American Civil War, fought April 6–7, 1862, in southwestern
Tennessee. A
Union army under
Major General Ulysses S. Grant had moved via the
Tennessee River deep into Tennessee and was encamped principally at
Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee on the west bank of the river, where
Confederate forces under
Generals Albert Sidney Johnston and
Pierre G. T. Beauregard launched a surprise attack on Grant's army. Johnston was killed in action during the fighting; Beauregard, who thus succeeded to command of the army, decided against pressing the attack late in the evening. Overnight Grant received considerable reinforcements from another Union army under Maj. Gen.
Don Carlos Buell, allowing him to launch an unexpected counterattack the next morning which completely reversed the Confederate gains of the previous day.