Vision for Victory

Vision for Victory. Shiloh National Military Park.

In the approaching battle every effort should be made to turn the left flank of the enemy so as to cut off his line of retreat to the Tennessee River and throw him back on Owl Creek, where he will be obliged to surrender. , General Albert Sidney Johnston , Army of the Mississippi

, Johnston qualified his instructions (above) with, "Every precaution must also be taken…to prevent unnecessary exposure of our men to the enemy's gunboats." He then sent nearly 44,000 Confederates into battle at Shiloh. Johnston envisioned total annihilation of General Ulysses S. Grant's Union Army of the Tennessee before General Don Carlos Buell's approaching Union Army of the Ohio joined Grant at Pittsburg Landing., When Johnston and his generals deployed for battle, they believed Grant's front faced west, so they positioned Confederate battle formations facing east. From this deployment, they intended to strike and turn the Union left flank, cutting off retreat, before driving Grant's troops north into the Owl Creek swamps. During the first five hours of fighting, half of the southern army attacked east-northeast, slamming into and overrunning General Benjamin Prentiss' camps here. Under this massive attack, the greatly outnumbered Union division crumbled and rapidly retreated north. Johnston apparently believed he had successfully turned Grant's left flank, but had actually struck Grant's center and right. Unaware of his error, Johnston continued to over-commit his forces to the western half of the battlefield., [Caption:] , Inaccurate maps contributed to Johnston's misunderstanding of the pre-battle conditions.