Remember, what each side believed was true about the other determined a lot of their actions in what they did here. Johnston and Beauregard attacked ultimately to fight a smaller army, Halleck commanded Grant to wait ultimately to get a larger army with Buell. Grant and his other generals did not trench in or watch because they believed there was no threat, and Sherman in particular possibly because he may have wanted to prove himself sane and able.
To get an idea of what happened during the battle, watch this video:
Shiloh was incredibly important for both sides in discovering what this war was going to become - both felt it would be a quick affair before this. It was also instrumental in training (or killing, in the case of Johnston) the generals who would move forward for the war, and for the soldiers in "seeing the elephant" - or recognizing what battle and war truly are.
How would the war have changed if Grant, Sherman and Prentiss had watched and prepared? Is it possible to always be prepared?
What if Johnston and Beauregard had been able to attack even a day earlier? Or if they hadn't attacked?
No comments:
Post a Comment