Editing Battle of Shiloh (section)

==Aftermath==
===Casualties===
Multiple sources list Union casualties as 13,047, with 1,754 killed, 8,408 wounded, and 2,885 missing or captured.<ref name="UnionCas">{{harvnb|Daniel|1997|p=322}}; {{harvnb|Cunningham|2009|pp=423–424}}; {{harvnb|Eicher|2001|p=230}}</ref><ref name="ABTShiloh"/> Grant's army had 10,944 casualties, while Buell's had 2,103.<ref name="Daniel322"/> Without counting those captured or missing, the brigades commanded by Sweeny, Veatch, and Colonel [[Nelson G. Williams]] all had over 600 killed or wounded.<ref name="Cunningham422-423">{{harvnb|Cunningham|2009|pp=422–423}}</ref> The report in the ''Official Records'' lists two<!--Raith Peabody--> brigade commanders as killed or mortally wounded, five wounded<!--Hare McArthur Stuart Kirk--> (including Sweeny), and one captured<!--Miller-->.<ref name="Scott100-104">{{harvnb|Scott|1884|pp=100–104}}</ref>{{#tag:ref|A sixth brigade commander, Colonel Nelson Williams, is listed as wounded by one author.<ref name="Cunningham412">{{harvnb|Cunningham|2009|p=412}}</ref>|group=Note}} One historian believes that the high number of officer losses caused casualty figures to be understated, and that they really total closer to 14,500.<ref name="Cunningham376">{{harvnb|Cunningham|2009|p=376}}</ref>

Confederate casualties totaled to 10,699, with 1,728 killed, 8,012 wounded, and 959 missing or captured.<ref name="Daniel322"/> Additional sources agree with those figures.<ref name="ConfCas">{{harvnb|Cunningham|2009|p=422}}; {{harvnb|Eicher|2001|p=230}}</ref><ref name="ABTShiloh"/> The Confederate totals do not include reporting for cavalry or the 47th Tennessee Infantry Regiment that arrived for the second day of the battle.<ref name="Daniel322"/> Similar to the understatement for Union casualties, one historian believes Confederate casualties were probably closer to 12,000.<ref name="Cunningham376"/> Using the commonly quoted statistics, Cleburne's brigade had 790 wounded and 188 killed, both numbers higher than those for any brigade in any of the armies at the battle.<ref name="Cunningham421-424">{{harvnb|Cunningham|2009|pp=421–424}}</ref> In addition to the wounding of Johnston (mortal) and Hardee (slight), Beauregard's report mentions six casualties for major generals and brigadier generals—one killed, three severely wounded, one slightly wounded, and one injured when his horse was shot.<!--Gladden-k Cheatham-l Clark-s Hindman-h B.Johnson-s Bowen-s --><ref name="Scott387-390">{{harvnb|Scott|1884|pp=387–390}}</ref> Another Confederate soldier killed was Samuel B. Todd, brother of [[President of the United States|President]] [[Abraham Lincoln]]'s wife, [[Mary Todd Lincoln]].<ref name="ES1903p20">{{cite news
|title=Important from the South (page 1, middle column, 3rd paragraph)
|url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030313/1862-05-01/ed-1/seq-1/#date1=1862&index=3&rows=20&words=Shiloh&searchType=basic&sequence=0&state=New+York&date2=1862&proxtext=Shiloh&y=0&x=0&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1
|newspaper=New York Herald (from Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress)
|date=1862-05-01
|last=
|first=}}</ref>

At the time, the battle was the largest fought in America and had the highest number of casualties so far in the war.<ref name="Eicher230">{{harvnb|Eicher|2001|p=230}}</ref><ref name="NYT">{{Cite web |title=Why Shiloh Matters |last=Groom |first=Winston |work=[[New York Times]] |date=April 6, 2024 |access-date=March 20, 2024 |url= https://archive.nytimes.com/opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/06/why-shiloh-matters/}}</ref> The high number of casualties helped convince many Union leaders that the war was not going to end quickly in the west.<ref name="McPherson413">{{harvnb|McPherson|1988|p=413}}</ref> About 20,000 men were killed or wounded at Shiloh, while earlier major battles at [[First Battle of Bull Run|Manassas (a.k.a. Bull Run)]], [[Battle of Wilson's Creek|Wilson's Creek]], Fort Donelson, and [[Battle of Pea Ridge|Pea Ridge]] ''combined'' to only 12,000.<ref name="McPherson413"/> Shiloh's total casualties of 23,746 (which may be understated) puts it in the top ten (6th or 7th) in the American Civil War.<ref name="ABTCasualties">{{cite web
|title=Civil War Casualties
|date=November 16, 2012
|publisher=American Battlefield Trust
|url=https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/civil-war-casualties#:~:text=The%20Civil%20War%20was%20America's,citizens%20and%20international%20observers%20alike.
|access-date=2022-08-06}}</ref>{{#tag:ref|The American Battlefield Trust ranks the battles at [[Battle of Gettysburg|Gettysburg]], [[Battle of Chickamauga|Chickamauga]], [[Battle of Spotsylvania Court House|Spotsylvania]], [[Battle of the Wilderness|the Wilderness]], and [[Battle of Chancellorsville|Chancellorsville]] ahead of Shiloh.<ref name="ABTCasualties"/> If the historian Eicher's casualties are used for the [[Battle of Stones River]] instead of the data used by the Trust, Stones River would become sixth-ranked and Shiloh would [[List of costliest American Civil War land battles|fall to seventh]].<ref name="Eicher428">{{harvnb|Eicher|2001|p=428}}</ref>|group=Note}}

===Reactions and significance===
{{further|Siege of Corinth}}
[[Image:NY Harald April 10 Battle of Shiloh.png|thumb|upright=0.75|right|Beginning of early ''New York Herald'' article|alt=newspaper headlines with "The Great Victory", "Two Days Desperate Conflict", and more]]

Initially, news on the battle was positive for Grant. That changed a week later, especially when a "somewhat exaggerated" newspaper report by [[Whitelaw Reid]] (under a [[pen name]]) was released.<ref name="Daniel304-305">{{harvnb|Daniel|1997|pp=304–305}}</ref> Largely based on testimony from Union deserters and stragglers, the article said that Grant was surprised, and falsely claimed that Union soldiers were bayoneted in their tents. Only Buell, who according to Reid had saved Grant, was treated as a hero.<ref name="Daniel304-305"/> Self-serving accounts from some of Buell's officers also swayed public opinion, and false rumors circulated that Grant had been drunk.<ref name="McPherson414">{{harvnb|McPherson|1988|p=414}}</ref> Among the more justified criticisms of Grant was the lack of fortifications at the camps around Pittsburg Landing; one historian considers this a critical mistake.<ref name="Daniel132">{{harvnb|Daniel|1997|p=132}}</ref> At least two of Grant's generals counseled against entrenching, and Grant believed that enemy troops would not leave their own entrenched position.<ref name="Daniel132"/>

Lew Wallace received criticism for his inability to get his division to the battlefield in a timely manner, and he was eventually removed from Grant's army.<ref name="ABTLewWallace">{{cite web
|title=Lewis "Lew" Wallace
|publisher=American Battlefield Trust
|url=https://www.battlefields.org/learn/biographies/lewis-lew-wallace
|access-date=April 26, 2023
|archive-date=February 2, 2023
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230202163434/https://www.battlefields.org/learn/biographies/lewis-lew-wallace
|url-status=live
}}</ref> His division should have been ready to move from Crump's Landing, which is {{convert|6|mi|km|spell=in}} from Pittsburg Landing via the River Road.<ref name="Daniel258"/> Instead, he marched his division the wrong way, and the countermarch was delayed because he directed his original vanguard to move to the rear so it could become the vanguard when the division reversed its march. He may have also lost time by marching down a rugged path through cornfields and pastures.<ref name="Daniel260">{{harvnb|Daniel|1997|p=260}}</ref> Critics also accused him of "dilatoriness", or slow procrastination. This portion of his criticism was unjustified since his men moved {{convert|15|mi}} in six and a half hours—similar to the rate for Nelson's division.<ref name="Daniel261">{{harvnb|Daniel|1997|p=261}}</ref> Grant wrote in 1863 that a different commander could have moved Wallace's division to the battlefield before 1:00{{nbsp}}pm.<ref name="JSTORWallaceGrant">{{cite journal
| last = Ferraro
| first = William M.
| date =June 2008
| title =A Struggle for Respect - Lew Wallace's Relationships with Ulysses S. Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman After Shiloh
| url =https://www.jstor.org/stable/27792885
| location =Bloomington, Indiana
| publisher =Trustees of Indiana University
| journal =Indiana Magazine of History
| volume =104
| issue =2
| pages =125–152
| doi =
| jstor = 27792885
| access-date =April 27, 2023
}}</ref><!--p.132--> Wallace spent the next few decades defending his actions.<ref name="Daniel261"/> In 1885, Grant received a letter from the widow of Brigadier General William H. L. Wallace that had been written by Lew Wallace to her husband on April 5, 1862. The letter provided enough information about Lew Wallace's preparations and route choice that Grant felt Wallace was unjustly criticized—the route selection was justified given that Wallace did not know Sherman had been pushed back and orders did not specify which road to take. These conclusions appeared in ''[[The Century Magazine|Century Magazine]]'' in July 1885 and as a note in ''[[Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant]]''.<ref name="JSTORWallaceGrant"/><!--p.147--> Wallace's postwar life was more successful as an author, and he became well known for writing the best–selling novel ''[[Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ]]''.<ref name="NPSLewWallace">{{cite web
|title=Lew Wallace
|publisher=National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior
|url=https://www.nps.gov/people/lew-wallace.htm
|access-date=April 26, 2023
|archive-date=August 13, 2022
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220813151233/https://www.nps.gov/people/lew-wallace.htm
|url-status=live
}}</ref>

Some of the more "savage denunciations" of Grant came from politicians representing Ohio and Iowa—home states of many of the men who ran away when fighting started.<ref name="Chernow208">{{harvnb|Chernow|2017|p=208}}</ref> One politician complained to Lincoln, saying Grant was an incompetent drunk that was a political liability. Lincoln's response was "I can't spare this man; he fights."<ref name="McPherson414"/> Sherman, who could have been one of the battle's scapegoats and did not get along with the press, received more praise than criticism.<ref name="Daniel310">{{harvnb|Daniel|1997|p=310}}</ref> Halleck praised his performance and requested a promotion for him, noting that Sherman had "three horses killed under him" and was wounded twice.<ref name="Scott98"/> Halleck arrived at Pittsburg Landing on April 11 and took personal command—as he had planned earlier. On April{{nbsp}}30, he named Grant as his second-in-command.<ref name="Chernow213">{{harvnb|Chernow|2017|p=213}}</ref> This was a meaningless position, but Halleck's solution to the Grant criticism was a ''[[de facto]]'' suspension that satisfied the critics.<ref name="Daniel309">{{harvnb|Daniel|1997|p=309}}</ref>

On April 8, Confederate president [[Jefferson Davis]] reported to the Confederate congress that according to the latest accounts, Johnston had gained a complete victory. A last-minute addition to his speech mentioned Johnston's death. Before the battle, the public had wanted Johnston removed because of the loss of most of Tennessee. Now he was a hero.<ref name="Daniel313">{{harvnb|Daniel|1997|p=313}}</ref> Over the next few days, more information about the battle became available. The initial perception was that only "untoward events" had saved the Union army from destruction, and the withdrawal to Corinth was part of a strategic plan.<ref name="McPherson414"/> Eventually, critics began to blame Beauregard for the defeat, citing the lack of a twilight attack on the first day of the battle.<ref name="McPherson414"/>

Confederate President Davis believed that the loss of Albert Sidney Johnston was the "turning point of our fate" in the Western Theater.<ref name="Daniel316">{{harvnb|Daniel|1997|p=316}}</ref> With the loss at Shiloh, the likelihood of the Confederacy regaining control of the upper Mississippi Valley was severely diminished, and the large number of casualties represented the start of an unwinnable [[war of attrition]].<ref name="Daniel317">{{harvnb|Daniel|1997|p=317}}</ref> The victory at Shiloh also placed the Union army in a strategic position to infiltrate and capture key points in the south. Waiting until he was fully reinforced and resupplied, Halleck began a "painfully slow" movement to Corinth on April 29.<ref name="Cunningham387">{{harvnb|Cunningham|2009|p=387}}</ref> Arriving on the morning of May 30, Union troops found the city abandoned.<ref name="Cunningham395">{{harvnb|Cunningham|2009|p=395}}</ref> [[Capture of New Orleans|New Orleans]], [[Battle of Baton Rouge (1862)#Background|Baton Rouge]], and [[First Battle of Memphis|Memphis]] were overrun by Union navy forces over the next three months.<ref name="Chernow217">{{harvnb|Chernow|2017|p=217}}</ref> By July, Halleck was promoted to chief of staff in Washington, and Grant became commander of the now larger District of West Tennessee.<ref name="Chernow219">{{harvnb|Chernow|2017|p=219}}</ref> Grant would go on to lead the [[Siege of Vicksburg]], where nearly 30,000 Confederate troops surrendered on July 4, 1863.<ref name="ABTVicksburg">{{cite web
|title=Vicksburg
|publisher=American Battlefield Trust
|url=https://www.battlefields.org/learn/civil-war/battles/vicksburg
|access-date=2022-08-12}}</ref>