See how the Confederates' attack on the Union Army at Shiloh ended in large casualties for both sides
At the Battle of Shiloh, Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's forces were surprised at his headquarters. Some 40,000 Confederates pressed them to the river's edge, but Federal forces arrived overnight to reinforce them, and they turned the tide. The Union held its ground but at great cost in human life.
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
-
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.The time when “terror [was] the order of the day.”
-
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.More than three decades after apartheid, South Africa is still considered the most unequal country in the world.
-
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.African colonization changed history—and the map.
-
© Civil War Trust (A Britannica Publishing Partner)Examine the continuing debate over the legacy of the American Civil War.
-
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.Lincoln's reelection and the end of the Civil War.
-
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.An overview of Ulysses S. Grant.
-
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.Learn how an obscure Union brigadier general named Ulysses S. Grant won fame during the American Civil War as “Unconditional Surrender” Grant for rejecting any other terms by which Confederate Gen. Simon Bolivar Buckner could surrender Fort Donelson.
News •
Sultana Disaster Museum sheds light on Civil War-era maritime tragedy
• Nov. 13, 2026, 6:02 AM ET (The Memphis Commercial Appeal)
Ten thousand flags rise in Gettysburg to honor the battle’s 51,000 casualties
• Nov. 12, 2026, 4:53 PM ET (The Philadelphia Inquirer)
First map of Mason-Dixon Line dividing North from South in U.S. decades before Civil War going up for auction
• Oct. 29, 2026, 3:00 AM ET (CBS)
U.S. Supreme Court to review 1868 federal ban on home distilling of liquor
• Oct. 19, 2026, 4:06 PM ET (Honolulu Star-Advertiser)
Craig Symonds, Prizewinning Military Historian, Is Dead
• Oct. 17, 2026, 3:00 AM ET (New York Times)
Transcript
Ulysses S. Grant was not always to have things on his own terms. One Sunday morning in early April at his headquarters,
[Cannon fire]
Grant's forces had been surprised -- and thus began the terrible Battle of Shiloh. Forty thousand Confederates pressed the Union troops to the very edge of the river, towards what looked like inevitable disaster . . .
But Federal reinforcements arrived overnight -- reinforcements which turned the tide of the battle, and when it was over, the Union Army held the ground -- but to the cost more terrible than could be imagined. General Grant looked over the field . . .
U. S. GRANT: "I looked to the field over which the Confederates had made charges the day before so covered with dead . . ."
[Music in]
[Cannon fire]
Grant's forces had been surprised -- and thus began the terrible Battle of Shiloh. Forty thousand Confederates pressed the Union troops to the very edge of the river, towards what looked like inevitable disaster . . .
But Federal reinforcements arrived overnight -- reinforcements which turned the tide of the battle, and when it was over, the Union Army held the ground -- but to the cost more terrible than could be imagined. General Grant looked over the field . . .
U. S. GRANT: "I looked to the field over which the Confederates had made charges the day before so covered with dead . . ."
[Music in]
Last Modification: