Shiloh, 1862

by Winston Groom

A main selection in History Book-of-the-Month Club and alternate selection in Military Book-of-the-Month Club.

In the spring of 1862, many Americans still believed that the Civil War, "would be over by Christmas." The previous summer in Virginia, Bull Run, with nearly 5,000 casualties, had been shocking, but suddenly came word from a far away place in the wildernesses of Southwest Tennessee of an appalling battle costing 23,000 casualties, most of them during a single day. It was more than had resulted from the entire American Revolution. As author Winston Groom reveals in this dramatic, heart-rending account, the Battle of Shiloh would singlehandedly change the psyche of the military, politicians, and American people--North and South--about what they had unleashed by creating a Civil War.

In this gripping telling of the first "great and terrible" battle of the Civil War, Groom describes the dramatic events of April 6 and 7, 1862, when a bold surprise attack on Ulysses S. Grant's encamped troops and the bloody battle that ensued would alter the timbre of the war.

The Southerners struck at dawn on April 6th, and Groom vividly recounts the battle that raged for two days over the densely wooded and poorly mapped terrain. Driven back on the first day, Grant regrouped and mounted a fierce attack the second, and aided by the timely arrival of reinforcements managed to salvage an encouraging victory for the Federals.

Groom's deft prose reveals how the bitter fighting would test the mettle of the motley soldiers assembled on both sides, and offer a rehabilitation of sorts for Union General William Sherman, who would go on from the victory at Shiloh to become one of the great generals of the war. But perhaps the most alarming outcome, Groom poignantly reveals, was the realization that for all its horror, the Battle of Shiloh had solved nothing, gained nothing, proved nothing, and the thousands of maimed and slain were merely wretched symbols of things to come.

With a novelist's eye for telling and a historian's passion for detail, context, and meaning, Groom brings the key characters and moments of battle to life. Shiloh is an epic tale, deftly told by a masterful storyteller.

Genres: History, Civil War, American Civil War, Nonfiction, American History, Military History, Military Fiction

448 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

Winston Francis Groom Jr. was an American novelist and non-fiction writer, best known for his book Forrest Gump, which was adapted into a film in 1994. Groom was born in Washington, D.C., but grew up in Mobile, Alabama where he attended University Military School (now known as UMS-Wright Preparatory School). He attended the University of Alabama, where he was a member of Delta Tau Delta and the Army ROTC, and graduated in 1965. He served in the Army from 1965 to 1969, including a tour in Vietnam. Groom devoted his time to writing history books about American wars. More recently he had lived in Point Clear, Alabama, and Long Island, New York.

Reviews

[Lawyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shiloh, 1862: Winston Groom's history of the battle of Shiloh


The Hornet's Nest,

"War means fightin'. Fightin' means killin'."--Nathan Bedford Forrest

I'll be the first to admit as much of it as I have read, some military histories can be duller than dishwater. There are authors of that vast genre that I avoid for that reason. But Winston Groom doesn't fall into that category.

Although I first came to appreciate Groom as a novelist, I've come to admire him more as a historian. Shiloh, 1862 is his finest work yet.

A battle the magnitude of Shiloh was inevitable. However, politicians, military leaders and civilians had no baseline in American history to anticipate how long and grim the American Civil War would become until news of what had happened in a mere day and a half had happened near a small Methodist Church known as Shiloh in Northwest, Tennessee, on April 6 and 7, 1862. In Hebrew Shiloh means "place of peace."

When the final shot was fired, more Americans had been killed in one confrontation than during the American Revolution, the War of 1812, and the Mexican War. The butcher's bill was over 25,000 killed, wounded, and captured, split roughly equally between the North and South.

U.S. Grant and William Sherman had been surprised by Beauregard and Johnson. The Union position had not been fortified prior to the attack. If Shiloh accomplished anything for Grant and Johnson it would be their unwillingness to ever be surprised again. Shiloh also led both men to form the philosophy that, having seen the determined fighting of Southern soldiers, the war would last until the South was completely subjugated. And that is what happened.

The tactics of Jomini and Napoleon still reigned supreme on the battlefield, although advancement in military technology had outstripped outdated tactics resulting in ever increasing body counts.

Perhaps because Groom began as a novelist, he brings a different perspective to his works of history. For here you find the voices of Ambrose Bierce, Lew Wallace, Henry Stanley, mingled with the words of Elsie Duncan Hunt whose Unionist family was caught in the middle of the Shiloh battlefield. This is not a mere recapitulation of facts but a living recreation of the first major conflict that brought the startling knowledge to the American people this was not a war that would be decided by one devastating battle.



Highly, highly recommended.

[Joseph · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is, without a doubt, the best single volume treatment of the battle to date. The author takes up the late, great Shelby Foote's mantle and runs with it. We get to know several key participants in the battle, including Confederate Henry Morton Stanley, later made famous by his discovery of Dr. Livingstone in Africa. The narrative is brisk, lively and at times almost poetic, if a book about Civil War combat can be classed as such. If you are just beginning your personal Civil War odyssey, this book should definitely be on your list.

[Bill · Rating 4 out of 5]

If a book like Larry Daniel’s Shiloh: The Battle That Changed the Civil War is the more academic version of the 1862 battle, Winston Groom’s is the more readable, accessible version. I read Daniel’s book recently and attempted to move on in my chronological Civil War reading, but something was nagging at me. I came to realize that I knew the nuts and bolts of the Battle of Shiloh but had no real feel for it. If you asked me about Shiloh in a few months or years, I probably wouldn’t be able to tell you anything about the book or the battle. 

So I picked up Groom’s book in the hopes of getting a Shiloh do-over - a more satisfying, more memorable take on the same event. And Groom largely provides what I was hoping for. His take is not meant to be an exhaustive blow-by-blow account of the battle, he explains in the introductory author’s note, but is written for "readers who are not necessarily the kind of Civil War buffs who dote on every minute detail and technical aspects."

The challenge with Shiloh is trying to craft an understandable, linear narrative out of a disorderly battle marked by so much chaos and confusion. Groom succeeds at this, by keeping his focus on the big picture, and relying on a series of prolific writers and memoirists who experienced the battle to fill in the details.

First, however, we have to get to the battle. Groom is an absorbing and engaging writer, so even his digressions are readable. But his digressions are many. While Daniel’s book did an excellent job placing Shiloh in context, thoroughly recounting both the events leading up to it and its immediate aftermath, Groom’s setup goes back decades. He spends many chapters summarizing the entire antebellum period and events that led up to the Civil War itself, while telling comparatively little about the specific events in the war that precipitated the battle at Shiloh. He provides lengthy biographies of all of the major players, bookended by full “whatever-happened-to” codas of those same players near the end. There are side stories within side stories, as even the mini-biographies contain digressions of their own. Several times the narrative appears to take us to the start of the battle, only to backtrack again with more background. Halfway into the book, the battle isn’t even close to beginning yet.

Once it does, the book hits its stride. Daniel’s book got bogged down in details once the battle began, becoming nearly as confused and chaotic as the battle itself. Groom’s book avoids minutiae, keeping his eye on the larger aims of both sides, while describing the disarray without becoming overwhelmed by it himself. "What had been intended by (Confederate Generals) Beauregard and Johnston as an orderly battle had devolved into a series of individual fights," he explains, while clarifying that "although the fighting at Shiloh was confused it was not always chaotic."

Instead of dwelling on what division went here and what division went there (there are no maps showing troop movements in the book - they’re not needed, and they’re not missed), Groom relies on his stable of eyewitnesses to describe how the battle played out. Plenty of war narratives provide firsthand accounts by pulling brief quotes from soldiers’ letters and diaries, but Groom zeroes in on “just a score or so of these participants” who left lengthy and detailed memoirs. He describes his selected eyewitnesses as “sophisticated observers” who were also “good writers” - many of them went on to become authors or journalists - and allows them to narrate much of the book in their own words, as they themselves become main characters in the story of the Battle of Shiloh.

When the battle concludes, Groom reaches brief and familiar conclusions about its impact - it was less about who won or lost than it was about the brutal fighting and the staggering death toll that made both sides come to realize they were in for a long and hard-fought war. Those aforementioned long “whatever-happened-to” character summaries threaten to take the focus off Shiloh itself in the book’s concluding chapters. But Groom ultimately manages to bring it all to a satisfying close with a look at the creation of the Shiloh National Military Park, where the legacy of those who fought there lives on. 

The book isn’t perfect, if you’re looking for more details about troop movements and tactics, or if you’re looking for a narrative that’s more focused and less filled with digressions. Daniel’s book wasn’t perfect either, for different reasons. There are, of course, more than just two books about Shiloh. I don’t plan to read any others right now - because, as unsatisfied as I was after reading Daniel’s take on Shiloh, after reading Groom’s take, I now feel satisfied enough to be able to move on. Now, if you ask me about Shiloh in a few months or years, Groom’s book has left enough of an impression that I won’t so quickly forget it.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Until Sunday, April 6th, 1862 the Union and Confederate forces had fought several battles but neither side had an inkling of how much blood would be demanded to rid our country of the scourge of slavery. After Shiloh, the butcher’s bill would become clear. The nation will pay dearly. From a Union colonel who fought on that day:

In his diary, Camm had written, “April 6th. Began with a bright, beautiful morning. The trees were budding, the birds were singing but none of us dreamed what a dark and bloody ending the day would have. It was a morning for lambs to gambol on. As we saw it last that evening, a great red globe of blood.”

I so wanted to give 5 Stars to Shiloh, 1862 but had to reduce it one. The book is excellent in many ways but I wanted more on the battle. Groom covers the first day of Shiloh well but skimps on the second and subsequent days. You will find many fascinating participants in this battle. Of course, Grant and Sherman made their names here and began a long, successful and bloody partnership before war’s end. Henry Halleck is here, and what a backstabbing political general he is. Grant will suffer humiliations from this man and yet was unaware of how Halleck was denigrating him behind his back. Grant, unfortunately, trusted Halleck.

If Grant had one notable fault it was that he too often failed to discern the true character of his fellow men. This bedeviled his entire career, especially after he became President of the United States.

Groom begins his book with a brief but thorough review of how the nation came to the point of civil war, explaining the political background, the players, the differences between north and south, etc. Groom also takes time to cover the personal backgrounds of the major participants from entering West Point and fighting in the Mexican-American war in the late 1840’s. Both the Union and Confederate generals and politicians are covered in some detail. The start of the war and events that lead up to the battle at Shiloh are dealt with in sufficient detail without becoming boring. While the battle doesn’t actually begin until page 190 in the hardcover, he keeps you interested right up to there.

I was very intrigued by the partnership of Admiral Foote and Grant in the taking of the two forts: Fort Henry and Fort Donelson. The application of joint warfare begins as Foote uses timber-clad and ironclad river boats to attack the forts and open up waterways that will enable raids deep into the South. The action is spellbinding and dramatic:

Foote’s flagship Cincinnati received 32 hits from the fort. “Her chimneys, after-cabin, and boats were completely riddled,” Walke said. “I happened to be looking at the flag-steamer when one of the enemy’s heavy shot struck her. It had the effect of a thunder-bolt, ripping her side timbers and scattering the splinters over the vessel.”

Foote did not slacken speed but instead brought the three remaining ironclads nearer to the fort, and nearer yet, until he was standing within the almost unheard of distance of 200 yards, where he defiantly exchanged shot and shell with the Rebel artillery.

Inside the fort the Rebel Captain Taylor was almost at the end of his rope. He had started the fight with eight 32-pounder cannons, two 42-pounders, and one 128-pounder, known as a Columbiad. He also had five l8-pounder siege guns as well as the dangerous rifled Whitworth gun that could crack a level shot a mile and more with terrifying accuracy.

Groom uses the experiences of many soldiers in the battle to help drive the narrative. One of these is someone you know very well…Mr. Stanley of “Dr. Livingstone, I presume?” fame. Stanley is a line infantry soldier in one of the Confederate brigades. Here is part of his account of the battle leading up to the key “Hornet’s Nest” engagement:

By the time he recovered, his brigade had marched on out of sight, and it was left for Stanley to overtake it, which led him on his own chilling odyssey down the butcher’s path. When he recovered from the shock of being struck by the spent bullet, Stanley had remained on the ground for a period of time, exhausted; then he crawled to a tree and ate ravenously from his haversack for the first time since dawn. Now, with the sun high in the sky, he “struck north in the direction which my regiment had taken, over ground strewn with the bodies and the debris of war.

“The ghastly relics,” Stanley said, “appalled every sense.” Somehow he felt curious to see who among his comrades had fallen and quickly came upon the body of ”a stout English sergeant of a neighboring company. . . conspicuous for his good humor, and nicknamed John Bull.” Next to him was a young lieutenant who “judging by the gloss on his uniform must have been some father’s darling. A clean bullet hole in the center of his forehead had ended his’ career.”

Soon Stanley came upon about 20 bodies, “lying in various postures, each by its own pool of viscous blood, which emitted a peculiar scent, which was new to me then. Beyond these, a still larger group lay, body overlying body. The company opposed to them must have shot straight.” He lumbered on, shuddering at the sight of “those wide open dead eyes,” ruminating much later that this “was the first Field of Glory I had ever seen . . . and the first time Glory sickened me with its repulsive aspect, and made me suspect it was all a glittering lie.”

Trudging on through the woods toward the racket of gunfire where his brigade was fighting, Stanley “moved, horror-stricken, through the fearful shamble where the dead lay as thick as sleepers in a London Park on a bank holiday.”

The account of the “Hornet’s Nest”, not nearly as well known as “The Devil’s Den” of Gettysburg fame, is perhaps even bloodier and more terrifying. Braxton Bragg shatters several brigades in attacking this natural defensive point. The accounts of this will break your heart as so many brave men go to die, yet are accused of cowardice as the units try to regroup after terrible losses. Finally, the Confederates gather sufficient forces to attack and all the leadership comes to lead the charge:

Certainly there was no more star-studded brigade charge in the history of the Civil War—leading in the center Albert Sidney Johnston, the highest ranking field officer in the Confederate army; leading on the left the former Vice President of the United States John Cabell Breckinridge, and on the right the Confederate governor of Tennessee, Isham Harris, pistol in hand. As Preston Johnston told it: “A sheet of flame burst from the Federal stronghold, and blazed along the crest of the ridge. The line moved forward at a charge with rapid and restless step. There was a roar of cannon and musketry; a storm of lead and iron hail. The Confederate line withered, and the dead and dying strewed the dark valley. But there was not an instant’s pause. Right up the steep they went. The crest was gained.”

The Peach Orchard lay before them, now almost stripped of blossoms,
and they went in at the double-quick; driving the Federal forces with the bayonet. Augustus Mecklin and his 15th Mississippi were among them. “Many of our boys fell in this fatal charge, he said. “Never was there such firing.”

Groom speaks of Albert S Johnston, Jefferson Davis’s hope for a winning leader in the west. I would have liked to see more of why Johnston was considered so good. P.G.T. Beauregard, present at so many key points up until this battle was another character of interest. He caused many unnecessary deaths with his penchant for Napoleonic tactics. This battle would prove how wrong that approach was.

The nation was shocked, on both sides, at the terrible losses at Shiloh. Yet, many more “Shiloh’s” would take place before the end of the war. Reading about this first, terrible battle is a must and made much clearer in Groom’s book. His maps deserve particular note, finally a historian who gets it—we like maps of battles that are easy to read. Excellent book.

[Sean Chick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Groom's Shiloh is by no means an exact blow-by-blow account of the battle. Rather, it is a well-written narrative that uses human stories of the participants to give a general account of the battle. It works as a readable narrative, although I am sure many scholars will take exception to its more traditional account focused on the Hornet's Nest and the fighting nearby. Still, this is a great introduction to the battle because Groom's writing draws a reader into the story and has more fire and blood than colder accounts. In other words, not exactly great history, but effective at what it sets out to do.

[George · Rating 5 out of 5]

an extremely well written account of what was the bloodiest battle in American history, up to that point. More Americans died in that battle than in all of America's previous wars combined, and more than had died in the Civil War up to that point. Unfortunately, Antietam eventually took that honor, which it retains to this day.

The book is intended for a general audience, rather than for dyed in the wool Civil War buffs. So, there's a great deal of effort into providing context to the battle and a very nice job introducing the main actors, along with a bevy of folks who were just there including some quite famous later on like Ambrose Bierce, Henry Stanley and Lew Wallace. However, there's plenty for Civil War buffs to sink their teeth into as well, and it's just a great read, regardless of your background. As noted, this wasn't Grant's shining hour as he didn't really expect fierce Southern resistance and absolutely failed to prepare for it. Neither did Sherman for that matter who steadfastly refused to accept repeated incoming reports of heavy Southern forces converging on Shiloh. But there was no shortage of poor preparation for the attack and very poor planning for the attack itself by the Southern commander Albert Sidney Johnston, largely regarded in the South as their single greatest commander up to his death in this battle. However, Grant refused to panic and gave all his attention to a massive counterattack on the second day, which was entirely unanticipated and knocked the Southern forces off the field. The battle also introduced Grant and Sherman and forged one of the greatest military relationships in history.

The battle scenes are extremely powerful and well done and retain the ability to affect the reader viscerally. The after battle scenes are also both moving and informative and help the more informal reader form an understanding of the importance of the battle towards the outcome of the war. Plus,there's a very nice summary of what happened to the various participants after the battle and the war and a particularly nice part on the creation of the national battlefield park late in the century. all in all, highly recommended.

[happy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read several of Groom's histories and I really like his writing style. Very informative, but most if not all civil war buffs probably won't learn much new. I like way he uses the memoirs and diaries of several people (both low and high ranking) as the backbone of the story and I think it is very effective, for me at least. Also Groom doesn't just tell the story of those two days in April, he traces how both Armies got there. The actual descriptions of the battle don't start until about 1/3 of the way in.

I think this book is aimed for the general/casual reader not a serious civil war buff

One nit pick - he doesn't footnote

[Arthur · Rating 3 out of 5]

An 11 hour unabridged audiobook

Normally I would be annoyed with a book that's titled about a battle, and that branches off to give 30 minute histories of causes of the Civil War, and biographies of General Grant, other leaders, and events unfolding months before the battle, etc. But this author really knows how to weave a story together. Every part kept my attention.

I liked it.

[Steven Peterson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A number of good accounts of the bloody battle at Shiloh in the Civil War have been written. Authors whose books I have read and appreciated include: Larry Daniels, Wiley Sword, and Edward Cunningham. Do we need another book on the subject? I think that Winston Croom's book, "Shiloh 1862," makes its own contribution. It is not so much the original insights into the battle, but the literate rendering of the story and the human side of the battle that Croom describes.
First, the book is literate and well written, a "good read."
Second, some reviewers think that there is too much background. I believe that one cannot understand Shiloh without understanding Confederate reverses and Mill Spring and Forts Henry and Donelson. In addition, the nature of key leaders and forces need to be understood. The Western Confederacy had a strange mix of generals--from the testy and unpleasant Braxton Bragg to the grandiose Pierre G. T. Beauregard to the well regarded Albert Sidney Johnston to frauds like Generals Floyd and Pillow. On the Union side? U. S. Grant and William Sherman and "Old Brains," Henry Halleck. Without an understanding of such factors, a book about Shiloh does not have adequate context.

Third, the book's examination of preparation for the battle provides adequate detail. Beauregard's first plan and then his variations and then his cold feet. Many on the Confederate side felt that they had lost all chance of surprising the Union forces arrayed on the plain about Pittsburg Landing. But Union generals tended to discount any such evidence of a gathering of forces against them. The book does a good job outlining the Confederate attack, the Union response. We see some commanders performing well on both sides and others floundering. This part of the story is well told, although I did not note much that was brand new. Nonetheless, the book provides a fine survey of the battle for someone wanting to get up to speed.

All in all, a fine volume, well written.

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although I’ve been aware of the small Winston Groom collection of Civil War books in my home library for years, I’ve never thought to read them because I invariably associate Groom with Forrest Gump; not exactly the expected pedegree for an historian. But Friday afternoon I made a snap decision to visit the Shiloh battlefield, and Groom’s Shiloh 1862 seemed the best guide available. The book proved a pleasant surprise, with extensive background information and much drawing-from first hand resources. That’ll learn me to judge a book by its author, I suppose!

Shiloh 1862 proved extremely readable; it’s narrative-driven popular history, with lots of human interest stories (sourced from diaries of the time) and biographies of some of the more prominent generals. Groom first explores the background of the battle itself — why it was fought, and where. The ‘why’ begins before the conflict even starts, with Groom chronicling the sectional conflicts within the States , particularly the growing sense in the South that the north was out to ruin it with tariffs and attacks on the plantation-slavery system that controlled southern politics. Groom notes that in April 1862, the war was not quite a year old, and many still thought one good battle would end the conflict, as if it were a duel for honor, and the parties might retire once shots had been discharged. The Federal army in the west had already been successful in undermining the long-term success of the Confederacy by April 1862, in establishing control of the Tennessee River and sending the Confederate army in retreat from Kentucky as a consequence. Now, using the river, the Federal army moved to invade the deep south itself — by landing in southwestern Tennessee, 20 miles from a prominent rail intersection in Mississippi. A strike against the rails in Corinth would sever the South’s only complete east-west line, and make it easier for the Federal army to establish control of the Mississippi river, splitting the Confederacy in two. The Confederate army in the west moved to crush the growing Federal force before it grew larger and fortified. Thus the armies converged on the plains and hills around Pittsburg Landing, a site chosen by he Federals because the undulating terrain and marshy areas that greatly restricted avenues of attack. Perhaps because the terrain itself was so forboding, the Federal army’s masters did not bother to fortify — and they didn’t take seriously hints that the southerners were on the move.

The Confederate army, led by General Albert Sidney Johnson, aimed to strike hard and fast at the dozing Yanks, to push them away from their river-lifeline and into the swamps. Weather and logistical hiccoughs bogged the army down, though, by at least a full day – a ‘fatal’ delay, Groom notes for reasons we later understand. The terrain made it difficult to maintain reliable communications, and once a Union patrol encountered the marching force at Farley Field and the battle commenced, Johnston was forcibly reminded of Napoleon’s maxim: no plan survives contact with the enemy. The Confederates had intended to maximize pressure on the Union left, driving them away from the river — but through miscommunication, instead devoted most of their resources to the Union right. Once a massive artillery battery finally broke the Union center — after six hours of stolid defense by midwestern farmboys — the Federal army was pushed into a tight circle around the landing — and there, across the water in the late afternoon, were reinforcements from General Buell — and back at the hornet’s nest, the Confederate general lay dying. His successor, General Beauregard, believed the Yankees whipped — and, also believing that Buell had marched to Decatur (185 miles away), he was content to call it a day. The next morning. the enlarged and reinvigorated Union army launched a punishing counterattack that saw the Confederates pull back from their previous day’s gains. After two days of hard fighting, all that had been accomplished was the death of 24,000 men.

Groom captures the chaos and desperation of the military aspect, but it’s not the only part of the story. He also covers the battle’s effects on the people who lived around the landing, the farmers whose livelihoods and homes were destroyed, whose children were at risk. So much firepower was active across those woods and plains that there was seemingly no safe place to be; one wounded man, trying to limp to the rear to be tended to, return to his captain and pled: “Cap, give me a rifle. This blamed battle ain’t got a rear!”. Another young soldier, helping his best friend off the field, was shocked to discover when they found shelter that his soon-to-perish friend had been shot seven times. A prevailing theme is that of confusion, which started as the armies tried to get into place and worsened as the action started: men fought in regiments that were not theirs, and often times officers would command makeshift brigades of whatever troops happened to be in the vicinity. The Hornet’s Nest defenders were a makeshift bunch: one Union participant wasn’t even a combatant, but in the initial southern move he’d been separated from his father — leading an Ohio unit — and the young musician quickly had to pick up a musket and fight for his life alongside men he’d never seen before. Perhaps no story captures the confusion better than one Union officer seeking out a major and pleading with him for direction — where are our men, where do we go — only to hear the major’s soft reply and realize: he was a Confederate officer, just as dazed and at a loss as his ‘enemy’. (This early, Confederate uniforms were varied and sometimes confusing: blue state militia uniforms might be mistaken as Federal uniforms, and get them fired on. One sad instance of that appears here, when regiments from Arkansas and Louisiana attacked one another.)

A joy to read despite its brutal subject, Shiloh 1862 has been a lesson for me in several ways. I’ll have to look into more of Groom’s work if my ACW mood persists! I actually read part of this book on the battlefield itself, though my progress in the book rarely aligned with my progress touring.

[Derek Weese · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked 'Shrouds of Glory' and 'A Storm in Flanders' by Winston Groom. I thought both books were excellent and both have earned 're-read' status which means I keep them.
This one, however...
Well, it was well written. Groom is a hell of a writer, and the book, if I had not already read many books on Shiloh, would have been wonderful. Sadly it failed to meet my exacting standards. And that's ok. Let me explain.
Groom admitted he did not set out to write a detailed military history of the battle, I didn't know that ('Shrouds of Glory' was a quite detailed look at Hood's Tennessee Campaign and a hell of a read) so when I bought it a couple of years ago (yeah, only know getting to it) I was disappointed. Despite the sesquicentennial of the Civil War, and the mass of books published thus far, most of them have been let downs. The focus has been the 'social' side of the war (what some would call the politically correct side) and the military end has been a bit neglected. Thus, the person who pines for a detailed military accounting of the Battle of Shiloh that actually doesn't skimp on the all crucial second day of battle...will be still disappointed. I was that guy.
While it was well written, and certainly engaging, I could not help but feel highly annoyed at the lack of detailed military coverage. (I'm a military analyst so I tend to thrive on these things)
So if you're, like me, looking for a detailed, analytical while still well written account on the Battle of Shiloh and its larger strategic impact for the war, you'll be disappointed. However, if you're new to the Civil War, or military history in general, don't care about analysis, or simply want a well written, factual story: then by all means grab this book as, for pure entertainment and enlightenment, it is wonderful.
I hesitate giving this a negative review, hence three stars which is a compromise and me conditioning, with this review, why only three. Again, it's Groom so of course it's going to be well written and the man does have a knack with words that I truly wish other historians shared. It's just that he never planned on doing a Wiley Sword type treatment of the Battle of Shiloh which is what I was looking for. So the fault lies with me, not this book or the author.
For someone knew to the battle, this is a good one. But if you're a seasoned veteran already, or not looking for a strictly story based work, then look elsewhere.

[Sweetwilliam · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is as easy to read as Forest Gump.

I am an avid history reader and I do enjoy most of the comprehensive and academic histories that I read. The challenge is to write a detailed history and not lose the reader. Winston Groom has proven once again that he can do this.

I have read several accounts of the battle of Shiloh. It never ceases to amaze me is the magnitude and destructiveness of this battle. It was the first great blood bath of the Civil War. Winston Groom uses several first-hand accounts and direct quotes to give the reader the perspective of the participants. Grooms’ writing is effortless and not choppy like other pieces I’ve read about the same period. Groom admitted to eliminating ellipses and he "fiddled" with punctuation to make the direct quotes flow. Groom said "My thinking is that people living 150 years ago spoke a somewhat different language than we do today, and sometimes it needs to be adjusted slightly to make it clear."

I enjoyed all the first-hand accounts including the account of the great explorer of Africa, Henry Morten Stanley, a private in the Confederate infantry. Stanley advanced with a Rebel unit until he was struck with a bullet that was stopped by his belt buckle. The bullet knocked Stanley down and put him out of the battle for a short period of time. After which, he would try to catch up with the advance of his unit by following the trail of corpses. Another account told the story of Grant’s quartermaster who rode up to the battle with Grant. He asked if it was raining because he could hear what he thought were the sounds of rain drops falling on the leaves in the trees. He was told that it wasn’t raining and that those sounds are bullets!

Groom also used a recently uncovered diary of a woman from a border state. Her first-hand account gave us the perspective of the civilians from the Border States. Many had family members, friends, and neighbors fighting on both sides at Shiloh. The war would make this well-to-do family destitute before the war’s end. They would never recover.

I had not realized what a jealous, back stabber Halleck was towards Grant and Grant had no idea. Thank God Lincoln, thirsty for a fighter and a winner (a difficult combination) challenged Halleck when he and McClellan had Grant relieved after Grant’s early victories. Winston Groom determined the reason behind Grant’s dismissal to be the green goddess of envy. Lincoln, who called Halleck a first rate clerk, challenged him to produce the evidence. There was no evidence and Grant was reinstated. Halleck would attempt to sack Grant a second time at the conclusion of Shiloh. This time Grant would be saved by the sacking of McClellan. His firing pulled the jealous and worthless bureaucrat Halleck to Washington.

Groom was also very critical of the Confederate General Beauregard for his conduct during the battle. According to Groom, the battle had a chance of being a southern victory had he stuck to Albert Sidney Johnston’s battle plan. Instead, Beauregard would send every unit toward the sound of the hardest fighting. This is something that he thought his hero Napoleon would have done. If Beauregard would have saved a few units to separate Grant’s army from the Tennessee River or if he would have committed to a night attack, the Rebels had a chance. It was Albert Sidney Johnston’s battle plan to drive a wedge between Grant’s army and the Tennessee River and then to drive the Blue Bellies from the landing into Owl creek. Instead, Johnston curiously turned tactical control of the battle over to Beauregard. Johnston went to the front and acted like a divisional commander. He would be wounded and bled to death that day. The chivalrous Johnston had sent his personal surgeon off to treat Union prisoners. A simple tourniquet would have saved his life.
Meanwhile, Grant knew he had the battle won when night fell and his army was still on the field in a defensive posture. Sherman and Grant had the following exchange which says much to Grant’s character:
‘Well, Grant’ Sherman said to his friend, ‘we’ve had the devil’s own day, haven’t we?’ ‘Yes,’ replied Grant, ‘lick ’em tomorrow, though.’
With Don Carlos Buell’s Army of the Cumberland and Lew Wallace’s lost Division coming up the outcome of the battle was a foregone conclusion.

Winston Groom brings 1862 back to life. I thought this book was nearly as good as Kearny's March. It reads as smooth as historical fiction. It is an easy read and a good read.

[Elliott · Rating 2 out of 5]

Winston Groom does the obligatory seminar on the outbreak of the Civil War and skips a lot of pertinent information for expediency rather than anything more. But, a few things in that chapter made me cringe. John Brown was no fanatic. Indeed, John Brown was quite clearheaded and though a thorough discussion of his role in Kansas and Harper’s Ferry is beyond the scope of Groom’s text I didn’t care for that characterization. Groom tends to underplay the Southern stranglehold on the Federal government before the outbreak of the War. This was a region of the country that wielded an inordinate amount of control over the rest of the nation and had near thorough control over foreign policy, and particularly military policy. They had maintained this chokehold with little exception until 1860, at which point the Southern aristocracy more or less had a hissy fit. Rather than accept a member of the opposition party had achieved power they rammed through articles of secession through respective state legislatures. Secession was never popular amongst the Southern population. Military service was even less popular and the “great Southern armies” leaked like a sieve-desertion being very common. Groom’s statement that non-slaveholders served in the Confederate army to “save their homes and families against the notion of slaves gone wild.” is hardly an explanation at all. Again, while this is beyond the scope of his book army service was often compulsory in the South. Often it was punishment for a crime (union organizing, certain political beliefs were considered crimes in the wartime South on that note). It represented a guaranteed meal for many complete with a set of clothes, plus pay. I think there were certainly the firebrand secessionists, and true believers represented in the Confederate Army but fear of a slave revolt can’t be considered the majoritarian opinion.
I wasn’t terribly impressed by the human interest storyline that he included. I thought that when the bullets are flying across the frontline discussing the marriage proposals of a diarist wasn’t exactly giving much to the narrative. Groom also focuses a lot on the action at the Hornet’s Nest, which while certainly fierce, was not the center of the battle. The admirable book Shiloh and the Western Campaign of 1862 by Professor Cunningham gives a far better picture of the battle and is unspoiled by the deficiencies of Groom’s text.

[Addendum: Normally I’m not much into the Civil War, but with COVID-19 I’ve been doing some painting of 15mm ACW miniatures with the intention to stage the Battle of Shiloh and so I’ve been reading up on this particular battle for obvious reasons. I’m including some observations to help in that staging below].

Albert Sidney Johnston’s best moment as a commanding general was getting himself killed. He died before he had a good chance to definitively prove his mettle as a general which was probably to the benefit of the Rebels. It certainly served wonders for the Lost Cause.
Johnston had good opportunity to have fought Shiloh with something approaching parity if he hadn’t put the two most incompetent people possible in command at Fort Donelson. Had he left Buckner in command it’s likely he wouldn’t have lost a chunk of men that the South could ill afford.
I agree with Beauregard’s assessment that Johnston behaved more like a corps or division commander during the battle. He should have left himself in the rear where he could better direct strategy then in the mix of battle where his ability to control the battle was limited. In addition his repeated frontal attacks on the Hornet’s Nest either constituted arrogance or sheer ineptitude. It would have been far better to immediately break up the Union defences through artillery as was eventually done then muster the repeated penny packet charges that served no purpose.
The one complaint in regards to the Union command is that Grant should have expected an attack. At least his division commanders ought have, but overall the Union Army performed admirably. Pockets of resistance, most especially the Hornet’s Nest, delayed the Rebels in their advance. The Union gunboats did good work throughout the battle. Grant, in contrast to Johnston situated himself to the rear where he was easily found. Once battle was joined he moved up to survey the situation for himself, he never lost his head, and then organized an attack for the following day that cleared the field. All in all Grant behaved exactly as a commanding general should.

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I was 12, I started reading Bruce Catton's books on the Civil War. A few years ago, I read Jeff Sharah's novel on Gettysburg. That has been the extent of my reading about the Civil War. I was attracted to Mr. Groom's history of the battle Shiloh because of the role it played in the ascent of Grant's career. I found the book well written and brilliantly organized for the layperson with minimal background in the battles of the Civil War. I appreciated the way the author incorporated the diaries of the civilians living in the proximity of the battlefield into his story as well as the writings of some of the soldiers. Mr. Groom's brief summaries of the subsequent careers of the main protagonists in the battle made them made it possible to understand them as humans and not just soldiers. As far as the tactics of the Confederates and the Union generals, the author gives enough analysis so I could understand the thinking behind the successive infantry charges into massed defenders who had enormous firepower. I still cannot imagine how so many soldiers could advance with elan to their almost certain deaths. But thanks to Mr. Grooms's prose I can visualize the horrific battle scenes.

[Jay Wright · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wish Groom used cites like most historians This is not a scholarly work without proper citations. That aside. It is well researched and well written. In that one battle, the casualties were greater than the Wars before it combined. Groom does a good job in getting into the weeds. It was horrible and why war is such a bad thing. To understand the War in the West, this is an excellent source and it reads more like a novel than a textbook.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lots of good historical context as well as clear explanations of how the battle unfolded. Keeps second-guessing and what-ifs to a minimum. Another great addition: accounts from civilians in the area as well the views of ordinary soldiers.

[Dale · Rating 5 out of 5]

Published by National Geographic in 2012.
443 pages.

Winston Groom is best known as the author of the novel that inspired the classic Tom Hanks movie Forrest Gump . Most people don't know that Winston Groom wrote several histories, including three about the Civil War.

****Synopsis****

Shiloh, 1862 is, of course, about the Civil War Battle of Shiloh, sometimes known as Pittburg Landing in southern Tennessee very close to where Tennessee, Alabama and Mississippi touch.

The commanders were Ulysses S. Grant, William Tecumseh Sherman and Don Carlos Buell for the Union and Albert Sidney Johnston, P.G.T. Beauregard and Braxton Bragg for the Confederacy.

Grant was on a roll of sorts. He was the only winning Union commander, having won the Battles of Fort Henry and Fort Donelson in Kentucky in the winter of 1861-62. These welcome victories not only buoyed the sagging morale of the Union after the loss of the first big battle of the war, Bull Run, but it also opened up Tennessee, Mississippi and Alabama to invasion following the river systems of the area.

This is how Grant ended up at Pittsburg Landing in southern Tennessee in April of 1862 and this is how this almost unknown location became the site of the first truly large battles of the war with casualties rivaling those of later battles such as Antietam and Gettysburg. Much like those battles, there were also a lot of questionable decisions made by the principal generals during this battle.

****My review****

This is one of the finest histories of the early days of the Western Theater of the Civil War that I have ever read. This is the 144th book that I have reviewed that has been tagged Civil War and I honestly cannot think of a more approachable and well-written history as this one.

Highly recommended.

I rate this book 5 stars out of 5.

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[Snakes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Groom’s approach of describing the battle in terms of memoirs, stories, diaries, and official records was great. And it’s flabbergasting how the Confederate Army was able to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in this battle. Reminds me of an underdog sports team facing the New York Yankees. The Yankees can have 2 hits, face a no hitter until the ninth inning, commit 8 errors, and they’ll somehow squeak out a one run victory. The Confederate brass bungled this battle so badly yet had numerous opportunities to walk away with a massive victory and somehow still managed to lose. Really engaging stuff.

[Kenneth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well written, with plenty of detail. Perhaps holding the book back was the reality that this was yet another lost opportunity, fought to a stalemate, wasted chance that seemed to define so many battles of this bloody civil war.
It is well narrated, and interesting to follow on the CD audio.
I think that the only drawback is that the author makes the common mistake of "oversharing" by relating as much back round information that he can possibly unload on the reader about anything possibly related to the battle and combatants as possible.
Interesting stuff, but it does expand the book whether you want it or not.

[Hans Myers · Rating 2 out of 5]

Winston Groom, author of Forrest Gump, turns his eye to the 1862 Battle of Shiloh, and presents an account that - on its surface level - seems fine. But there is a distinct flavor to Groom's text - the flavor of the Lost Cause of the Confederacy - which injures the text. The romanticization of Albert Sidney Johnston, painting of Reconstruction as "criminal," Grant as a bloodthirsty butcher who won by numbers alone, and Sherman as a pyromaniac borderline war criminal, and assurance that slavery would have died out without the war are some of the inaccurate canards readers should expect to find lurking in its pages. Groom is indeed the heir of Shelby Foote, as the review blurb on the cover insists: an acolyte of Confederate propaganda spoon-fed to a public unaware of its inaccuracy.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

A little bit of a slow start but oh boy Groom is so good at this style of narrative history and the research is top notch.

[William J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent book! Mr. Groom does a great job setting the stage for the battle, documenting the battle and explaining the impacts of the battle. He portrays the important characters clearly and places fault where it should lay. Grant, Sheridan, Buell, Lew Wallace all face criticism on the Union side. Sydney Johnston and Beauregard get their share of blame on the Confederate side. The maps are good although all at the front of the book and I like that the author included an Order of Battle down to the battalion level. For Civil War buffs, this is a good read!

[Tom Emory Jr. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tom Emory, Jr. Review -- History books, to my way of thinking, are written in two styles: Woven and Patchwork Quilt. Woven works best on a single event because the author can move back-and-forth, in-and-out easily and tell the story in a chronological fashion. "Shiloh, 1862" is (again, to my way of thinking) written in a Patchwork Quilt manner. Author/Historian Winston Groom takes all the elements of this Civil War battle -- persons, personalities, strategy, movements, units -- and beautifully places them in a pattern that tells a single story but connects them to each other and manages to tell the story of this first great conflict of the War Between the States.

Like Gettysburg over a year later, Shiloh began as a mistake with Union and Rebel forces sort of stumbling into a major battle. Also like Gettysburg, Shiloh had a high-water mark for the Confederate forces. The Rebels arguably won the first day of the two-day battle but the death of Confederate General Albert Sidney Johnson from a freakish and survivable wound likely was a determining factor in the Rebel loss at Shiloh. Although Union Gen. U.S. Grant was both determined and lucky, Johnson was considered the best of the Confederate generals.

"Shiloh, 1862" is not necessarily an easy read for a Civil War novice, but a reader with a background in the names and places of Civil War history will find the book interesting and a good use of your time.

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Being a Civil War buff, I'll read almost anything new that is published on the various battles. Groom's book takes a new look at the battle of Shiloh fought in April 1862--the first big battle of the Civil War. While primarily a military focus, Groom makes good use of diaries, letters and post-war memoirs to give life to individuals on the battle field. The intertwined emotions of fear and bravado come across clearly as men who have never been in battle before must look the enemy in the eye as he is advancing toward them. Many histories focus on the generals; this one gives ample time for the privates.

My biggest complaint (and this is true of most history books) is that there is a lack of maps. Yes, there are overall battlefield maps in the front, but when you are going to dissect a battle movement-by-movement and identify individual companies as they become engaged, then I really need more maps (even small ones) to indicate where we are.

Overall - recommended.

[Caleb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Groom tries here to be Shelby Foote and only succeeds sometimes. The book has a clunky beginning, but brought itself together in the second half.

[Randal Jr. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a fascinating Civil War book focused entirely on bushwhackers and Confederate guerrilla warfare, including their interaction with regular troops on both sides of the war.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book much better than A Blaze of Glory. In several places when Groom quoted various diaries I felt as if I was there. Great read!

[Dale · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although I am by no means a Civil War buff, I knew a little about Shiloh before I picked up this book. This is the third of Groom's histories I've read (Vicksburg, 1863 and The Aviators being the other two) and I am sold on both his scholarship and his writing. Because I knew the outline of the battle, I also knew that within these pages was infinite heartache, a heartache stretching beyond the 23,741 casualties that those two days of confused butchery would bestow on the assembled armies. (Note: I've always found the term casualty to be confusing, but Groom, quoting none other than Shelby Foote, clarifies it:)

When everything was said and done, the combined casualties at Shiloh amounted to 23,741, which is more, as historian Shelby Foote has pointed out, in a single battle than in all America’s previous wars—American Revolution, War of 1812, and Mexican War—combined. The butcher’s bill included 1,754 Union dead, 8,408 wounded, and 2,885 missing or captured for a total of 13,047. Confederate losses were 1,723 killed, 8,012 wounded, and 959 missing or captured for a total of 10,694. The casualties at Shiloh were fully twice those in all the earlier battles of the Civil War.

.

As terrible was this "butcher's bill," perhaps even more imposing was the realization that Shiloh carried with it: there would be no quick end to the war; there was no quick strike or single action that would halt this national tragedy. There would be other Shilohs: in fact, there were two the next year, both ending on July 4: Antietam and and Gettysburg.

As unlikely as either of those locations was for a major battle, they paled in that category to Shiloh. Grant's army was there having taken forts along the Tennessee River and the Confederate troops where there looking to attack the union and keep the waterways open. We meet Grant and Sherman here in Shiloh, both trying to resurrect careers, one having been branded "crazy" the the other a drunk. We meet the talented Confederate General Sidney Johnston, a motivator of men, and P.G.T. Beauregard, "The Great Creole," whose decisions at dusk on the first day of the battle may indeed have changed its outcome--and the course of the war. And of course there is late-arriving Union General Lew Wallace, who, had he followed the oral orders rather than insisting on written orders, might never have lived to go on and write Ben Hur.

Running the grounds that day 21-year-old Rebel soldier Henry Morton Stanley was hit by a bullet in the stomach, but his belt buckle saved him and he was able to resume fighting. He would survive the day and later in life and half way around the world would meet, presumably, Dr. David Livingstone. The splendid writer Ambrose Bierce, sometimes accused of being a cynic, was a first lieutenant in the Union ranks; one wonders how much of his alleged cynicism was forged in these two days of hell.

Part of the success of this book is what's not in it: the story has Shiloh has been told many times, almost minute-by-minute, in several books. Rather, he draws upon the diaries and letters of a few soldiers civilians and allows their words to paint the canvas of this darkest of days in our history. The words of Bierce, here quoted by Groom, add some of the brushstrokes to the picture:

“The air was full of noises,” Bierce continued, “distant musketry rattled smartly and petulantly, or sighed and growled when closer. There were deep shaking explosions and smart shocks. The death-line was an arc of which the river was the chord, filled with the whisper of stray bullets and the hurtle of conical shells; the rush of round shot. There were faint, desultory cheers. Occasionally, against the glare behind the trees, could be seen moving black figures, distinct, but no larger than a thumb; they seemed to be like the figures of demons in old allegorical prints of hell.”

Shiloh has it all: heroes, cowards, the fog of war, the futility of war, redemption, sacrifice, mistakes, incredible violence punctuated with bits of decency, high drama, fortitude, determination, life and death.

But the book left me, as I knew if would, with an overwhelming sense of loss. For both armies and for the public this battle only served to provoke some hideous beast, into whose maw nearly 24,000 passed as they battled on the grounds that drew their name from a small Methodist chapel nearby, a chapel called Shiloh.

[Timons Esaias · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read a great deal about the battle of Shiloh, and visited the battlefield three times. I was a bit worried that I would find this book repetitive of my previous reading and therefore a bit dull; but I also realized I hadn't read a whole book on the battle. So I gave it a try.

At the beginning Groom says he's not going to give a section-by-section, hour-by-hour narrative, because other books had done that. Instead, he said, he was going to lean on first-person documents from "just a score or so" of the participants. This statement made me expect less narrative and more quotation than we actually get. In fact he interrupts the narrative with biographies of the major participants, and the quotes are more commonly brief rather than extensive. Those injected biographies are clear, interesting, and to the point.

Still, he does pick some good sources, and that does put us on the battlefield, repeatedly, during the book. I had read more than half of his participants (including Grant's memoirs, Sherman's memoirs, Ambrose Bierce's narration, the Official Records documents, W.H.L. Wallace's widow...) before, but I still found this to be an easy page-turner, and I read it with pleasure.

My major complaint would be that the book should have been another hundred pages longer, and he should have discussed what went on over in the Union right wing. The font is large, the spacing between lines is generous, so this book is actually slighter than you would think before opening it up. So, to repeat, the book should have been as long as it appears to be before you realize how few words there are on each page.

The use of civilian accounts is an excellent choice, including that of a sister of one of the soldiers, living in distant Bowling Green, Kentucky. Groom also makes a couple of mentions of the woman who was wandering around the battlefield looking for her son, during the shooting. I believe that she was never identified by name for the historical record, so we don't know if she survived, but the soldiers tended to stop firing when she was in range.

Groom is also good about mentioning certain officers and certain units that failed to fight, or ran away. I was expecting a few paragraphs at the end, telling us what became of them (in one case we're told in the text), but I don't believe we got that information.

One thing I noted was that F. John Semley's analysis of the battle for the Air Command and Staff College (84-2340) seems to be the model for the structure of the narration, but it isn't cited in the bibliography. It almost seems to be quoted, here and there. That could easily be, though, that both works derive from a common source.

[Roger · Rating 4 out of 5]

SHILOH, 1862 provides a valuable introduction to one of the most significant Civil War conflicts, a battle that often gets pushed to the side in discussions of that war because it is so overshadowed by Gettysburg, first and foremost, and by the Virginia theater overall. Even in discussions of the Western Theater, Vicksburg typically garners more attention.

Groom's book doesn't erase that neglect, but it does bring cogency to Shiloh for those with even a modicum of knowledge about the Civil War. As can be expected from such a distinguished author, SHILOH, 1862 is user friendly, well-written and organized to abet understanding. The first 35% or so of the book provides context. Chapters relaying brief biographies of the significant players in the Battle of Shiloh are included next to discussions of the antebellum situation as the nation rushed toward war. Poignant stories from local residents who happened to keep diaries or write memoirs add to the tale in a positive fashion. When Groom turns to the battle itself, the descriptions are detailed without resorting to the mind-numbing listing of one fact after another that exists in some Civil War battle histories.

Day One of the Battle of Shiloh does receive much more attention than Day Two. Some proportionate emphasis on the first day may be justified, it just seems to be too one-sided in this book. Groom is unabashedly Southern but for the most part he does stay away from the Shelby Foote style of Confederate jingoism. When something in that vein does slip through it is jarring but it doesn't happen often. SHILOH, 1862 is excellent as a precursor to further study or even a battlefield visit.