Defeat at Shiloh Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Defeat at Shiloh - Essay Example In discussing the mentioned battle, this essay shall focus on Purdy's engagement, the arrival of the Confederates and the movement from Corinth. Preparations for what was later to be known as the Battle of Shiloh began in February 1862. In the wake of the Confederate loss of both Fort Henry and Forte Donelson, the Confederate General Alber Sydney Johnston withdrew to Tennessee for reorganization purposes. Recognizing that the Confederates were planning for action, Major General Ulysses Grant moved his army to West Tennessee, occupying Pittsburg Landing by March 1862. Directly following, orders were issued to Major General Don Carlos Buell to join Grant and, with their joint armies, undertake a seizure of the Memphis and Charleston Railways (Veit). The plan, as explained by Suhr was to cut off Confederate supplies and, to all intents and purposes, encircle and suffocate the Confederate forces. Even as the Union army was proactively planning to offset what they had determined to be Confederate preparations for offensive, and take the offensive themselves, the Confederate General, Johnston, was preparing for an offensive on Grant's forces, scheduled for April 4th, 1862 (Bagby).