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THE FEDERAL ADVANCE
In the meantime, General Smith, an Old Army officer and Grant's
subordinate, was placed in command of a Tennessee River expeditionary
force of 27,000 troops, with more to follow. The initial purpose was to
raid the Memphis & Charleston Railroad bridge over Bear Creek, near
Eastport, Mississippi. With two gunboats, the Tyler and
Lexington, and about fifty-eight transports, the expedition
presented a grand sight. "I wish you could see our fleet in column as we
move up the river these splendid moonlight nights. It is the grandest
sight I ever saw," an Illinois soldier wrote his wife. Some of the local
inhabitants "cheered us and made great profession of union," observed an
Iowa infantry man. The journey was mostly uneventful, but at least seven
men drowned.
The strategic mission of the Tennessee expedition changed when, on
March 11, 1862, Halleck was granted his long-held desire for overall
western command. "Old Brains" immediately directed Buell (recently
promoted to major general) and his Army of the Ohio to rendezvous with
Smith's expedition at the small river town of Savannah, Tennessee, 110
miles southwest of Nashville. Rather than use the river, Buell decided
to march his troops overland, believing he could move in less time and
clean out pockets of resistance as he advanced.
(click on image for a PDF version)
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THE ARMIES CONVERGE ON THE MEMPHIS & CHARLESTON RAILROAD,
FEBRUARY-APRIL, 1862
After the capture of Forts Henry and Donelson,
Albert Sidney Johnston's western Confederate forces concentrate to hold
the Memphis & Charleston Railroad. Thousands of soldiers from the
Gulf the Trans-Mississippi, western Kentucky, and middle Tennessee
assemble around the strategic crossroads at Corinth, Mississippi. In
early March, a Federal expedition (C.F Smith) ascends the Tennessee
River to sever the Memphis & Charleston near Eastport, Mississippi.
The mission fails. Confronted by the Confederate concentration, Grant's
army assembles in southwest Tennessee. Five Union divisions disembark
at Pittsburg Landing, while one garrisons Crump's Landing. Buell is
ordered to march from Nashville to join Grant. To communicate with
Buell's column, Grant establishes headquarters at Savannah. Once
combined, the Federals plan to sever the southern railroads.
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Buell underestimated his task. The Army of the Ohio, five divisions
with 37,000 troops, snaked out of Nashville on the night of March 15. At
Columbia, the Federals found the turnpike bridge over the Duck River in
flames. Recent rains had swollen the river to two hundred yards across.
New bridges were not completed until March 30, and by then the river was
fordable. Beyond the Columbia turnpike lay sixty-five miles of poor
country road. As a result, Buell's march, which on paper could have been
made in nine days, required twenty-two. Although Buell was later
criticized for this slow pace, Halleck never expressed any urgency.
Smith's expedition, meanwhile, penetrated deep into enemy territory,
reaching Savannah. A town of about 600 mostly loyal Unionist inhabitants
who had voted two to one against secession, Savannah consisted of one
small street "lined with dilapidated weatherworn, wooden buildings,"
according to one Federal soldier. From this base, two raids were
conducted on Confederate communications. On March 13,
thirty-four-year-old Brig. Gen. Lewis "Lew" Wallace (promoted to major
general on March 21), disembarked his division on the west bank of the
Tennessee River at Crump's Landing, three miles upriver from Savannah
(Wallace would later author Ben Hur). A Federal cavalry foray
advanced inland (west) from Crump's Landing and succeeded in slightly
damaging the Mobile & Ohio Railroad near Bethel Station.
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THE WOODEN GUNBOAT USS TYLER. (USAMHI)
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BUELL'S TROOPS CROSSING THE DUCK RIVER AT COLUMBIA ON THEIR WAY TO
REINFORCE GRANT. (HP)
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Hoping to repeat this success, Smith next sent Brig. Gen. William
Tecumseh Sherman's division on a raid against the Memphis &
Charleston Railroad at Burnsville, Mississippi, just eight miles east of
Corinth. Red-haired, high-strung, but competent, the forty-two-year-old
Sherman had only months earlier suffered a nervous breakdown. A Northern
newspaper subsequently labeled him as "insane." Sherman disembarked his
men at Tyler's Landing on March 14 and attempted to march the nineteen
miles inland to the rail depot at Burnsville. Torrential rains and
swollen creeks, however, forced the cancellation of the expedition.
Sherman returned downriver and camped his division on the river's west
bank at Pittsburg Landing, described by one soldier as "three log cabins
and a pig sty." Two other Federal divisions also disembarked at
Pittsburg Landing with Sherman's men.
Resuming command, Grant proceeded upriver in the wake of his advanced
army. Arriving on March 17, he made his headquarters at the large white
brick home of William H. Cherry, sitting atop the Savannah bluff. Grant
found his army widely dispersed. Retaining Lew Wallace's division at
Crump's Landing, west of Savannah, he agreed with General Smith's idea
to concentrate the balance of the army further upriver at Pittsburg
Landing, located eight miles by river southwest of Savannah. The
decision to establish a beachhead on the west bank of the river at
Pittsburg, from which to operate against the strategic Corinth rail
junction, was influenced by a favorable report from Sherman to Smith but
was entirely Grant's to approve or disapprove. It might have been safer
for the Federal army to have remained on the east bank, at Savannah,
placing the river between them and the Confederate forces reported to be
concentrating in large numbers at Corinth. Union gunboats patrolled the
river, and the Confederates lacked a large pontoon train to make such a
formidable river crossing. But, there was a pressing need to release the
large number of steamboats for other duty downstream. In addition, Grant
desired to position his forces to threaten immediate attack on the
Southern railroads lying south and west of the river. These matters
decided the issue for Grant—the bulk of the army would establish
camps at Pittsburg Landing. Halleck instructed Grant that he was not to
become involved in a battle before the linkup with Buell had
occurred.
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THE LANDING AT SAVANNAH. (BL)
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Despite its vulnerability, Pittsburg Landing did offer some
advantages. The rolling plateau back from the landing provided ample
campground for a large army. Three major watersheds, Snake Creek to the
north, Owl Creek to the west, and Lick Creek to the south, all
tributaries of the Tennessee River, were now out of their banks.
Backwatered by the rising river, these flooded bottomlands protected the
Federal flanks. The terrain, almost a wilderness in places, was composed
of steep banked ravines, which could be easily defended, Several farms
with small fields and orchards dotted the countryside. About two miles
southwest from the landing, on the Corinth-Pittsburg road, sat a
one-room log Methodist church called Shiloh Meeting House.
Grant's troop dispersement on the forested plateau was highly
questionable. Holding the advance were two untested
divisions—Sherman's on the right astride the Corinth and
Hamburg-Purdy Roads and Brig. Gen. Benjamin M. Prentiss on the left
across the Eastern Corinth road. The three combat-tested veteran
divisions, those of Brig. Gen. John A. McClernand (promoted to major
general on March 21), Stephen A. Hurlbut, and William H. L. Wallace
camped in the rear, closer to the landing. The collective Federal force,
nominally called the Army of the Tennessee numbered just over 48,000 men
encamped at Pittsburg. Lew Wallace's division, erecting camps inland
from Crump's Landing along the Purdy Road westward for five miles to
Adamsville, totaled 7,500 effectives.
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THE UNION ENCAMPMENT AT SHILOH MEETING HOUSE. (HP)
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Morale remained high—too high. "I think the rebellion is getting
nearly played out, and I expect we will be home soon" concluded one
Federal. A steady trickle of Rebel deserters came into camp, all telling
stories of a demoralized Southern army. The troops' overconfidence was
shared at army headquarters. "I want to whip these rebels once more in a
big fight," Grant boasted to his wife.
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