Shiloh, 1862

In "Shiloh 1862", Winston Groom examines all facets of the Union's victory. He provides brief but thorough biographies of the major commanders on both sides. He discusses strategic and tactical concepts, which were just emerging as a result of the evolving technologies of warfare. He traces those earlier battles in the Civil War, which led the two armies and their leaders to Pittsburg Landing on the Tennessee River. Most importantly, however, Groom examines the strategic vision of both Union and Confederate political leaders and how those visions helped decide the destinies of the combatants.As in Groom's earlier work, "Vicksburg 1863", he does not ignore the courage, the sacrifice and the suffering of the ordinary soldier. We see the battle at ground level through the eyes of the warriors, who shared their experiences with history through their letters and diaries.The book also includes detailed maps, through which the reader can better follow the narrative. Whether the reader enjoys political history, military history or battlefield narratives, he will find the journey to Shiloh Church a riveting experience.

Winston Groom states his intent in the the opening of the book, which is less to deliver a blow by blow of the battle but more to recount in an easily readable way the background, the people, the overall battle flow at Shiloh, and its broader implications for the Civil War in the West. He does an excellent job explaining the in the introductory chapters why the two armies came to fight in this sleepy little backwater, the background of the various generals on the two sides, and the broad brushstrokes of the battle (which spends a great deal more attention to the Confederate advance on Day 1 as opposed to the Union counterattack on Day 2). You're left with the clear impression that these were a pair of green armies, with outdated tactics and poor battlefield command leading to bloody clashes of individual regiments rather than well orchestrated set piece movements of large units. Some regiments and leaders stood up in the carnage, and others faltered, and the battle was a close run affair in many places.I'd particularly recommend the book if you happen to be traveling to the National Battlefield. Given the layout of the park, similar to visiting Manassas, it's sometimes hard at Shiloh to tell whether you're dealing with events on Day 1 or Day 2. A little background reading before the visit is always advisable, and of the single volume books dealing with the battle this is the best I've read so far.

I was attracted to this book due to my interest in the US Civil War and a delightful extended road trip across most of the eastern (north of Virginia) and the western battle sites. Shiloh and Fort Donelson haunted me. The terrain at Shiloh was surely antithetical to combat, hemmed in, hilly and rugged and the terrifying ‘Hornet’s Nest’ dense bush, we were treated to a whole day walking through it in the company of an amazingly knowledgeable guide. Fort Donelson is nearby, also in Tennessee, then referred to as the west, and haunted me for its beauty. It is on the banks of the Cumberland.I believe the causalities at Shiloh were more than double in the war then to date - and that included Manassas, or Bull Run, depending on one’s sympathies.Shiloh, or Pittsburgh Landing, was and is still isolated and likely why so well preserved.This is good book but not great. I have recently read some military history books, around the Pacific campaign in WWII, that were truly wonderful and emotionally gut wrenching. This was, ‘merely’, good. But well worth it.There are interesting characters that served on those terrible two days at Shiloh - the Welshman Henry Morton Stanley, a lowly Confederate infantryman, who discovered Dr Livingston in modern day Tanzania and the Union general Lew Wallace who wrote ‘Ben Hur’ purportedly based partly on Shiloh.It’s interesting for me to surmise that while this cataclysm was happening in the ‘united’ States my own adopted country was close to its creation - as a Confederation but remaining a British dominion. I am sure that our key founder, the redoubtable Sir John A, also like USS Grant, a prodigious drinker - looked south and recognized that we, Canada, needed a different form of government. A strong centralized one.Excuse, my sentimental rambles.Oh, and visit Shiloh and Donelson.

This was a greatly detailed look at the events of those two days in April 1862. The first day brought tragedy to the Confederacy with the loss of a top general, and the discussion will ever continue about whether the Confederates could have finished the Union army off late that day with one more charge. The fact they did not gave the Union forces under Grant a chance to catch their breath and to bring up the arriving reinforcements that made their charge the second day successful in pushing the Confederates off the field and making them retreat. This was certainly one of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War, and it opened the way for the Union to advance into the heart of the western states and win control of the major rivers.

I've visited the Shiloh battleground a few times, but I never felt like I had a grasp of the ebb and flow of the battle until I read Winston Groom's masterful book.I love the way he acquaints the reader with the personalities - generals down to privates - on both sides and puts the battle into context with the campaigns that led up to it. For the first time, I feel I have a clear understanding of the objectives of both sides.Now, I'm eager to return and revisit the sunken road and the hornet's nest and bloody pond.I read Shelby Foote's book on Shiloh several years ago and I admire his writing style, but Groom has written the definitive Shiloh book as far as I am concerned.

I rate this at three and a half stars!While I am well aware of Mr Grooms prowess as a writer, this volume,while perfectly readable, is not in any way memorable or gripping. Nothing new is revealed,the general facts are related as they have been in several other books.By way of comparison with some ,I found this book chatty,folksy and just a little shallow.What I did really dislike about it was the way the writer did not follow the sequence of events!Pages 1-59,maps,weapons, tactics,a liittle social history. Then we cover the shambolic Confederate approach to the Pittsburg Landing camp with the Union pickets starting to twitch! That gets us to page.74.We then go off on a long description of the careers of Grant,Sherman,A.S.Johnston, Beauregard and Halleck. The writer then decides to tell us about the course of the civil war so far,covering in some depth,the capture of Forts Henry and Donelson.At page 200,the Confederate divisions go forward to begin the battle of Shiloh. (At last!)150 double spaced pages later,the rebels retreat,50 mores pages of results,later careers of the participants and what is to my mind at least,a woolly ramble.Not my favourite Civil war book!(Larry Daniel in his book about Shiloh does it better,in my opinion at least!)

A good history