THE BATTLE OF SHILOH
The Battle of Shiloh, also known as the Battle of Pittsburg Landing, was a major battle in the Western Theater of the American Civil War. It was fought on April 6-7, 1862 in southwestern Tennessee. Confederate forces under Generals Albert Sidney Johnston and P.G.T. Beauregard launched a surprise attack and came close to defeating the Union army of Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant.
After the defeats at Fort Henry and Fort Donelson, Confederate General Albert Sidney Johnston resolved to prevent further encroachment by Union forces. Johnston’s strategy was to attack Union forces assembled at Pittsburg Landing before they were reinforced by troops under Maj. General D.C. Buell. “Tonight, we shall water our horses in the Tennessee”, Johnston proclaimed as he ordered the attack.
The Battle of Shiloh was fought among blossoming trees, along little-used country roads and trails by soldiers who had little or no experience. Neither side was well prepared and units became disoriented and lines crumpled due to the ferocity of the fighting and desertion.
Union Commanders Maj. Gen. U.S. Grant and Brig. Gen William T. Sherman were surprised by the Confederate attack which began before dawn in Fraley field. The fighting that followed would stretch along a three mile front and climax later in the day at the ‘Hornet’s Nest’ which Grant ordered maintained at all cost. General Johnston was mortally wounded in a charge against the Union stronghold. Finally a volley of Confederate cannon fire shattered the Union line and over 2,200 Federal troops were forced to surrender.
That night, General Grant, upon crutches with a severe ankle injury, gave up his headquarters to the wounded and spent the night under a tree while the rain fell in torrents upon the dead and dying soldiers. Union gunboats kept up a thunderous cannonade much of the night. It had been a terrible day for both sides but the Union’s position seemed hopeless. Despite this bleak outlook, Grant remained hopeful. Buell had arrived.
Grant’s army, which had grown in number overnight, was now bolstered
by Buell on the left and Wallace on the right and numbered over
50,000. General P.G.T. Beauregard was now in command of Confederate
forces numbering about 30,000. After Confederate attacks and Union
counterattacks Beauregard realized he was outnumbered and retreated
south toward Corinth, Mississippi.
Union forces pursued the retreating Confederate army and engaged them at Fallen Timbers. There, Confederate Col. Nathan Bedford Forrest commanded the retreating army’s rear guard. Forrest was critically wounded during the engagement and the two armies finally disengaged.
The carnage and inconceivable losses were unprecedented and the two-day confrontation appalled the nation. Shiloh was the bloodiest affair the young nation had yet witnessed and resulted in over 3,400 dead and 16,000 wounded.
John Lincoln Clem, was born in Newark, Ohio, on August 13, 1851. He
ran away from home in 1860, at the age of 9 years old. By the age of
10, he was a drummer boy in the Union Army and became better known as
"Johnny Shiloh" or as it says on his tombstone, "The Drummer Boy of
Chickamauga."
In May 1861 he attempted to enlist in the Third Ohio Volunteers but was rejected because of his youth. He attached himself unofficially to the Twenty-second Michigan Infantry and, having been adopted as its mascot, participated in the battle of Shiloh as a drummer. He was given a scaled-down uniform and a shortened rifle.
Clem distinguished himself at the Battle of Shiloh where an artillery shell destroyed his drum. Newspapers got hold of his story and he soon became known as the "Drummer Boy of Shiloh."
Clem gained further recognition at the Battle of Chickamauga in
September 1863, where three bullets passed through his cap without
injuring. He escaped capture when he shot and killed a Confederate
soldier who demanded his surrender. Newspapers now tagged him "The
Drummer Boy of Chickamauga."
In October 1863, Clem was captured in Georgia by the Confederate cavalry while detailed as a train guard. The Confederate soldiers took his uniform away from him which reportedly upset him terribly -- especially his cap which had the three bullet holes in it. He was exchanged a short time later, but the Confederate newspapers used his age and celeberty status to show what lengths the Yankees would go to when "they have to send their babies out to fight us." A short time later, Clem was freed in a prisoner exchange, and rewarded with advancement to the rank of Sergeant and assigned to the headquarters of the Army of the Cumberland.
Clem left the Army in 1864 and returned home, finishing high school
in 1870. After unsuccessfully attempting to enroll at West Point, he
rejoined the army in 1871. President Ulysses S. Grant appointed him
second lieutenant in the Twenty-fourth United States Infantry. Clem
rose to brigadier general, becoming Assistant Quartermaster General of the United States
Army in 1903.
During his last years in the army he was the sole remaining Civil War veteran on active service. Clem spent a number of his army years in Texas. From 1906 to 1911 he was chief quartermaster at Fort Sam Houston. He had rose to the rank of major general by the time he retired in 1916.
After retirement he remained in Washington for a few years, then
returned to San Antonio. He had married Anita Rosetta French in 1875.
She died in 1899, and he married Bessie Sullivan of San Antonio in
1903. Clem was the father of two children. He died in San Antonio on
May 13, 1937, at the age of 85, and was buried in Arlington National
Cemetery. Clem's exploits were portrayed in the Disney film, "Johnny
Shiloh."
