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In March, after general Henry Wager Halleck had been given top command in the West and Ulysses S. Grant had been made a major general, Grant's Army of the Tennessee consisting of 42,000 troops, under orders from Halleck, was on the way to Corinth, Mississippi, a strategically important railroad center. Union Army general Don Carlos Buell was marching down from Nashville with his Army of the Ohio made up of 25,000 troops. Grant positioned his troops on the western bank of the Tennessee at Pittsburg Landing with most men in camp near Shiloh Church , where he waited for Buell for almost a month.

Grant was caught off guard on April 6 by the Confederate Army of the Mississippi, led by Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard and Albert Sidney JohnstonGeneral Albert Sidney Johnston ( February 2, 1803 April 6, 1862) was an American soldier and military leader. He was born in Kentucky and later lived much of his life in Texas. In 1826 he graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point, NY (killed 6 April), the one who decided to attack before Buell arrived. The surprise offensive drove the Union forces out of their camp. There was heavy fighting around Shiloh Church as the Confederates led by Johnston continued to press their advantage. Grant ordered his troops to hold their position as they were pressed against a nearby river.

Buell, however arrived at dark on April the 6th, in the nick of time. Grant used the 20,000 reinforcement troops Buell brought with him to launch a counteroffensive against the still-attacking Confederates. That afternoon the Confederates evacuated the field and retreated to Corinth.

The two day battle, the costliest in U.S. history up to that time, resulted in the defeat of the Confederate armyThe Confederate States Army was that branch of the Confederate States Armed Forces which had primary responsibility for land-based military operations. The Confederate States Army was formed in 1861 to defend the Confederate States of America, which had i force and frustration of Johnston's plans to prevent the joining of the two Union armies in Tennessee. A total of 23,746 men were killed, wounded, or missing.