Early morning yesterday, April 6, 1862, nearly 44,000 Confederate soldiers lead by Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston attacked unsuspecting Union soldiers at ground near the log church Shiloh Meeting House at Pittsburg Landing on the Tennessee River under cover of surrounding forest. The Confederate offensive drove surprised Federal forces from their camps, nearly triumphing over Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant’s command of 40,000. Federals refused to surrender and Rebels soon became disorganized; by afternoon, Union soldiers had definitively and heroically established a battle line at the sunken road, known as the “Hornet’s Nest.” Rebel attacks were unsuccessful until massed artillery helped Confederates gain the upper hand as they surrounded Union
