Union soldiers lined up in a ravine they later called the "Hornets Nest" to shoot at the surrounding Confederate troops. The bullets whizzing by union heads sounded like angry hornets. Confederate troops had to break the formations and charge up the other side of the hill through blackberry bushes to attack, again and again.

Confederate General Albert Sidney Johnston did not live to see the end of the battle. He died from a mortal wound with the former Tennessee Governor Isham Harris by his side.

After thousands of Union casualties, General Ulysses S. Grant ordered reinforcements. They overpowered Confederate troops the following day and forced them to retreat. This big union victory meant that the north could push deeper into the south and take control of the Mississippi Valley.

The horrific number of Union Army casualties and during the first day of fighting at Shiloh led those critical of General Grants command to contact President Lincoln to have a grant replaced. Lincoln responded, I can’t spare this man, he fights! Grant eventually became the Supreme Leader of the entire Union Army.