Shiloh: Animated Battle Map

We at the American Battlefield Trust are re-releasing our Animated Battle Maps with newly branded openings. Enjoy learning about the Battle of Shiloh, a colossal fight between Ulysses S. Grant and Albert Sydney Johnston which resulted in the door to the South being opened for the Union Army.

Our collection of animated maps bring battles of the American Civil War to life, complete with troop movement animations, narratives, reenactment footage and more.

0:00 Setting the Scene
1:20 Strategic Overview
3:23 Approach to Shiloh
4:50 Confederate Attack opens the battle
7:16 Grant departs for Pittsburg Landing
8:33 Death of Albert S. Johnston
11:08 The Hornet's Nest
13:23 Grant's Last Line
14:27 Beauregard's premature victory
15:17 Grant's Counterattack
16:12 Shiloh's Legacy

[AmericanBattlefieldTrust]

For our returning viewers, these are the same productions as before, just with our new American Battlefield Trust opening. We wanted a more cohesive look moving forward as our audience continues to grow. As always we appreciate your support and look forward to continuing to share our passion for American history.

[edmondantes]

"I can't spare this man, he fights!"
Lincoln was right about that. A more timid Union commander might very well have retreated back to Nashville after that first day, but not Grant, he snatched victory from the jaws of defeat.
Did he make mistakes leading to his army being surprised? Yes, but what general never made mistakes in this war? Grant however never let himself be demoralized by his mistakes, he only learned from them and even when he lost battles he ended up winning campaigns of incredible strategic value.
Even Lee, while repeatedly winning battle after battle against Grant, was not able to contain him like he had been able to do with McClellan.

[kromeofive]

I walked the Shilo battle field 3 weeks ago. I am a Vietnam combat veteran and the civil war places always seem sacred and somehow haunting to me. Having walked the ground and seen the maps here, I cannot help but feel the deepest respect for those men ( on both sides) that fought there.

[TheJMBon]

Why can't the History Channel play stuff like this? Instead, they play fake garbage like Pawn Stars or ludicrous trash like Ancient Aliens.

[BlindSide]

My ancestor was at Shiloh. He was with the 12th Iowa. Taken prisoner at the Hornet's Nest, later traded back to the Union. He rejoined the fight and died of disease at Vicksburg.

[BigSkyCurmudgeon]

i've walked all of the recognised battlefield trails, twice along with the Boy Scout Troop 127 my son was involved with. it was quite an experience walking the same steps these forces walked back in 1862. i received a frameable "Veteran of Shiloh Battlefield" certificate for completing the 110 miles of hikes required. an experience i will never forget.

[SlavicSpring]

I think that April the 6th was not Grant's biggest setback but the proof of his leadership skills. The man rode up and down the lines turning a confused and demoralized union men into determined and focused soldiers and stopping the enemy from reaching the landing. He didn't send a dispatch to check out the cannon fire. He traveled himself to the frontline and took charge of the situation. He met with officers in the field and turned a "soldiers fight" into an organized defense.

[monumentstosuffering]

American Civil War reenactors make this art form possible. They should be honoured for their profound recreations of massed humanity in extremis.

[patrickmcglonejr]

So that's why Johnston didn't realise he had been hit in the femoral artery... I always wondered on how and why he never felt himself get shot, and how he was able to bleed out the way he did.... I love how this channel teaches me the smaller facts of history... you learn more than what you already knew.

[rexfrommn]

The battle of Shiloh was the first real modern battle of modern war. Shiloh was fought with mostly older smoothbore muskets converted to percussion cap. Many Confederate regiments had old Brown Bess muskets converted to percussion cap or muskets from the War of 1812 converted to percussion cap. Many Confederate regiments had squirrel hunting rifles and shotguns brought from home. The Union Army also had large numbers of old smoothbore muskets from the War of 1812 and Mexican War such as the 1842 Springfield smoothbore musket. Almost all of these older muskets including many bought in Europe were percussion cap for more consistent firing. Most of these smoothbore muskets were filled with homemade buckshot rounds or buck and ball rounds. Buck and ball rounds were .69 caliber ball rounds with three .30 caliber muskets. However many soldiers made their own homemade buckshot rounds of 12 or more buckshot balls from artillery canister rounds.

These were close range weapons but extremely effective at 50 meters with 100 meters at the outer range. The fighting showed the devastating lethality of these older smoothbore weapons firing a regimental volley of buck and ball rounds or buckshot. Most of the fighting ranges at Shiloh were at very close range at under a hundred meters. Much of Shiloh is filled with brush and tree foliage. The rifled musket and Minie ball were used at Shiloh but far too many Civil War historians overhype the rifled musket and MInie ball. Most of these Civil War battles were filled with the fog of thick black powder smoke. Artillery guns also fired black powerder rounds creating enormous clouds of smoke hanging over the battlefield. Many of these Civil War battles became close range "point and shoot" affairs where each side had a general idea where the enemy was but few individual targets could be made out. The rifled musket also had a parabolic trajectory that would cause a Minie ball sailing over the target's human head at 200 to 250 yards. Riflemen on both sides at Shiloh were poorly trained for judging distance of the target and adjusting their aiming point. So most regiments of soldiers used their smoothbore muskets with buck and ball rounds fired in volleys at close range of a 100 yards or less. Skirmishers used their rifled muskets better in open order in front of the men in the double ranks.

It is important to note the enormous casualties caused at Shiloh with these older smoothbore muskets. The percussion cap was a big game changer because shooting became more consistent and easier to train green soldiers. The smoothbore musket with the percussion cap and buck and ball rounds were the real killers at Shiloh. The Minie ball and rifled musket killed or maimed most Civil war soldiers but these casualties occurred at ranges of less than 100 meters due to the poor training and clouds of smoke hanging over the battlefield from blackpowder weapons. It is important to remember the casualty rates Civil War battles and ranges of the two sides engaging each other were NOT fundamentally different from Napoleonic battles 50 years earlier. The deadliest weapons of the Civil War were those railroads and steam riverboats that allowed the concentration of armies in field almost indefinitely.

[carolbell]

I love American History!! This showed a picture of Grant wearing a snazzy hat with feather, which is surprising as he was such a shy man. His memoirs are absolutely fantastic, he writes very well.This generation settled the matter once and for all, God bless them!!

[Autobotmatt]

Make more of these animated Battle Maps! Please

[bluesuncompanyman]

I visited Shiloh 2 years ago and was amazed at how well preserved the battlefield was. Being in the deep Tennessee country, there is no urban encroachment like you see with the battlefields in the east. When I visited Antietam the nearby suburbs and housing just off the park property was a terrible eyesore to someone who cares about preservation. But at Shiloh the landscape was pristine. Shiloh is well off the beaten path and it takes a while to get there, but if you care about battlefield preservation I recommend taking the time to visit.

[RichardAHolt]

The battlefield losses at Shiloh were quite shocking, although other later battles would have higher casualties. There was great reluctance to join infantry regiments after the battle, with only cavalry regiments being able to attract recruits in West Tennessee due to this battle and the subsequent Federal occupation. Had several ancestors involved at the battle, with some dying subsequently due to battle injuries or disease.

[mikem]

Very well preserved battlefield. Unique cannons that I have never seen. Cemetary is a place of reverence. Highly recommend a visit.

[toddmoss]

Shiloh is where I caught my bug for the Civil War as a kid visiting family in Mississippi.   It's a great park in the National Park Service.

[andyorwig]

These videos are amazing. The intro music pulls you right in with a somewhat engaging and empowering score but then brings home the horrors of war that truly existed. It was a quagmire of human drama played out at the expense of thousands.

[alexkalish]

While Grants army was surprised, his tactical deployment of his army before the battle was almost perfect. Both armies were not yet hard veterans but they fought well. Grant was cool and measured as always. He spent time deploying his batteries on a knoll by the landing that just dominates the landscape. That accomplished, he couldn't lose -

[outdoorlife]

I like this lecture, I guess is what you call it. The guy speaking is a Marine Vet who passed away from Cancer a few years ago. He always did a good job.

[patrickturner]

I've been to a lot of civil war battlefields and of all of them Shiloh is by far my favorite. It was just so unique in military history. Two groups of barely trained civilians going at each other with a savagery that wouldn't be seen until later in the war at places like Little Round Top and Overland campaign. The terrain, the hardships the men endured even when not in battle. Everything about it is unique in world history.