The Civil War Artillery Message Board

Re: Union Artillery captured at Shiloh/Pittsburg L

Shawn,
You have the misfortune of studying possibly the hardest battle of the civil war to understand. This battle is marked by great confusion throughout the battle specially on April 6th and to a lesser degree on April 7th. The soldiers were confused by the great amount of smoke from the muskets and the cannon. Many of the leaders shared this confusion for the same reasons but also because the terrain blocked vision and they didn't know where they were on the field. The union leader, General Grant, you must have heard of him, has stated this battle was most difficult to understand. I have been writing a book about the Battle of Shiloh since the year 2000 but I doubt it will ever be published. I undertook this task to gain clarity partly because of the confusion on the field. Some books concluded leaving many questions. I found that writing about the battle greatly increased my understanding.

As to the captured artillery, I have not seen a list of captured artillery provided by both armies. The mentioned battlefield confusion is partly the reason for no list of captures. During the fighting, guns were lost and regained and lost again. Captured cannon in several cases were left on the field and in some instances, captured cannon were exchanged for older poorer artillery. The confederates gained several modern cannon and they left the smaller older guns behind in their place. They also exchanged the flintlock muskets of several regiments for new springfield muskets. In my research, I never attempted a list of this nature.
I could help you if any other questions come up.
Ron

This

Messages In This Thread

Union Artillery captured at Shiloh/Pittsburg Land
Re: Union Artillery captured at Shiloh/Pittsburg L *NM*
Re: Union Artillery captured at Shiloh/Pittsburg L