Great Battles of the Civil War: Shiloh

The first momentous battle of the West launched Ulysses S. Grant as a new Union hero—but came perilously close to ending with a Confederate victory. Shiloh also raised the bar on battlefield bloodshed: at the time, April 1862, it was the deadliest encounter of the entire Civil War. Leading Civil War historians discuss every aspect of the two-day battle—from strategies to casualties, miracles to miscalculations.

John F. Marszalek is Giles Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Mississippi State University, executive director and managing editor of the Ulysses S. Grant Association, and author of Sherman’s Other War.

James M. McPherson, the George Henry Davis 1886 Professor of American History Emeritus at Princeton University, is the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Battle Cry of Freedom and, most recently, War on the Waters: The Union and Confederate Navies, 1861-1865.

Harold Holzer (moderator) has written and edited more than 40 books on Lincoln and the Civil War era and is a recipient of the National Humanities Medal.