6 April, 1862: Sunday

Union - Government
Washington, DC
In Washington, President Lincoln was confidently expecting word from McClellan on the Peninsula that the Confederate line had been broken and the enemy brushed aside at Yorktown. Not hearing this, he wired McClellan, saying: "I think you better break the enemies' line from Yorktown to Warwick River, at once. They will probably use time, as advantageously as you can" [The President was correct, Magruder was desperately holding his weak line while Joseph Johnston hurried his army from the Rappahannock.]

Confederate - Military
Tennessee
General Albert Sidney Johnston and his army attacks General Grant and his army - who had still been unaware of the Confederate's presence nearby (despite the fact that there had been several skirmishes in the preceding days.)

The Union soldiers were unprepared for the early morning charge that burst upon them. General Grant himself was at his headquarters in Savannah, Tennessee, several miles north (down river).

The first units of Don Carlos Buell's Army from Nashville under Brigadier General William "Bull" Nelson had arrived at Savannah the night before after a forced march, while most of Buell's troops were much further behind. General Buell himself was nearby.

Hearing the heavy gunfire from Pittsburg Landing, General Grant came up via boat to the scene, pausing at Crump's Landing north of the battle to order Lew Wallace's division to the field.

The battle lasted all day long. The union troops fell back before the furious but disjointed charge of the Confederates. At the Sunken Road, at the Hornet's Nest, around Shiloh Church, at the Bloody Pond, and in the Peach Orchard, heroes were made on both sides, and a few cowards were revealed.

Union Brigadier General Benjamin Prentiss held the Hornet's Nest gallantly, only to surrender in late afternoon.

Although bent back and sorely pounded, the Union troops did not break in large numbers.

By evening, a line of artillery, stiffening of some units, and reinforcements of General Nelson set up a new line nearer the Tennessee River. Grant had been surprised, had been at least partially beaten, but he was not yet defeated.

For the Confederates, an ill-advised attack formation had caused costly mix-ups of units, coordination had been lacking, casualties high, and victory not completely gained.

About 2.30 in the afternoon, General Albert Sidney Johnston had fallen, wounded in the leg. He would die shortly afterward from loss of blood.

General Beauregard, second-in-command, tried to pull his army together for a final assault, but was compelled to wait until the next day.

On the Union side, Brig. gen. W.H.L Wallace was killed.

Union - Military
Tennessee
In other fighting, on the Mississippi, John Pope was preparing his assault on Island No. 10 and on the Confederate troops guarding the river on the Tennessee side near Tiptonville.

In the mountains, a Union expedition operated from April 6-11 near Greenville, Tennessee into Laurel Valley of North Carolina.

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Bibliography
The Civil War Day By Day: An Almanac 1861-1865. E.B. Long with Barbara Long, De Capo, 1971