150-Year Anniversary · April 1862
On April 6 and 7, 1862, a surprise Confederate attack at Shiloh in southwestern Tennessee nearly overwhelmed Grant's army before Union reinforcements turned the tide on the second day. The appalling casualties—more than the nation had yet seen in any battle—shocked both North and South into recognizing the war's terrible cost.
Late in the month a Union fleet under David Farragut ran past the forts below New Orleans and captured the South's largest city and chief port, a crippling blow to the Confederacy.
On the Virginia Peninsula, McClellan settled into a slow siege of Yorktown, beginning the cautious advance that would carry the war to the gates of Richmond by spring's end.