Jan 2025 Meeting of the Chicago Civil War Round Table:Bjorn Skaptason spoke to the group about The Battle of Shiloh

About this episode

Bjorn Skaptason discusses the Battle of Shiloh and its strategic implications during the Civil War.

Bjorn Skaptason on The Battle of Shiloh For more info : WWW.ChiagoCWRT.ORG At the outset of the Battle of Shiloh in April 1862, the Confederates had high hopes for an important strategic victory. They aimed to block the Union advance into Mississippi, and early in the battle, it seemed that they might succeed. As night fell on the first day of battle, General Pierre G. T. Beauregard, who took command after General Albert Sidney Johnston was shot and died, believed his army was victorious. In what might have been his fatal error, he called a halt to the attacks as darkness approached. What he didn’t know was that, during the night, thousands of additional Union troops arrived to reinforce Ulysses S. Grant’s battered army. By daybreak, Federal forces numbered nearly 54,000 men near Pittsburg Landing, an advantage of 24,000 men over Beauregard’s army. The greater numbers, and the tactical advantage they provided, proved to be decisive. Bjorn Skaptason holds degrees from the University of Kansas and Loyola University Chicago. He worked as a seasonal ranger at the National Park Service's Shiloh National Military Park and Corinth Civil War Interpretive Center for two summers while…

People in this episode

Host: Marc Kunis

Guest: Bjorn Skaptason

Topics covered

• Battle of Shiloh
• Civil War history
• military strategy
• Union vs Confederate
• historical analysis

Keywords

• Shiloh
• Civil War
• Beauregard
• Grant
• military history
• Union troops
• Confederate strategy

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: National Park Service

Places: Shiloh National Military Park, Corinth Civil War Interpretive Center, Mississippi

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