* The secession of the Southern states from the Union in 1861 led inevitably to military confrontation between the Federal government and the new Confederate government. In the East, the focus of the Union war strategy was on Richmond, Virginia, the Confederate capital. In the West, the Union focus was on the Mississippi River. The Mississippi was not merely the backbone of transport in the region; Union control of the river would also cut off the Confederacy from the resources of the Confederate trans-Mississippi states.
The Union drive down the Mississippi began in late 1861, with Union forces making steady progress against weaker Confederate forces -- until the spring of 1862, when the two sides collided at Shiloh, Tennessee, with the resulting battle being by far the most violent in American history to this time. This document provides a history of the Battle of Shiloh, and the events leading up to it. A list of illustration credits is included at the end.
