Failures at Shiloh

[NedBaldwin]

Have you visited Antietam? Because if you have then I'm sure you are aware that the sunken road at Antietam provided Lee's army with one of the most effective pre-existing trenches of the entire war up to that point. What did you want him to do, fill in the sunken road, and then dig it out again?! Add to that the rolling hills just beyond that, which prevented the Union soldiers from being able to see that trench until it was too late, and the result was a major blood bath, with the trench doing exactly what it was intended to do.

Where there any entrenchments at Jackson's position (which was not at the sunken road) on the morning of Sept 17th?

 

[Elennsar]

Have you visited Antietam? Because if you have then I'm sure you are aware that the sunken road at Antietam provided Lee's army with one of the most effective pre-existing trenches of the entire war up to that point. What did you want him to do, fill in the sunken road, and then dig it out again?! Add to that the rolling hills just beyond that, which prevented the Union soldiers from being able to see that trench until it was too late, and the result was a major blood bath, with the trench doing exactly what it was intended to do.

Yes, I have, and I note that it provided part of Lee's army with that. Not much good for the flanks as compared to his center.

If we're supposed to believe Lee would have ordered his army in Grant's shoes to dig in around Shiloh, we should be seeing those troops not stationed in the area of the Sunken Road - primarily meaning Jackson's command and David R. Jones's division - ordered to dig, regardless of what Providence has already provided for the center.

Even earlier than that in the war, Lee was nicknamed the "King of Spades", because of his well known penchant for entrenching. And just prior to the Seven Days battles, when Lee took over for the wounded General Johnston, one of the first things he did was to have the soldiers start digging, in preparation for the upcoming battle (in spite of many of his soldiers grumbling about being put to such manual labor, and in spite of initially being criticized in the press for doing so).

As far as I know, that nickname refers to that specifically (digging in around Richmond), not his general style of doing things.

 

[OpnCoronet]

To me one of the most important(but probably incalculable) results of the battle, was to increase Grant's confidence that the confederate generals he had met so far, did not inspire any particular confidence that they could beat him, even on their best day.
Check out all the name confederate generals in that battle, that he would not defeat again, at least those who would face him again.