Michigan at Shiloh.

major bill

Brev. Brig. Gen'l
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Aug 25, 2012
I will attend the Ann Arbor CWRT tonight. Roger Rosentreter will give a talk on Michigan at Shiloh. He is a college professor and because college professors asked me hard questions, I should think up some hard questions for him.

Regardless, what should I learn about my home state at Shiloh? If Rosentreter's talk is real interesting I might want to go to Shiloh and see where Michigan units fought.
 
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So Dr. Roger Rosentreter gave his talk. So a couple of questions. Was the Union fores caught totally by surprise by the Confederate attack? Would the Confederates have won if Johnston had lived? It in not certain that Johnston could have launched a successful final assault.
 
So Dr. Roger Rosentreter gave his talk. So a couple of questions. Was the Union forces caught totally by surprise by the Confederate attack? Would the Confederates have won if Johnston had lived? It in not certain that Johnston could have launched a successful final assault.
That would have been a fun talk to have attended. The 12th & 15th Michigan regiments alone could have made for an interesting discussion.

In regards to your questions, my opinions are the following:
Was the Union forces caught totally by surprise by the Confederate attack?

-I wouldn't say surprised, due to the amount of activity on the 3rd, 4th, & 5th, with men on picket duty passing the word along to their superiors about seeing Confederates on those dates, or even small squads of Federals having been captured out of Buckland's brigade days before the battle, while venturing South to see what was out there. There were even reports of Federals seeing Confederates on rooftops watching them from afar during drills, so both sides were aware I would say. The higher ups just didn't want to believe that any major attack would occur.

Would the Confederates have won if Johnston had lived?

-That's always a fun one. I go with what others have said, in that after almost 12 hours of fighting, after Prentiss' surrender at the Hornet's Nest in the early evening, there was still one obstacle that remained, and that was Dill Branch Ravine and what awaited those who were left to try & get up that ravine. Grant's last line was well established, and time wasn't on the Confederates side. Reinforcements were just starting to arrive, with more on the way, and ASJ wouldn't have had the same luxury had he lived. Always one of those fun "What if's" to discuss, indeed.
 
If you said "Grant was caught napping" I would agree. But @Student of Shermanis very correct about the Union forces at the brigade level on down were very aware of the coming storm.

In regard to the 2nd question I agree with the above response. The thread listed below answers many questions regarding Johnston's death
Regards
David
 
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