Shiloh, Corporal Doak, & The Western Sharpshooters

The author poses with his sister Bridget Doak in June of 2024.

Bloody Shiloh, a battle that still evokes a shudder 163 years later, earned Grant the nickname "The Butcher." The death and destruction at Shiloh/Pittsburg Landing in southwestern Tennessee horrified Americans and shocked people around the world. With nearly 24,000 casualties and over 3,400 dead in just two days, it was the bloodiest battle in the Western Hemisphere until surpassed by Antietam and Gettysburg.

In the days before the battle, Pittsburg Landing was a peaceful and beautiful campsite. With peach orchards in bloom, Union soldiers from Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana enjoyed their time there in March and early April.

Shiloh Battle April 7, JPEG, Hal Jespersen, Public domain,  21 September 2005 (original upload date) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Shiloh_Battle_Apr7.jpg 

Grant's 48,000-strong army camped in a five-by-four-mile area near the Tennessee River, preparing for an offensive. His forces included veterans from Fort Donelson and new "green" regiments from across the Midwest. Grant awaited the arrival of General Don Carlos Buell's 20,000-man Army of the Ohio to gain a numerical edge. General Lew Wallace's Division, seven miles north, was expected to join Grant on April 6th. By the end of that day in 1862, Grant anticipated a significant numerical advantage over the 45,000 Confederate troops in Corinth, Mississippi. However, no one, including Grant, expected a rebel attack on the morning of April 6th.

But attack they did. Around 5:00 a.m., the rebels attacked General Prentiss's Division at the southernmost point of the Union army, followed by an attack on Sherman's Division near Shiloh Church (a replica is pictured above.) Despite suffering horrific casualties southerners fought hard, even gallantly. But they fought for a cause that Grant would later--and correctly--describe as "one of the worst for which a people ever fought."

The rebels attacked and advanced all morning, capturing Union camps and prompting panicked Union soldiers to retreat all the way to Pittsburg Landing, seeking escape. Intense fighting from both armies occurred at the "Hornet's Nest" in the Union center. By day's end, the Union army established a two mile long strong defensive line from Pittsburg Landing to about two miles to the northwest. Grant's defensive line was bolstered by the arrival of Buell's Army of the Ohio and Lew Wallace's Division. After a night of rain and unnerving and deadly artillery fire from Union gunboats on the Tenneesee River, the Union prepared to counterattack on April 7th.

But what about John W. N. Doak, the Western Sharpshooters, and John's rebel cousin H. M. Doak of the 19th Tennessee? Both Doak cousins had a harrowing experience at Shiloh, detailed in the novel (I don't want to spoil all the surprises!).

General W.H.L. Wallace commanded the 2nd Division of the Army of the Tennessee. Therefore, on April 5th, the night before the battle, the Western Sharpshooters camped in the general area of the photo above in large tents holding about twenty men each.

As I completed research for my novel, finding Corporal Doak at Shiloh was challenging. The Western Sharpshooters were part of W.H.L. Wallace's 2nd Division, and historians mistakenly recorded their name as the 14th Missouri at Shiloh, a name they officially adopted only on April 22nd. In addition , on April 6th, they were not with John McArthur's 2nd Brigade as one might expect. Instead, General W.H.L. Wallace ordered the Western Sharpshooters and the 81st Ohio to guard Snake Creek Bridge, about three miles northwest of Pittsburg Landing. (I am certain he made this decision at his headquarters, the location of which is pictured above.)

Snake Creek Bridge was crucial for Lew Wallace's 3rd Division to reach Pittsburg Landing. While intense fighting occurred two miles south, the Western Sharpshooters (14th Missouri) saw little action that morning and early afternoon, partly explaining why they suffered only two deaths and six injuries for the duration of the two-day battle.

By mid-afternoon, the Western Sharpshooters and the 81st Ohio were ordered to move from Snake Creek Bridge to the extreme right of Grant's Last Line of Defense. Here they held off repeated attacks by the Texas Rangers. That evening, they welcomed Lew Wallace's Division to their encampment.

"We found him!" The 14th Missouri (Western Sharpshooters) camped here, forming the extreme right of Grant's last line of defense that night. After four hours touring the battlefield and an hour and a half searching, we finally found the historical marker just before sunset.

On April 7th, the Western Sharpshooters once again were called on to get out in front of the army, in this case, Lew Wallace's 3rd Division, and skirmish with the rebels. Although the Union army met stiff resistance as they moved south, by late afternoon, the rebels had largely begun their retreat to Corinth. The Union forces had prevailed, taking back their camps and all the land the rebels had taken April 6th.

The Illinois State Monument, funded by the state of Illinois, honors the Illinois soldiers who fought at Shiloh, where Illinois suffered 3,957 casualties. The 9th Illinois, from St. Clair County, endured 366 casualties, nearly 60% of their unit, an extremely high casualty rate in the Civil War. They were in the same brigade as the Western Sharpshooters. However, while the Western Sharpshooters guarded Snake Creek Bridge, the 9th Illinois fought in the Peach Orchard and Bloody Pond, just east of the intense fighting at the "Hornet's Nest."

I was pleased to see this impressive monument honoring Illinois soldiers, a fitting tribute to their sacrifice in preserving the Union and paving the way for a "new birth of freedom."