legram to Richmond: "After asevere battle of ten hours, thanks be to the Almighty, we gained a complete victory,driving the enemy from every position." If Beauregard had been aware of Grant'sreinforcements he would not have been so confident.The Second day at Shiloh began with a surprise attack, but now the Yankees weredoing the attacking. All along the line Buell's Army of the Ohio and Grant's Army ofWestern Tennessee swept forward, encountering little resistance at first from thedisorganized rebels. In mid-morning the confederate line stiffened, and for hours the battleraged as hotly as on the previous day.By midafternoon the advancing Union troops had pressed the Confederates backto the point of their original attack. Not only did the Yanks have fresh troops and moremen, but also the southerners' morale had suffered a blow when they realized they had notwon a victory after all. At about 2:30 Beauregard issued the order to retreat. The Uniontroops were too fought out and shot up for effective pursuit over muddy roads. Both theblue and the gray had had enough fighting.Coming at the end of a year of war, Shiloh was the first battle on a scale thatbecame commonplace during the next three years. The killed and wounded at Shiloh werenearly double the battle casualties at Manassas, Wilson's Creek, Fort Donelson, and PeaRidge combined. Gone was any romantic innocence of war. Sherman described " piles ofdead soldiers' mangled bodieswithout heads and legs. The scenes on this field wouldhave cured anybody of war." Although victorious, Grant was accused of lackingelementary caution by some and found himself somewhat vilified in the North over theamount of Federal casualties in this battle....
