Shiloh

     The Battle of Shiloh was one of the most bloody battles of the Civil War. The near-annihilation of Union troops surrounded and cornered with the Tennessee River at their backs was salvaged by the well-timed arrival of reinforcements. The Confederated retreated to Corinth after another day of violent fighting, leaving the battered Union forces to lick their wounds and reorganize. (This temporarily halted the Union's effort to gain (and seize all) access to the Mississippi River.