Was battle of Shiloh a union victory?

Answer 1

Since more Union solders were killed that Confederate Solders, and Grant was driven off, it is generally considered to be a Confederate victory. It prevented General Grant from heading south and trying to capture Vicksburg, Mississippi, so instead he captured Tennessee and made both it and Southern Kentucky useless to the Southern cause. The South could no longer use the guano from the caves of Kentucky to make gunpowder. The Confederates lost General Albert Sidney Johnson, one of their best. In the short run, it was a tactical Confederate victory. The South got what they wanted. In the long run. Grant took an important part of the South away from the Confederacy which cost the Confederates dearly. The Confederates probably would have been better off if they had lost!

IMPROVEMENT.

Shiloh was a Union Victory because:

- the Confederate didn't succeeded either in destroying or scatter Grant's Army or drive off them from the vital position of Pittsburg Landing. In other words they failed to reach their main tasks.

- the Confederate was forced to retreat from the battlefield on Apr.7th before being overwhelmed by the attacking Union Army.

- the losses were:

Confederate - 1723 killed, 8313 wounded 959 prisoners and missing.

Unionists - 1754 killed, 8408 wounded 2285 prisoners and missing.

Furthermore I would like to point out:

- soon after Shiloh the Federals carried on their advance southward to capture Corinth, which was then abandoned by the Confederates, thus extending the control of the Mississippi River to the height of Memphis in cooperation with the Union gunboats.

- At the time when the battle of Shiloh was fought, Vicksburg had not been fortified yet and therefore didn't constituted any military importance for the moment.

- Vicksburg was fortified starting from Apr. 20, 1862.