In the past I have discussed why block war games teach history so well. I was reminded of this recently when simultaneously undertaking both a book and a game about the Battle of Shiloh.
Fought over two bloody days near Shiloh, Tennessee (April 6-7, 1862), this famous battle of the Civil War has interested and horrified Americans for over 150 years. It is also known for moments of bravery and slaughter like few had seen before. Indeed, the two days of Shiloh saw more casualties than all other previous wars in American history combined up to that time.
From the Civil War Trust, a brief overview of the battle itself:
On the morning of April 6, 1862, 40,000 Confederate soldiers under the command of Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston poured out of the nearby woods and struck the encamped divisions of Union soldiers occupying ground near Pittsburg Landing on the Tennessee River. The overpowering Confederate attack drove the unprepared Federal soldiers from their camps and threatened to overwhelm Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant’s entire Army of the Tennessee. Some Federals made determined stands, and by afternoon, had established a battle line at a sunken road, known as the “Hornet's Nest.” Repeated Rebel attacks failed to carry the Hornet's Nest, but massed Union artillery helped to turn the tide as Confederates surrounded the Union troops and captured, killed, or wounded many of them. During the first day’s fighting, Johnston was mortally wounded and was replaced by Gen. Pierre G.T. Beauregard. Fighting continued until after dark, but the Union line held. By the next morning, the Federals had been reinforced by the Army of the Ohio under Maj. Gen. Don Carlos Buell and numbered about 54,000 men, outnumbering Beauregard’s army of around 30,000. Grant launched a counteroffensive along the entire line, overpowering the weakened Confederate forces and driving Beauregard’s army from the field. The Confederate defeat ended any hopes of blocking the Union advance into northern Mississippi.
Shiloh began to take form for me through an excellent book by professor James Lee McDonough, Shiloh: In Hell Before Night (Univ. of Tenn. Press, 1977). Considered by many to be the quintessential short read on the battle, I was fascinated to tackle a subject which I knew so little about. The book did not disappoint.
While I quickly learned just how bloody, chaotic, heroic and tragic Shiloh truly was (thanks to the thorough research of Prof. McDonough), I struggled at times to conceptualize the battle itself. Maps were helpful, but I wasn’t really seeing Johnston’s Army of the West march up the Pittsburgh and Corinth Roads, right to the very encampment of Sherman’s men around Shiloh Church. Likewise, the Union stand along the sunken road at the “Hornet’s Nest”, under the leadership of Prentiss & Hurlbut, was known without being truly grasped.
Enter Shiloh: April 1862 by Columbia Games (2010). Intrigued by McDonough’s history of the battle, I picked up a copy of Columbia’s under appreciated game (which is part of their Great Battles series). Now I was in business!
There it was: the Corinth Road, Shiloh Church, the immediate disadvantage of the Union troops on day one, the terrain advantages found at the Hornet’s Nest and Hell’s Hollow, Pittsburgh Landing along the Tennessee River, and the eventual arrival of General Lew Wallace’s “lost” Brigade. All was there to see. Through 100 wooden blocks on a board I was seeing bloody Shiloh in a way that a book alone could not show me. From the pages of McDonough’s book to the mapboard of Columbia’s game, two days in April 1862 came to life for me, replete with all of the tension and ramifications of that epic encounter.
As someone with a degree in history and a love for block games, I couldn’t have asked for a better education on Shiloh than this.
Photo credit: Brian Williams
nice
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