"Though the battle was crucial to the outcome of the American Civil War, the full story of Shiloh has never until now been told. Commonly considered a draw, Shiloh represented in fact a major reversal for the Confederacy -- a Confederacy that mounted at the outset one of the most incredible surprise attacks in American history and came within a hair's breadth of inflicting a major disaster upon the North. Yet circumstances common to war -- confusions, misjudgments, human frailties -- resulted in eventual defeat. Depending entirely upon original sources, Mr. Sword views this bitter conflict from both sides in a blow-by-blow, shot-by-shot account that is as dramatic as it is comprehensive and authoritative. Shiloh was a battle that took critical measure of two of America's most famous soldiers, Ulysses S. Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman. Furthermore, Shiloh saw the death (perhaps at the hands of his own men) of one of the highest-ranking American generals ever to die on the battlefield, Albert Sidney Johnston, C.S.A., and cost the lives of nearly 4,000 other Americans. Despite the decisive importance of the battle of Shiloh, it has until now remained a virtually undiscovered subject for study. The reasons are not hard to find. They are simply that the bitterness of the controversy that Shiloh engendered plus the complexity of the battle itself resulted in contradictory currents that obscured both the facts and their significance. But now Wiley Sword has put it right in a masterful reconstruction that is also an original and valuable contribution to American history"--Jacket.

The river has risen --To wage an offensive -- A campsite in the wilderness -- Gathering of the host -- Storm signals in the West -- A most difficult task -- A rendezvous with destiny -- The unsuspecting Sherman -- Some queer generals -- The sun of Austerlitz -- Sherman will be shot! -- Seeing the elephant -- Roots of despair -- A swarm of hornets -- Into the mouth of hell -- Surrender in the thickets -- At a heavy cost in life -- Brink of disaster -- Night of horrors -- A day or reckoning -- A profitless combat -- Wear is horrible -- The death of Albert Sidney Johnston -- Order of battle -- Numbers and losses.