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Ron
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Posted: Tue Apr 7th, 2009 02:57 pm |
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This tactical problem is being asked of everyone and is based on a question asked by Perry Neal in her post of August 13, 2008, in response to the question of a "Union Retreat",
"there was a lot of boys in blue in the TN river could Grant work through all this and win day two without help;perhaps" .
The question being asked of you is "What may be Grant's options for the second day of the Battle of Shiloh Without the arrival of reinforcements?
Possible answers include but are not limited to;
1. If your answer is to retreat, Please describe how, when, by what means, what direction and finally what do you believe the survival percentage would be?
2. If your answer is to fight offensively, Please describe how, what, when, by whom, where, and finally, what is the probably of defeating the confederate army?
3. If your answer is to fight defensively, Please describe how, what, when, by whom, where and finally, what is the probability of holding off the confederate army?
4. Please present any other proposal you may have for the battle plan of the union army for April7th.
Yes, I know this is a "what if" question but, what the heck. Give it your best shot.
Ron
Last edited on Tue Apr 7th, 2009 05:21 pm by Ron
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Ron
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C.D.RICKMAN
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Posted: Tue Apr 7th, 2009 06:41 pm |
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| in sherman's report he states that grant had ordered him to go on the offense the morning of the 7th at about 5:00 p.m. the afternoon of the 6th, but then he states that this was before grant knew that buell would be across the river that night, which was a mistaken assimption on sherman;s part or a miscommunication on grant's part, as he had just been to the landing and warched a brigiade of buell' troops unload from the steamer.
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C.D.RICKMAN
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Posted: Tue Apr 7th, 2009 06:59 pm |
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| Grant had very few options. because of location retreat was not a viable option. he would have been forced to abandon almost everything to get his troops out of the trap. defense would have been an option as he had two deep ravines on each end of his line and his flanks could not have been turned due to the river and snake and owl creek on either flank but it would have cost him many more men and gained him nothing, his best opyion even without reinforcements was to go on the offense, he had relative fresh troops i n lew wallace's troops. an attack concentrated between tilghman ravine and dill ravine would have been the best bet avoiding the mistakes of the confederates by trying to attack through the ravines.
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USMCYank
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Posted: Wed Apr 8th, 2009 11:46 pm |
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C.D.RICKMAN wrote: Grant had very few options. because of location retreat was not a viable option. he would have been forced to abandon almost everything to get his troops out of the trap. defense would have been an option as he had two deep ravines on each end of his line and his flanks could not have been turned due to the river and snake and owl creek on either flank but it would have cost him many more men and gained him nothing, his best opyion even without reinforcements was to go on the offense, he had relative fresh troops i n lew wallace's troops. an attack concentrated between tilghman ravine and dill ravine would have been the best bet avoiding the mistakes of the confederates by trying to attack through the ravines.
I disagree C.D.RICKMAN, have you ever been to Shiloh? The lay of the land provided great retreat options for Grant and his men. Go on the offense you say? Wow! That doesn't sound like such a great option.
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C.D.RICKMAN
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Posted: Thu Apr 9th, 2009 01:49 am |
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| Grant had one road that was very muddy from wallace having traveled over it just that afternoon. a single width wooden bridge and a very steep and muddy hill leading from the bridge. or try to move all his troop across the river on transports and the banks were so steep on the east side of the river that he would have had to abandon his arty.
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USMCYank
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Posted: Thu Apr 9th, 2009 01:56 am |
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| Muddy? Steep banks? How about he rally his troops and get them moving. C'mon, you lead from the front
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C.D.RICKMAN
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Posted: Thu Apr 9th, 2009 02:00 am |
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| I really don't understand why you are on this site, I respect valid opimions but so far you haven't offered any. please give us your views of the battle.
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USMCYank
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Posted: Thu Apr 9th, 2009 02:01 am |
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| Okay, which aspect?
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Wrap10
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Posted: Thu Apr 9th, 2009 04:08 am |
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USMCYank,
To be sure, any aspect of the battle is open for discussion. But since this is Ron's thread, and he asked some good what-if questions, let's start there. What do you think would have been Grant's best option on April 7th, under the scenario that Ron outlined?
Personally, I thought C.D. gave a good answer. I also think that Grant's inclination would have been to attack - that was his nature as a commander, in my view - but all things considered, under Ron's scenario, maybe his best option would have been to hold tight, and let the Confederates hurl themselves against his defenses behind those ravines. What do you think?
Perry
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"And all is hushed at Shiloh." - Herman Melville
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chopper
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Posted: Mon May 3rd, 2010 04:34 pm |
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I think with the arrival of Lew Wallace's Division Grant would have been able to hold out for some time againt the Rebs. However, I don't see how anyone can conclude that the events of April 7, 1862 would have been dramatically different had Buell's troops not factored in......
Lew Wallace's Division was not very impressive on April 7th. Buell's 13,000 available troops on the morning of the 7th made the difference.
Last edited on Sat May 8th, 2010 03:28 am by chopper
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