Shiloh National Military Park

Did You Know?

• Shiloh National Cemetery contains 3,584 Union dead, of whom 2,357 are unknown.
• The site was inhabited during the Early Mississippian period from about 1000 to 1450 CE.

Shiloh battlefield

The Battle of Shiloh, a major early clash in the Civil War's Western Theater, unfolded over two days in April 1862. Union forces under Ulysses S. Grant and Don Carlos Buell, totaling about 65,000 men, faced roughly 44,000 Confederates led by Albert Sidney Johnston, who died in the fight, and P.G.T. Beauregard.

The battle produced nearly 24,000 casualties. Though the Union held the field, neither side achieved a clear tactical win; however, the Confederates suffered a strategic defeat, allowing Union troops to later capture Corinth and its vital railroad junction. The battlefield takes its name from Shiloh Methodist Church, a small log building near Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee, the Union landing point.

Park information

The park was established on December 27, 1894. In 1904, Basil W. Duke was appointed commissioner by President Theodore Roosevelt. Local farmers had requested federal action after their pigs rooted up remains of fallen soldiers.

The park was transferred from the War Department to the National Park Service on August 10, 1933. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966. Sites associated with the Corinth battlefield were added on September 22, 2000.

The Siege and Battle of Corinth Sites was designated a National Historic Landmark on May 6, 1991. As of early 2024, the American Battlefield Trust and partners have preserved 1,554 acres of the battlefield since 2001. The park offers permanent exhibitions, films, and a self-guided 12-mile auto-tour.