Framed Battle Of Shiloh by Alonzo Chappel

Battle of Shiloh by Alonzo Chappel depicts a dramatic moment from the second day of the Battle of Shiloh, April 7, 1862. It focuses on Union forces under Brigadier General Lovell H. Rousseau reclaiming artillery lost to the Confederates on the first day. The scene is chaotic and intense: Union soldiers, clad in dark blue uniforms, charge forward with bayonets fixed, their faces grim with determination. The central focus is on the cannons—large, dark, and imposing—being wrested back from Confederate hands. Smoke and dust swirl around the figures, suggesting the heat of battle, while fallen soldiers and broken equipment litter the ground, emphasizing the violence of the battle. The Battle of Shiloh was a turning point in the Civil War’s Western Theater. On April 6, Confederate General Albert Sidney Johnston launched a surprise attack on Ulysses S. Grant’s Army of the Tennessee, encamped at Pittsburg Landing. The first day saw fierce fighting, with Confederates pushing Union lines back toward the Tennessee River. Johnston’s death from a leg wound late that day disrupted Confederate momentum, and General P.G.T. Beauregard took command. Overnight, Union reinforcements under Don Carlos Buell arrived, shifting the tide. On April 7, Grant counterattacked, and scenes like the recapture of artillery by Rousseau’s brigade—part of Buell’s Army of the Ohio—symbolized the Union’s resurgence. The Confederates retreated to Corinth, Mississippi, leaving the Union victorious but at a staggering cost: over 23,000 casualties combined, the bloodiest battle in American history up to that point.