The Bloody Sixth

Ordered to attack General William T. Sherman's Union camps, the Sixth Mississippi charged headlong into a deadly crossfire. The regiment's officers rallied their shocked troops to attack two more times within forty-five minutes. Each time, Sherman's troops repulsed the attack, inflicting heavy losses. Of the Sixth Mississippi's 425 men who entered the battle, few survived unscathed from these repeated charges into deadly Union crossfire. The Sixth Mississippi lost roughly 300 men in less than an hour of bloody fighting in Rea Field. In their wake, four hours into the battle, the Confederate offensive nearly unraveled. Communication broke down as exhausted troops became separated from their units. The heavy forest and uneven terrain added to the confusion. The Mississippians were only the first of many Confederate regiments to suffer here in a deadly scene that repeated itself throughout the morning as four southern brigades braved the same crossfire. Lieutenant William C. Thompson of Company H, 6th Mississippi Infantry, recalled his first experience under fire as one of fear, forward movement, shouted determination to reach the Federals shooting at them, and no time to help the wounded, many of whom were close friends, neighbors, and kinfolk.

Shiloh, Tennessee · United States