In the pre-dawn of April 6, 1862, Union forces were unaware that nearly 44,000 Confederate troops were ready to march upon them from the southwest. General Ulysses S. Grant was under strict orders not to provoke a battle before General Don Carlos Buell's Union army arrived to join him, and Union patrols were instructed to defend themselves only and return to camp if they encountered southern forces. Without orders to do so, Colonel Everett Peabody, an alert Union brigade commander in General Benjamin Prentiss' division who was suspicious of increased enemy activity, sent out a patrol of 250 men. Moving through the darkness, this small force passed well beyond its own picket lines and arrived here around 4:55 am. Three pistol shots shattered the silence, and the alarmed Federals watched Confederate troopers gallop away down the Corinth road to the left. Peabody's unauthorized patrol had stumbled upon enemy pickets screening General Albert Sidney Johnston's Confederate army, and a short walk down the path ahead leads to Fraley Field where the battle began.

Photo: Bernard Fisher

Photo: Bernard Fisher

Photo: Bernard Fisher

Shiloh, Tennessee · USA