Battle Reaches Duncan's Farm

Some of the most severe fighting in the Battle of Shiloh took place on Joseph Duncan's Farm. By mid-morning on the first day, General Albert Sidney Johnston's attack on the Union army had pushed the battle lines more than a mile north from where the fighting began at Fraley Field. Under the initial Confederate assault, Generals William T. Sherman and Benjamin Prentiss asked for help from Union divisions camped farther north. General John A. McClernand moved to support Sherman, while Generals William H.L. Wallace and Stephen A. Hurlbut met Prentiss' scattered remnants retreating north from their abandoned camps. Hurlbut deployed his troops one-half mile southeast on Sarah Bell's farm, while Wallace occupied Duncan's farm, with his line facing this field and extending south through the thicket beyond. The new Union center concentrated 6,200 men along this half-mile sector, with 3,000 more in reserve. After 10 am, Confederate brigades advancing north from Prentiss' captured camps attacked this hastily formed front, while Johnston shifted part of his army east to strike a strong Union force reported to be threatening the Confederate right.

Shiloh, Tennessee · United States