Pittsburg Landing at Shiloh National Military Park

SHILOH BATTLEFIELD TOUR STOP #22

The Pittsburg Landing stop on the tour of Shiloh National Military Park is situated above the actual landing site, looking down onto it and the Tennessee River. However, it is possible to get right down to the water from the Visitor Center. When leaving the parking area, instead of following the sign that says “Tour Road” and turning right, take a left. No sooner do you turn when the road splits. Stay to the left, pass next to a parking area, and then proceed along the boundary of the Shiloh National Cemetery. The road ends at a loop by the Tennessee River. Today there is nothing to see other than the river.

Pittsburg Landing at the Tennessee River, Shiloh National Military Park

Pittsburg Landing is the site along the Tennessee River where the bulk of Grant’s army landed in mid-March 1862 in preparation for an attack on the strategic railroad town of Corinth, Mississippi, located 22 miles southwest of Shiloh. Other Union troops had landed at Crumps Landing six miles farther down the river. A month earlier, the Union had taken control of Confederate forts Henry and Donelson, effectively driving the Confederates out of Kentucky and upper to middle Tennessee. Confederate General Albert Sidney Johnston had positioned his troops in Corinth to prevent Union forces from advancing into Mississippi.

While Grant’s men awaited the arrival of Major General Don Carlos Buell’s Army of the Ohio, which was marching from Nashville, Johnston instigated a surprise attack on April 6th. The battle lasted two days and would become known as the Battle of Shiloh, though at the time it was called the Battle of Pittsburg Landing by the press.

Pittsburg Landing is the last stop on the tour of Shiloh battlefield.

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