Shiloh. In Hebrew it means ‘place of peace’. An apt name for a tiny Methodist chapel close to the banks of the Tennessee river. It has borne witness to christenings, weddings, and funerals. Its parishioners are thankful for their peace.Peace, that is, until Grant’s Union army arrives to take up every available space in and around the church and on all of the community’s farm land. Within his … on all of the community’s farm land.
Within his camps are soldiers that are simple, scared, green, boastful, veteran, and foolish, all hoping that they do not shirk their sworn oaths. They are full of hope that soon they will sally forth and give battle to their enemy, thirty four miles away.
Or so they think.
Battle is less than a few miles away as another army of green and untried soldiers is marching, stealing up upon the Union army’s encampment with the Tennessee river at its back and no hope of immediate reinforcement. These Confederates are full of hope too, hope that they will not shrink from their oaths when the fire is the most intense and their friends are falling left and right.
Battles are planned by the generals, but they are fought by the soldiers; the simple, the scared, the green, the boastful, the veteran, and the foolish.
They Met at Shiloh is a civil war historical novel. In the tradition of Michael Shaara’s The Killer Angels and All Quiet on the Western Front, you’ll smell the powder and suffer the anguish of loss and understand why soldiers above all else prefer peace to war.
Grab the first and penultimate start to a journey through the American Civil War in the western theater and experience the war from the ranks as a soldier.more
It seems like a very intimate revelations of soldiers thoughts and prayers.
Good look inside the minds of both sides of the war
The Battle of Shiloh told from a soldiers perspective.
What a wonderful civil war tale! The story was told in such an interesting way and in a different perspective that even though I knew how the battle ended, I couldn’t stop reading. Sometimes, I had to really think which character belonged to which army. So many threads running through the story.
Well written view into daily life as a soldier in the Civil War.
An insightful look not only at a critical civil war engagement but at the beliefs held by the soldiers who fought there. Well developed characters and graphic descriptions of the brutality and ultimate futility of so much bloodshed. Disturbing , but engrossing story telling.
good read but a little hard follow characters
Good book. Hard to keep track of all the characters and parallel stories.
I liked the book but at times it gets a bit wordy. Similar to many Civil War fiction books.
Intriguing perspective of regional differences in both armies. Nice resolution of religious approaches to death and it’s rites.
“They Met at Shiloh” shows personal histories and sacrifice by a selection of soldiers from the North and South. There is a lot of controversy over the course of the battle, but the book gives a plausible interpretation of events with multiple cutaways to different characters who come together, sometimes from opposing sides. I especially enjoyed …
Very slow….
Kind of hard to follow.
An excellent read. Makes one understand the history of the times.
This is Historical fiction about battle of Civil War. Did an excellent job exploring what different people might have felt, and how violent and deadly the battle was and how faith enters into the picture. Only problem I had was remembering who was which side without writing notes.