Battle of Shiloh
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50 free Battle of Shiloh trivia questions with answers — history quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
For two days in April 1862, two armies of mostly untested soldiers collided in the woods of southwestern Tennessee. Shiloh ended the idea that the Civil War would be short or cheap, and it nearly ended the career of Ulysses S. Grant before it had properly begun. This quiz covers the fun facts people look up about the battle: how it got its name, who commanded and who fell, the nicknames soldiers gave the ground they fought over, and what became of the men who survived it. Several went on to fame far from any battlefield, and a few of the best-known stories turn out to be legends. It is written for history buffs, students, teachers building a Civil War lesson, and anyone planning a visit to the battlefield. Every answer comes with a short explanation, so you finish knowing more than when you started.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which Confederate private captured at Shiloh later became the explorer who found David Livingstone?
Henry Morton Stanley
Henry Morton Stanley fought with the 6th Arkansas Infantry at Shiloh, was taken prisoner, and briefly switched sides to join the Union Army.
Q 02Which best-selling novel did Lew Wallace write after being blamed for his late arrival at Shiloh?
Ben-Hur
Ben-Hur made Lew Wallace famous in 1880, but he spent decades defending the roundabout march that kept his fresh division out of Shiloh's first day.
Q 03Shiloh, the Hebrew name behind the Civil War battle, is usually translated as which phrase?
Place of peace
Place of peace is the usual translation, a grim irony for what was then the costliest battle in American history.
Q 04What kind of building was Shiloh, the humble landmark that gave the Civil War battle its name?
A log church
A log church called Shiloh Meeting House stood among the forward Union camps, which the Confederate dawn attack struck.
Q 05Which Confederate general bled to death at Shiloh, the highest-ranking officer killed in the war?
Albert Sidney Johnston
Albert Sidney Johnston was a full general, outranked in the Confederate army by only one man, and he fell while leading a charge on the first afternoon.
Q 06Which Union general, branded crazy by newspapers months earlier, revived his career at Shiloh?
William T. Sherman
William T. Sherman was wounded in the hand at Shiloh and later said the battle gave him new life after the press had written him off.
Q 07Which future US president arrived at Shiloh at the head of a brigade on the battle's second day?
James A. Garfield
James A. Garfield, an Ohio brigadier in the Army of the Ohio, reached the field on April 7 as the Confederates were being pushed back.
Q 08Which former US vice president commanded the Confederate reserve corps at the Battle of Shiloh?
John C. Breckinridge
John C. Breckinridge had served under James Buchanan until March 1861, barely a year before he led troops against the US Army.
Q 09Which Union captain lost an arm at Shiloh and later explored the Grand Canyon by boat?
John Wesley Powell
John Wesley Powell, an artillery captain, was struck by a Minié ball while giving the order to fire, and ran the Colorado River one-armed in 1869.
Q 10How was Samuel Todd, a Confederate soldier killed at Shiloh, related to President Abraham Lincoln?
His brother-in-law
His brother-in-law: Samuel Todd was a sibling of First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln, and several of her half-brothers died in Confederate service.
Q 11By what other name, taken from a Tennessee River steamboat stop, is the Battle of Shiloh known?
Pittsburg Landing
Pittsburg Landing was where steamboats put Grant's army ashore, and Union soldiers named the battle after it.
Q 12What nickname did soldiers give the Union center at Shiloh, which withstood hours of charges?
The Hornet's Nest
The Hornet's Nest took the Confederates about six hours to overrun, time the Union used to build a final line of guns near the river.
Q 13Roughly how many soldiers were killed, wounded or missing in the two days of combat at Shiloh?
About 24,000
About 24,000 men became casualties, and the killed and wounded alone outnumbered those of the war's earlier major battles put together.
Q 21Which Confederate general took command at Shiloh after his chief fell, a year after firing on Fort Sumter?
P. G. T. Beauregard
P. G. T. Beauregard had been directing the army from the rear all morning, so some historians argue he was already its real commander.
Q 22Which Union general's Army of the Ohio arrived overnight to join Shiloh's second-day counterattack?
Don Carlos Buell
Don Carlos Buell brought nearly 18,000 fresh men and later insisted that his arrival, not Grant's leadership, had decided the battle.
Q 23The Union gunboats Tyler and Lexington, which shelled Confederates at Shiloh, were which kind of warship?
Timberclads
Q 14Which fruit trees filled the orchard on the Union left that became a Shiloh landmark?
Peach
Peach trees stood where a Union division formed its line on the first morning, and the orchard is now a stop on the battlefield's driving tour.
Q 15Who called the death of the Confederate commander at Shiloh the turning point of the South's fate?
Jefferson Davis
Jefferson Davis, the Confederate president, was a friend and admirer of the fallen general and rated him the finest officer the South had.
Q 16Which federal agency took over the Shiloh battlefield from the War Department in 1933?
National Park Service
The National Park Service inherited a park dating to 1894; local farmers had pressed for federal action because their pigs kept rooting up soldiers' remains.
Q 17Which stronghold's capture, two months before Shiloh, earned Grant the nickname Unconditional Surrender?
Fort Donelson
Fort Donelson's garrison gave up in February 1862 after Grant refused to offer any terms, and the win made him a major general.
Q 18Shiloh was many recruits' first combat, an experience soldiers of the time called seeing which animal?
The elephant
The elephant stood for hard-won experience of the world in 19th-century American slang, and soldiers borrowed it for a first taste of battle.
Q 19After Shiloh's casualty lists appeared, false rumors accused Grant of what during the battle?
Being drunk
Being drunk was a charge that had followed Grant since his 1854 resignation from the army, and critics revived it after Shiloh.
Q 20What quality is Abraham Lincoln said to have cited when refusing to dismiss Grant after Shiloh?
His willingness to fight
His willingness to fight: Lincoln is said to have answered that he could not spare such a man, after a politician called Grant incompetent and a political liability.
Timberclads were river gunboats armored with five inches of oak instead of iron, and the pair kept shelling Confederate lines all night.
Q 24What did the Confederate commander report in his telegram to Richmond after the first day at Shiloh?
A complete victory
A complete victory was premature: Union reinforcements arrived overnight, and a dawn counterattack drove the Confederates from the field.
Q 25Why did many Confederates stop advancing after overrunning the first Union camps at Shiloh?
To loot food and gear
To loot food and gear, thousands broke ranks among the captured tents, and one staff officer thought a third of the army was plundering.
Q 26Why was Ulysses S. Grant on crutches when the Confederate attack opened the Battle of Shiloh?
A fall from his horse
A fall from his horse had left Grant on crutches, yet he spent the day riding the battlefield and urging his men to keep firing.
Q 27Which cash crop grew in Fraley Field, where a Union patrol traded the first shots of Shiloh?
Cotton
Cotton covered the 40-acre field where a pre-dawn patrol ran into Confederate skirmishers and partly spoiled the planned surprise.
Q 28What added to the misery of Shiloh's wounded around midnight after the first day?
A thunderstorm
A thunderstorm broke at midnight while Union gunboats shelled the Confederate lines, so few exhausted soldiers on either side slept.
Q 29Which Shiloh landmark is said to have drawn thirsty wounded men from both armies?
Bloody Pond
Bloody Pond owes its name to a single story told years later by a local resident; no account from 1862 mentions stained water.
Q 30In which Tennessee river town was Ulysses S. Grant at breakfast when he first heard the guns of Shiloh?
Savannah
Savannah lay nine miles downriver, so Grant boarded his steamboat and reached the battlefield around 9 am.