Prelude to Shiloh
Well after 10:00 p.m. on the night on April 2, 1862, General Sidney Johnston received news indicating Union forces were preparing to advance on Corinth. Johnston walked across the street from his headquarters at the home of Colonel William Inge, to confer with General Bragg at the Verandah House. Colonel Thomas Jordan, Johnston’s adjutant general, accompanied him. Bragg was found asleep and was roused out of bed in his nightshirt. Following a lengthy conference, Johnston ordered preparations for an immediate advance on General Grant’s camps at Pittsburg Landing:
“Jordan sat at a table in Bragg’s bedchamber and drafted a circular to Bragg, Polk, and Hardee. The corps commanders were to have their commands ‘in hand ready to advance,’ by 6:00 a.m. on April 3rd, with three days’ cooked rations in haversacks and one hundred rounds of small arms ammunition issued.”
-from Shiloh: Bloody April by Wiley Sword
