Will had heard that some were calling this place Shiloh after a church nearby. However, from his vantage point, Will could see nothing peaceful about it. The day before, he and the rest of Grant's men had been bivouacked near the river, waiting for reinforcements from Ohio. They knew that P.G.T. Beauregard and his troops were in the area; however, they had no idea that they were so incredibly close.
The Rebs had been successful that first day, pushing them back toward Owl Creek. The ground had been terrible, like fighting in a pile of fresh horse manure, the mud clinging to their shoes and their pants, weighing them down and making any sort of a hasty retreat impossible. Luckily, the enemy had seemed confused, and Will and the men he was fighting with were able to drop back to a better po
