by Larry J. Daniel
The research for novel #2 continues, and yes, this is the novel I was working on during National Novel Writing Month last month. I must say I certainly wished I had done more research before then, because doing research while writing 1,666.67 words per day, not to mention holding down my day job, was quite the challenge. Obviously, I'm still not done, as I just finished reading this book about Shiloh over the weekend.
Overall, I really liked the book. It included a lot of "what ifs" which I didn't think I would like, but I ended up really enjoying. Every once in a while the author would discuss a decision that someone made and how things might have turned out drastically differently if that person had made a different decision. Given that I was merely looking for information on the battle so I could continue writing my novel, the "what ifs" weren't really what I was looking for, but as I said, I did find myself enjoying them.
In the end, though, I don't think any of those decisions significantly affected the battle. Historians can blame Confederate generals or credit Union generals all they want but the fact remains that the South was outnumbered. The Union army won that battle after receiving massive reinforcements. The South could never hope to match those reinforcements and the survivors of the battle were already exhausted. I had always thought it was settled that the North's superior numbers, funds, and technology made it so that the outcome of the war was inevitable. Yes, the war had turning points, but if the Union had lost those battles, they would not have lost the war. The turning point would simply have come later. In the end, the South could not overcome the sheer numbers of the North and the battle of Shiloh exemplifies that.
That being said, it does seem to be a miracle that the generals managed to accomplish anything at all. All of the generals and politicians of both sides were so busy bickering amongst themselves that I can't believe our country has come to revere such a bunch of babies!
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