The first day of the Battle of Shiloh was an absolute debacle for Ulysses S. Grant’s Army of the Tennessee. On April 6, 1862, the five federal divisions at Pittsburgh Landing were surprised by attacking southern regiments. Grant’s men, with their backs to the Tennessee River, barely held on, prevented from being driven into the Tennessee only by tough, desperate fighting and by nightfall.

Late that evening, William Tecumseh Sherman found General Grant chewing a cigar under a tree. “Well, Grant,” Sherman asked him, “we’ve had the devil’s own day, haven’t we?”

“Yes,” Grant replied. “Lick ’em tomorrow, though.”