General Ulysses S. Grant at the Battle of Shiloh, 1862. The Battle of Shiloh was a major battle of the American Civil War, April 6-7, 1862, in Tennessee. The Union army under General Ulysses S. Grant had moved down the Tennessee River deep into Tennessee and was encamped at Pittsburg Landing on the west bank of the river. Confederate forces under Generals Albert Sidney Johnston and P. G. T. Beauregard launched a surprise attack on Grant there. The Confederates achieved considerable success on the first day, but were ultimately defeated on the second day. Ulysses S. Grant (1822-1885) was the 18th President of the United States and the leading Union general during the American Civil War (1861-1865). A career soldier, he graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point and served in the Mexican-American War. Under Grant, the Union Army defeated the Confederate military and effectively ended the Civil War with the surrender of Robert E. Lee's army at Appomattox. Grant served two consecutive terms as President after the war and during the turbulent Reconstruction period that followed. Painting by Thure de Thulstrup, 1865.