Hornets Nest

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Afternoon, April 6, 1862. Troops under primarily Benjamin Prentiss and W.H.L. Wallace hold this sector centered around the Sunken Road throughout the afternoon.

By this time CS forces were already hopelessly intermingled. No senior officer present knew exactly where all of his troops were at any given moment. No fewer than eight separate assaults were directed against this position beginning at around 2:00pm and lasting until late in the afternoon. Union resistance is so fierce that Confederates dub the sector as the “Hornets Nest.”

As US forces to the east and west collapse and retreat towards Pittsburg Landing, Confederates gradually begin to work around the flanks of the increasingly isolated sector. An artillery bombardment and final push finally crack the last resistance at around 4:00pm. Some units break out of the pocket towards Grant’s final line being established to the north around Pittsburg Landing itself. Prentiss himself and around 2,200 survivors surrender at around 4:30pm.

Though Grant criticized Prentiss for allowing himself to be surrounded and captured, the reality is that the stand made here very likely saved the army. During the early and mid-afternoon, Confederate forces seemed to become obsessed with wiping out this pocket of resistance rather than bypassing it and sweeping the remainder of Grant’s army into the river. The time gained allowed Grant to stabilize his final line to the north along the Pittsburg Landing Road.