The Union victory on April 7th had seemed all but impossible on April 6th, when the army was simply fighting to survive. Several factors had combined to bring about that survival on the battle's first day, all of which culminated with the presence of the third and final defensive line near Pittsburg Landing.
This third line ensured that the Union army was going to make it through the day - something not at all certain when the day began. Occupying a strong position and with reinforcements now close at hand, the outcome was no longer in doubt. (It should be noted that this is more obvious in retrospect than it was for many of those present at the time.)
That all-important third line had been made possible thanks to the stand on the second line earlier in the day. It had taken the Confederates more than six hours to punch through this line, and the effort had virtually worn them out.
By the time they broke through here, their window of opportunity for winning the battle, seemingly wide open at dawn, had slammed shut. History has correctly pointed to the stand made along this second defensive line as the turning point of the battle.
But history has largely overlooked another important stand on this day - the stand made by Union troops along the first defensive line in the morning.
Without the two-plus hours bought by this vital defense, there likely would not have been time to form that second line that stood for so long. This, in turn, would have made it impossible to form the third line that ultimately ensured the Union army's survival at the end of the day.
Without the presence of this largely forgotten first line in the morning, the battle would have proceeded differently and might have had a different outcome. The stand along this line, brief though it was, set in motion all that happened for the rest of the day. And this crucial first line was present thanks to Peabody's morning patrol, which sounded the alarm.
By disobeying orders and sending out his patrol, Peabody had set in motion a series of events that ultimately spelled Union survival on April 6th. Which in turn translated into Union victory on April 7th.
While Peabody's actions alone did not save the Union army on the battle's first day, they did give that army, quite literally, a fighting chance to save itself. This was Everett Peabody's vital contribution to the Union victory at Shiloh.
