In February 1862, Grant, now a major general in the Union army, pressed toward Corinth, Mississippi, an important railroad junction. As the Army of the Ohio under Union Maj. Gen. Don Carlos Buell prepared to link up with Grant’s troops, Confederate General Albert Sidney Johnston decided to strike Grant before the two Union armies united. By April 6, the Confederates were poised to attack Grant’s command near a small house of worship in southwestern Tennessee: Shiloh Church.

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The 15th Tennessee formed a part of Johnston’s army, serving within the First Corps commanded by Polk, within a division headed by Cheatham. Brigadier General Bushrod Johnson led the first brigade of that division, which included the 15th. At 8:30 on the morning of April 6, Tyler moved his command out to attack Federal positions in a field that the Rea family had owned before the war.

As the 15th Tennessee advanced against the Union right, the regiment encountered heavy infantry and artillery fire. The Rebel line wavered, and some of Tyler’s men broke and began running toward the rear. Tyler, however, drew his pistol and forced them back into line. Bushrod Johnson noticed and later observed, ‘The gallantry, decision, and firmness of Lieut. Col. R.C. Tyler, who now, with drawn pistol, restored order and pressed forward his regiment, merits the highest commendation.’

During the morning, Tyler’s horse was shot three times, and by midday, Tyler himself had been ‘painfully’ wounded, according to Cheatham, and was taken from the field. Colonel George Maney was then given command of the remnants of the 15th Tennessee. He led them in an attack across the Sarah Bell field.

Although the Confederates pushed the Union force back to the Tennessee River, Don Carlos Buell and his fresh army arrived in time to save Grant’s struggling forces. The next day a Northern counterattack forced the Rebels to retire. The cost of the first major conflict in Tennessee was staggering: The Federals lost nearly thirteen thousand men killed, wounded, or missing, while the Southerners sustained almost ten thousand casualties, including their commander, Albert Sidney Johnston, who suffered a mortal wound. Forced back to Corinth, the Rebel leaders attempted to reorganize their shattered forces.

During this period of regrouping, Tyler was promoted to colonel, while the 15th Tennessee was placed under the Confederate Army of the Mississippi, which eventually devolved under the command of General Braxton Bragg. When the Federal army that the Rebels faced at Shiloh pressed toward Corinth, the Southerners withdrew to Tupelo.

While Bragg reorganized his command, the large Union army that threatened Corinth split up. Buell moved his Army of the Ohio toward Chattanooga, hoping to capture that leading Tennessee city. Chattanooga was not only a vital railroad center for the Confederacy, it was located in a region rich in the materials necessary to fuel the Rebel war machine: saltpeter, lead, copper, and coal. Capturing this city would also make a Federal invasion of Georgia possible.

Bragg and Maj. Gen. Edmund Kirby Smith, who commanded the Confederate Department of East Tennessee, knew it was vital that they protect Chattanooga. After conferring there in July, the two officers decided that they could pull Buell’s command away from his objective and into Kentucky by invading the Bluegrass State. Furthermore, they hoped an invasion of Kentucky would provide supplies, horses, and tens of thousands of new recruits for the Southern army. Planning the invasion, Bragg moved his command from Tupelo to Chattanooga. The invasion began on August 28, 1862, about the same time Robert E. Lee was leading the Army of Northern Virginia into Maryland, the campaign that ended on September 17 with the Battle of Antietam.

The commander of the Army of the Mississippi initially hoped to crush Buell in central Tennessee, but after Smith’s forces entered Kentucky and defeated a Union army at Richmond, Bragg also moved into the Commonwealth. Although Bragg aimed to capture Louisville, a major Union supply depot, one of his subordinates attacked a small Federal garrison at Munfordville. Bragg delayed, besieging this minor force, which gave Buell time to reach Louisville on September 25 and save the city and its rich hoard of materiel for the Union.

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