That does not make him a drunk, unable to function. During the war he had many enemies, besides the Confederates. He was not a general in the regular army until after his defeat of Vicksburg. Up until them he was a Major General of volunteers in the Army of Ohio. As such, he was not considered as worthy of holding the command that he held, by his regular army equals. Even after Lincoln promoted Halleck to General-in-Chief, and moved him to Washington, he did not name a replacement for him. That left Grant in charge as the highest ranking officer. If Lincoln had named him to replace Halleck, the noise from Grant's detractors would have been overwhelming.

After the fall of Vicksburg, Lincoln was able to move him to the regular army, and then name him as commander of the Western Theater.

However, his enemies had already started picking on him over the drinking issue, and that has not relented until the present day.

To say that Grant never overindulged might be a little too much, but to say that he was so drunk that he didn't know what he was doing is stupid. He led too many successful campaigns for that to have been a problem.

The evidence clearly shows that Buell's arrival at Shiloh was after the crisis was over. Beauregard's army was no danger to Grant's after about 5 in the afternoon on 6 April. Only three brigades of Nelson's division arrived before dark, and they without artillery. The fighting was over long before most of Buell's people got across.

The counterattack on 7 April was conducted primarily by Lew Wallace and Grant's remnants. Buell's people were important, but were neither vital or decisive in the battle. Buell's partisans, Grant-haters to a fault, have argued otherwise against evidence and even against what Buell himself wrote after the battle.

Besides, the article is about Grant and Rawlins, not Shiloh.

Very nice piece, Peter; I'll have to borrow from it. We'll talk next time you're in town.

That said, it would be incorrect to deny Grant's central role. Rawlins could have done nothing without Grant. As in many cases, it is the fortuitous combination of complementary personalities that created the formidable new entity that decided the War — in this case, Grant, Rawlins, Sherman, and a few others. And let us not forget their chief.

I think you're a bit harsh – and engaging in hyperbole – calling into question the veracity of everything in a story because of one error, but that's your privilege of course.