Why study Shiloh as naval history?

Why is a naval historian discussing the Battle of Shiloh?

Because the western campaign depended on waterborne supply and connected transport routes, which shaped what its armies could do.

Shiloh belonged to a western campaign whose movement depended on rivers and railways. Grant needed reliable supply routes because a large army could not keep feeding itself from the surrounding countryside. Union industry and engineering helped maintain those routes, while Confederate transport and supply increasingly constrained movement. The campaign's inland location therefore leaves water transport central to its operations.