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Last Sunday, my family and I were traveling back home to Memphis from Middle Tennessee and decided to take a slight detour and visit Shiloh National Military Park. I knew there were some interesting things taking place there because this coming Friday is the 150th anniversary of the battle.
Fought on April 6 and 7, 1862, the Battle of Shiloh was a major part of the Civil War and was named because of a church that was located near where the fighting took place (that will be on the test).
A Union army led by Ulysses S. Grant had moved deep into Tennessee and was encamped at Pittsburg Landing on the west bank of the river. Confederate forces under Generals Albert Sidney Johnston and P. G. T. Beauregard then launched a surprise attack on Grant. The Confederates achieved success on the first day, but were ultimately defeated on the second day of fighting.
It’s known as the bloodiest battle for both the Union and Confederate soldiers with around 23,750 dead or missing. That’s more than the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812 and the Mexican American War combined.
I was curious for more information about the battle and found an article on Tennessee History for Kids to be really helpful at providing a good overview.
This “trailer” for the 150th event is also helpful at showing the significance of Shiloh.
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The Battle is Over |
Because we were making a last minute stop, we were late for the actual reenactment so I still can’t cross that one off my list. I was pretty bummed however, I did get to see a few of the soldiers dusting off and loading up and was able to check out a few of the monuments and the cemetery.
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Grant’s Headquarters |
One particularly interesting spot to me was inside what is now a national cemetery for those who died at Shiloh. On the sight of this monument once stood an oak tree. Grant wrote in his memoirs:
“During the night, rain fell in torrents and our troops were exposed without shelter. I made my headquarters under a tree a few hundred yards back from the river bank.”
As noted on the plaque, that oak tree was destroyed by a cyclone in 1909. Something about standing in the very spot Grant used as his headquarters really makes history “come alive” as they say.
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Confederate Memorial |
There are some amazing memorials to all the soldiers throughout the national park. One of the first we came across turned out to be the largest. Over 18 feet high, the Confederate Memorial, depicts “defeated victory.” The Historical Marker Database includes a description of the meaning behind much of the symbolism in the memorial.
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Confederate Memorial |
While driving around the battlefields, you can’t help but be struck by the vastness of the place and at 491 acres, there is a lot of vastness to experience. I knew very little about what actually took place there and, if time had permitted, I would like to have read more of the plaques on the monuments that sat literally in the middle of wide open fields. The man-made monuments projecting out of what was otherwise a beautiful landscape felt very fitting for the great loss of life that took place there.
I’m a sucker for a pretty monument and we ran out of time before we could even explore a small part of the park so we’ll have to return, hopefully before the 200th anniversary.
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Already think you know a lot about Shiloh? Take the quiz and see how you do. I answered eight out of ten correctly which qualifies me as “a Captain of the Battle of Shiloh.”
One other site that is worth a quick look is CivilWar.org, the Web site of The Civil War Trust which is America’s largest non-profit organization devoted to the preservation of endangered Civil War battlefields. According to the Web site, “The Trust also promotes educational programs and heritage tourism initiatives to inform the public of the war’s history and the fundamental conflicts that sparked it.”
For more blog entries, visit my Blog Home Page or the Haywood County Line Genealogy Page.