Shiloh

Although we do not consider ourselves Civil War aficionados, we have enjoyed visiting some of the important--and some not so well known--Civil War battlefields over the years. We are now cruising through areas rich in Civil War history, but the sites are not necessarily easily accessible from our stops along the way. However, one site on our "must see" list was the Shiloh National Military Park in Tennessee, the site of the Battle of Shiloh in 1862. On Saturday, October 17, we were able to use our marina's courtesy car to drive the 17 miles to spend a couple of hours seeing the highlights of the battlefield.

Lon and Pat inside the reconstructed Shiloh
Meeting House, the log Methodist church that
gave the battle its name

The Battle of Shiloh was fought over two days, April 6-7, 1862. In an effort to stem the Union advance toward the important rail junction of Corinth, Mississippi, Confederate General Albert Johnston led 44,000 Confederate soldiers in a surprise attack against the Union forces of Ulysses S. Grant encamped at Pittsburgh Landing, Tennessee. The attack was very nearly successful, but a premature cessation of fighting on that first day, and the subsequent arrival of Union reinforcements, turned the tide and the Confederate Army was driven back toward Corinth on April 7.

Shiloh was a bloody, bloody battle that resulted in just under 24,000 dead, wounded, or missing. Two days of fighting had resulted in more casualties than all the previous wars of the US combined, and with no net gain of territory for either side. It was a harbinger of the bloodbaths that would follow before the Civil War drew to a conclusion in 1865.

Lon in the National Cemetery at Shiloh. The small
stone blocks mark graves of unknowns. This was the
area of Grant's army encampment and his "Last Line"
prior to the counterattack of April 7.

One of five known mass graves where many of the
over 1700 Confederate dead were buried.

Kudos to the US Park Service for the design of the military park. They had a great movie in the Visitor's Center that laid the groundwork for the driving tour around the battlefield. Many landscape features still exist from the period, making it easier to imagine how it was during the battle.