Local Tourism: Shiloh National Military Park

One of the things I am always curious about when visiting battlefields is “why did a battle occur here, in this location?” In the case of Shiloh, Confederate General Albert Sidney Johnston had concentrated troops in Corinth, Mississippi, a strategic Confederate railroad hub located 22 miles south of Shiloh, and Union General Ulysses S. Grant had steamed up the Tennessee River to Pittsburg Landing to wait for General Buell before commencing an attack on Corinth.

The Confederate army hoped to defeat General Grant’s Army of the Tennessee before it could be reinforced, resupplied, and advance toward Corinth. The Confederates attacked Union forces by surprise early in the morning of April 6, 1862, and made considerable gains on the first day of battle. However, General Johnston was killed later that day, and by nightfall Grant’s army had not been eliminated. During the night, Grant was reinforced by a division stationed farther north and also joined by General Don Carlos Buell and some of the Army of the Ohio he commanded. The Union forces counterattacked the morning of April 7 and reversed the Confederate gains of the previous day. Exhausted, Confederate troops withdrew south and although the Union began a modest pursuit, that ended the next day (April 8) leading to an eventual battle and siege at Corinth.

The original old Shiloh church still stands.

Occurring early in the Civil War, the Battle of Shiloh in southwest Tennessee was a harbinger of how bloody and long the Civil War would be, perhaps the battle’s most important legacy. Taking place over the period of just two days, between the Union and Confederate armies casualties totaled 23,746, an unheard of number up to that point in time. Named for a small Methodist church located in the battlefield, Shiloh ironically means “place of peace.”

Monuments to both the Union and Confederate forces cover the battlefield. There are (replica) cannon everywhere as well. The large monument on the center right above is the main Confederate memorial.

Monuments to the soldiers who fought and died at Shiloh appeared almost as soon as we entered the park, as well as plaques with information about what happened during the battle. The plaques were color coded: blue for Grant’s forces (Army of the Tennessee), red for the Confederates (Army of the Mississippi), and yellow for Buell (The Army of the Ohio). Large rectangular plaques gave historical information, small rectangular plaques told of troop positions on the first day, and small oval or round plaques gave troop positions on the second day. The memorial monuments ran the gamut from small and simple to huge and ornate, and were everywhere, even placed deep in the woods. I don’t think you could go five feet without seeing one, and most were to honor Union soldiers, although there were a few to commemorate different Confederate divisions.

At the Visitors Center we picked up the map for a self-driving tour of the battlefield, which consists of both fields and forest. The route was easy to follow, and took us around two hours to complete as we stopped at many of the spots for closer looks. There was far more information though than we had time to read and absorb. We were lucky to visit on an absolutely beautiful, warm spring day when there were no crowds, and at times we felt like we had the entire battlefield to ourselves.

Tall stones mark the known dead and square, short stones denote unknown soldiers.

Close to the Visitor’s Center is the Shiloh U.S. National Cemetery, a beautiful location that overlooks Pittsburg Landing on the Tennessee River. To be buried in the cemetery, one had to have either died at Shiloh or fought there or in other battles along the Tennessee River. The cemetery holds 3,584 Civil War dead, 2,359 of them unknown. Confederate dead were buried in trenches around the battlefield. There are thought to be twelve of these, but the location of only five are known and marked.

Battlefields, while interesting, are always places for deep thoughts about what occurred there and why, and for the lives given. Brett and I were grateful for the opportunity to return to Shiloh (we visited twice in the late 1970s, when we were stationed at the Memphis Naval Air Station), to once again experience this historic place.