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Tennessee, 11/27/21: Place of Peace

Where it all started - Shiloh Church.

“Ulysses don’t scare worth a damn.”

—Unknown soldier commenting on Grant’s penchant for finding a way to prevail when things are at their darkest.


In April 1862, well before the battles of Stones River, Chattanooga, and Chickamauga, Corinth, Mississippi, was the prize in the Western theater of the Civil War. Corinth was the strategic crossroads - cross railroads, that is. The vital east-west Memphis and Charleston RR was the only RR that connected the Mississippi River with the Southeastern states along the Atlantic seaboard. At Corinth, this RR crossed the north-south Mobile-Ohio RR. Both were the longest standard-gauge RRs in the Western theater.


Confederate General Albert Sidney Johnston’s Army of the Mississippi controlled Corinth. Union General US Grant’s Army of the Tennessee wanted it. To that end, Grant moved his army down the Tennessee River to Pittsburg Landing, about 25 miles north of Corinth. His plan was to wait for General Don Carlos Buell’s Army of the Ohio to join up before attacking Corinth. The Army of the Tennessee encamped near the rural Shiloh Church, some three miles away from the river. Ironically, Shiloh means “place of peace”.


Johnston wanted to attack Grant before Buell reinforced Grant, so he moved up from Corinth to attack. Bad weather held him up for three critical days. When he did attack, on April 6, it was a complete surprise. Grant’s Army was overwhelmed and was pushed back toward Pittsburg Landing. Fortunately for Grant, General Prentiss’ division and General Wallace’s division made a stand at a thicket that became known as the Hornet’s Nest, due to the continuous buzzing of bullets. This stand gave Grant time to build a solid defensive line near the river.


During the afternoon, Johnston was mortally wounded. He was the highest-ranking Confederate officer to die in the Civil War. General Pierre Gustave Toutant-Beauregard (I love that name) took command. By nighttime, Beauregard was pleased with the results. He believed that he could mop up the rest of Grant’s army in the morning. Another irony of the battle is that General Braxton Bragg was a corps commander in the Army of the Mississippi. He seems always to be around when defeat is snatched from victory.


During the night, Buell’s army filtered in giving Grant 20,000 fresh troops. At first light, Grant attacked, completely surprising Beauregard. After another bloody day of battle, Beauregard limped back to Corinth, and Grant’s forces set up camp where they started.


The butcher’s bill was immense. A combined total of 110,000 combatants met at Shiloh. The resulting 23,716 casualties, including 3,482 dead; mountains of amputated arms and legs; and a plethora of nasty diseases from wretched sanitary conditions, shocked both the North and South. This was before Antietam, Gettysburg, and Chickamauga.


All that horror and little was accomplished. The Army of the Mississippi still controlled Corinth and the Army of the Tennessee still had designs on it.

Henry Love sketched this remarkable battle scene at the Shiloh Church as the battle raged. I believe he was a sketch artist for magazines and newspapers.

The thicket, nicknamed the Hornet’s Nest, is considered by some historians to be the most important piece of the battle for the Union. The Union center held by General Prentiss’ and General Wallace’s divisions held out for 8 hours. General Wallace was killed in the action. General Prentiss eventually surrendered 2,200 soldiers.

This diagram points out where the Hornet’s Nest was situated in the battle, and how the Confederates eventually captured 2,200 Union soldiers, but not before Grant was able to re-establish a strong defensive line. As the Confederates (red) were successfully pushing the Union (blue) back towards the Tennessee River, two Union divisions in the middle stubbornly held out most of the day. It wasn’t until the Confederates assembled a battery of over 50 cannons to hammer away at the Union force before the Confederates were able to surround the Union troops, forcing General Prentiss to surrender. By then, Grant had strengthened his defensive line.

The campground at Pickwick Dam State Park on the Pickwick Lake Reservoir of the Tennessee River, was a mixed bag. At least half of the sites were so crooked, tilted, and steep you couldn’t even set up a tent. Our site was one of the most level and we still had to use every bit of our wheel levelers to get V-Jer level. The setting was pretty. The showers were nice. As soon as we set up, we quickly drove to the Shiloh National Battlefield.

The Shiloh Battlefield is as well preserved as Gettysburg. The battlefield museum is top-notch, laying out the entire battle with every nuance and oddity. The driving tour pointed out all the special places like the Shiloh Church, the Hornet’s Nest, and the Bloody Pond. Maps and the terrific documentary film clearly followed every move and countermove the two opposing forces made during the two-day battle.


These preserved battlefields just feel sacred. They cry out for reverence. Shiloh was the first Civil War battle that definitively disproved the idea that war is glory. As General Sherman noted to a complaining southern woman, “War is hell.”


Whenever I hear people equate patriotism with the gleeful and liberal use of military force, I shake my head. Patriotism is far deeper than throwing young men into a meat grinder. Yes, a strong military is vital for a nation, but using it wisely is infinitely more important.

Shiloh Church.

The modern Shiloh Church. The original church was built in 1853. The current iteration was completed in 1949, but it took many years to be build. Notice how both stone and bricks were utilized. The church started to be built with local field stone. It sat like that for several years until it was completed with bricks.

Monuments of regiments and brigades were located where they made important contributions to the battle. This Iowa unit was defending a part of the Hornet’s Nest.

Another Iowa unit at the Hornet’s Nest.

Some monuments were quite elaborate.

The Mississippi 6th suffered a 70% casualty rate.

Pittsburg Landing on the Tennessee River, where Grant made his final defensive stand on the first day, where the big river gunboats helped Grant fend off the last Confederate attack, and where General Buell brought his reinforcements during the night before the second day.

Big Union field guns near Pittsburg landing.

Confederate cannons.

A Confederate monument with all sorts of symbolism. For instance, the heads in relief on the right are all looking up, representing the first day of fighting where the South was winning. The heads on the left are all looking down, showing the 2nd day retreat. A lot of the symbolism is quite obscure.

We spent the entire day at Shiloh. Tommorrow, we go to Corinth.

A couple of odd tree growths.

Shiloh Church cemetery. This isn’t a military cemetery.

Glossary of terms used for newcomers: 1) V-Jer. The name of our camper. 2) Saturn. The name of our Van. 3) Duende. Our mischievous gremlin that breaks things. 4) Tata. The good gremlin that helps us fix Duende’s dirty work. 5) The Black Hole. This is what we call Walmart because every time we go in for just a couple of items, we come out spending way more than we figured. 6) QT. Quaint Town. 7) Little Buddy. This is what we call our Dyson cordless stick vacuum.

Dave and Wanda

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