Shiloh & Corinth TN

In 2003 we drove the Natchez Trace from Nashville, and stayed one night in Tupelo, Mississippi. We could have gone over to Shiloh then, since we were doing Civil War battle grounds, but didn't. This trip we decided to stay in the Trace State Park near Tupelo and take a day trip to Shiloh. I had been led to believe that from Tupelo to Shiloh was no more than forty miles; not true, it's over eighty.

I hadn't refueled since or drive from Vicksburg, so I decided to leave US 45 and fuel up in Corinth Mississippi. This proved to be serendipitous; not being a Civil War buff, I didn't realize the vital historical link between Shiloh and Corinth.

In 2004 the National Park Service established a Civil War Interpretive Center in Corinth; it's an extension of Shiloh national Military Park 22 miles north in Tennessee. At first I didn't want to take the detour, not knowing how far off the main highway we would have to stray. Johnna was insistent, so, I'm glad to say, I gave in and followed the signs for a couple of miles to the center.

I parked in the lower parking lot, about 100 yards below the main center. From the parking area, a cement path switch backs up the hill. The first thing you notice, when you start on the path, are bronze civil war military artifacts embedded in the walk way, the grass and like the cap below, on the path wall. I think everything you might find in a solders kit is represented, hats, eating utensils, bayonets, a pistol, a lot of stuff.

Bronze Cap

Bronze Jacket.

Commemorative courtyard in rear of center.

Inscribed on one face of black stone.

Each block is inscribed with the name of a Civil War battle. The blocks are grouped acording to the year the battles were fought.

Johnna takes close ups.

Memorial behind center.

The center itself is arranged for visitors to take a self guided tour. Information panels on the walls give most of the information but there are two audio visual rooms with self starting fifteen to twenty minute presentations on the history of how and why the Civil War came to Corinth.

It really isn't complicated; the United States wanted to sever Confederate rail communications existing along the Memphis & Charleston and Mobile & Ohio railroads; Corinth was the strategic crossroads in northeast Mississippi for these two all weather rail lines. In April of 1862 Ulysses S. Grant bivouacked the Army of West Tennessee (A force of 48,894.) at the Tennessee River's Pittsburg Landing to await the arrival of Don Carlos Buell's Army of the Ohio. The Confederate's Albert Sidney Johnston had concentrated the Army of Mississippi (A force of 44,699.) in Corinth, anticipating an attack by Grant.

Johnston knew Grant was camped with his back to the Tennessee river and the swamps of Snake and Owl Creeks were to his west. Johnston's plan was to attack Grant, separate the Union from its gunboat support and drive Grant in to the swamps. Johnston originally planned his attack for April 4 but heavy rain stalled the march 48 hours. Beauregard thought the element of surprise was lost and wanted to remain in Corinth. Johnston refused and thus the battle of Shiloh began on April 6 th.

Tennessee river at Pittsburg Landing. This is where steamboats docked to off load freight for corinth, about 22 miles to the South West.

We toured the Interpretive center and, on the way out, I asked the representative at the main desk the best way to go on to Shiloh. Just follow the signs he told me, "The signs begin at the parking lot exit; follow them and you won't get lost."  He was right, twenty minutes later, we arrived at Shiloh.

Shiloh headquarters.

Book store.

We started with the cemetery where 3,584 Civil War dead, 2,359 unknown, are interred. In the fall of 1866 the dead from 156 battlefield locations and 565 different locations along the Tennessee river were reburied in the cemetery. Wooden headboards marked each grave to begin with, but were replaced in 1876 and 1877 with granite stones. Tall stones mark known dead and square short stones mark the unknown soldiers. With the exception of two confederate solders, all the buried are Union troops.

 

The cemetery was first known as the “Pittsburg Landing National Cemetery.” And was changed to “Shiloh National Cemetery” in 1889.

For a complete rundown of the cemetery see: http://www.nps.gov/archive/shil/cemhist.htm

The following photos are taken from various locations in the cemetery. Like other national cemeteries, it is well maintained and, other than for the head stones, is park like.

This cannon, or mortar, faces the Tennessee river. I don't know the significance of the grave stones placed in a semi circle.

Plaques like this are placed ad various spots through the cemetery. Each has a different message but all in the same vane.

After the cemetery, we started the battle field tour. These two monuments aren't listed on the Shiloh guide, so I'm not sure what they represent.

This is a view of the Hornet's Nest and Sunken Road from the eastern end. I doubt there was a rail fence in 1862.

What a Confederate solder might have seen charging the Hornet's Nest.

The Hornet's Nest and Sunken Road are across the field in front of the far tree line.

Looking down the line of Ruggles' Battery.

Confederate infantry unsuccessfully attacked the Sunken Road position for seven hours. Finally the Confederates massed 11 batteries to bombard the Union position.  The massed batteries totaled 62 guns, the largest such massed cannon in the War, up to that point. Using the barrage as cover the Confederate infantry over ran the union position. Union General William Wallace was killed and General Prentiss was captured along with 2,250 Northern troops.

The Bloody Pond, where soldiers from both sides came to drink and sooth their wounds. Men and horses died in the pond turning the water red.

I've posted only a small selection of photos from our tour of the battle field. The tour route is about nine miles in length, winding  around, crossing and recrossing itself so I picked photos of the more famous battle sites.

 

Shiloh, was the costliest battle in U.S. history up to that time.  Union casualties were 13,047 (1,754 killed, 8,408 wounded and 2,885 missing); Confederate casualties were 10,694 (1,728 killed, 8,012 wounded, and 959 missing or captured). This total of 23,741 men represented more than the American battle-related casualties of the American Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, and the Mexican-American War combined.

Corinth was eventually taken, in late May of 1862, by Union Major General Henry W. Halleck, with reinforcements led by General John Pope. Halleck dug entrenchments at every stop from Shiloh for over a month, giving the action the name "Siege of Corinth." when Halleck finally approached, General Beauregard abandoned the town, withdrawing south to Tupelo.

Tupelo was the site of yet another battle June 10, 1864, when Nathan Bedford Forrest defeated a union force lead by Samuel D. Sturgis at the Battle of Brices Cross Roads. In this part of the world, it's not hard to find Civil War battle fields. In 2003, we drove the Natchez Trace from Nashville and stayed overnight in Tupelo. We stopped briefly at a monument dedicated to the battle of Brices Cross Roads on our way to dinner but, at the time, I didn't research the history; now I know. Its no wonder Civil War buffs spend their lifetimes trying to understand all  the connections between battles, and the significance, if any, each one had on the eventual outcome.

For Johnna and I, visiting the national military parks, puts a bit of meat on the bones of dry historical texts. I can read accounts of the fierce fighting around the sunken road, or in the peach orchid, study the battle maps but, until I walk around and look at the terrain, it leaves a lot to the imagination. Standing on the Sunken Road you can look across the open field where confederate troops mounted attack after unsuccessful attack. Then, you move to the confederate line and wonder why anyone would even consider advancing troops directly across such an open unprotected field into withering Union fire. There are no Confederate tablets denoting troop positions, so perhaps confederate officers really didn't order the infantry to charge across open ground. Also, Duncan Field is bordered by stands of trees which offered some cover to the attacking troops. The history remains clouded.

Like just about all civil War battles, Shiloh is hashed, rehashed and endlessly argued about. But our brief tour has shed some light on the subject for me.