Thank you for the recommendation. I was unaware of Ed Bearss's article. I found it on JStor and noted it was written in 1965. I read it with interest and learned a few things. I thought there was a childhood connection between Jacob Ammen and Ulysses Grant. But after reading the article I researched Jacob Ammen and found he had graduated from West Point in 1831. Grant graduated in 1843 and there was 16 years difference in age between Grant and Jacob Ammen. It was Daniel Ammen, Jacob's brother, who was Grant's childhood chum who fished him out of a creek and saved him from drowning.
I also found the other article on JStor, and it was certainly worth reading. It clarifies some things and goes into detail about Irving Carson, Grant's scout who was beheaded alongside Grant as Nelson's troops marched up the landing at Shiloh early evening of April 6, 1862. Somewhere I remember I saw a picture of Irving Carson in a book but don't remember where. At the end of Clark's article, he mentioned a picture of Irving Clark had been donated to the Chicago Historical Society. Having spent many hours at the Chicago Historical Society searching for the truth about Shiloh since you do not get it from the park when you visit, I discovered the photograph of Irving Carson and took a picture of it which I have included in this post.
If you think Shiloh historians seem incredibly negligent when it comes to the portrayal of Ammen's brigade try Brigadier General Benjamin Prentiss, the Hornets' Nest, the Sunken Road, Colonel David Moore, first Shiloh historian David Wilson Reed, and Duncan Field. To describe the treatment of those items by Shiloh historians as incredibly negligent would be too kind. Easy to find primary sources and information reveal the misquoted sources; the false attributions to sources; the falsehoods; the misinterpretations; the lack of scrutiny of sources used; the lack of evidence to support spurious claims; and the fact that they just make things up to suit their false narrative.
I have never found an accurate portrayal of what really happened concerning the opening of the battle and the patrols sent out from Peabody's brigade led by Colonel David Moore and Major James E. Powell. To try to figure it out you must go from book to book to book and piece it together with the help of your own research.
When I explain to people who are interested in what really happened at Shiloh and how the history as currently presented by the park is not supported by the evidence and how the historians have filled Shiloh books with falsehoods about Prentiss and the other items noted they ask me: "Why would they do that? And I answer, "I don't know."
If you feel Ammen's brigade has been ignored, then you are going to have to fix it. If you feel historians have served an injustice on Ammen's brigade, then you are going to have to fix it. I have pointed out to the American Battlefield Trust the errors and falsehoods contained in their Shiloh video of over a year ago and told them they needed to retract it. Copies went to the SNMP superintendent. They don't care. The video is still up.
You are not alone when you state disappointment in Shiloh historians.
There is conflicting, or inadequately researched, information concerning the arrival of Nelson's division the night of April 6, 1862. I think anybody with a more than passing interest in Shiloh would read an article, or a book, about Ammen's brigade and Nelson's arrival at Shiloh. I know I would.
Best wishes in your endeavors. Just informing people of the Ed Bearss's article is a good start.
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